Off the Shelf Media

Helldivers 2 released early in 2024 for PlayStation and PC and really won me over quickly. The fast paced gameplay, massively multiplayer connections to other players, and incredible world design has led to some of the most fun gaming I have had in a long time. Overall, I think the game is as close to perfect as any game I can remember in recent memories, and has a lot of room to continue to grow going into 2025. 

Gameplay: 2

The core gameplay of Helldivers 2 is that you are a space drop ship trooper deploying from your space destroyer into battle. Its a combination of first and third-person shooter that you can pivot between for your play style. You land on an alien planet, or a human colony that has been overrun with aliens, and have a major objective to complete. This can range from launching an ICBM, to destroying a massive titan sized enemy, to literally saluting the flag for super earth as a camera captures the carnage around you for propaganda purposes. There are also many side objectives and bases that can give you rewards and currencies to be used in the game that are not necessary, but if you are up to the task, are worthwhile. 

On the enemies, there are three unique alien battlefronts you can tackle. You will hear your character in game refer to them as “Bugs”, “Bots,” and “Squids”, or rather the Terminid, Automaton, and Illuminate. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses, which provides a lot of variety to the missions they offer. For example, the Terminid don’t have a ton of range but have overwhelming numbers and armored enemies that close the distance on you quickly. The Illuminate are a mixture of a zombie horde and flying aliens with plasma weapons alongside gigantic walkers straight out of War of the Worlds. And the Automatons are truly the games toughest enemy, as they are terminator-style robots with tanks and AT-AT style walkers from Star-Wars that have incredible range. If I had to rank by difficulty, the Terminid are the entry level enemies with the Automatons being the hardest. With the difficulty settings I would even say a level six or seven Terminid mission is probably on par with a level four or five Automaton one at times, based on the challenges they bring with them on higher levels. 

You are supported by “stategems” and can bring four into every mission. These range from air and orbital strikes, power weapons like rocket launchers and machine guns, turret sentries, and jet packs. Something I have loved is that there is no “right” group of stratagems, and it can create some unique play styles. I will admit, I did feel like I had to use the “meta” of what was best, but then would jump into a game with a level 100 player who had what I thought was the worst combination and they would dominate. The multiplayer aspect of this brings you together with people who all have interesting play styles. It led me to trying out new things on my next missions based on their performance, which was a lot of fun. 

Every few days, a new “Major Order” is sent out by the game that will reward you for completion. They use it as a way to concentrate players together into certain fronts and continue the story along. One week, you might be focused on destroying the Terminid hives to prevent an outbreak, while the next you are on an Automotan homeworld destroying gigantic tanks. Where I really fell in love with this was early on in its conception, where I realized that the combined player efforts impacted the future of the game. We had a Major Order to take back a planet that was being used to create military technology, and when the week ended and the objective was completed, it unlocked a new fun stratagem that was a walker with rocket launchers for use in the base game. This connection of multiplayer teamwork leading to rewards for future battles keeps the game feeling fresh and as if there is always some new support coming from “Super Earth” in the battle for democracy. 

One of the initial complaints people had with the gameplay was the friendly fire element and how easy it is to accidentally kill a fellow helldiver. The more I played, the more I realized how wrong those complaints were as some of my favorite moments came from hearing, “hey, you might want to move,” from a fellow player right as a 500 KG bomb lands directly next to you, or a player dying while holding a cluster bomb right next to their teammates triggering a “danger close” airstrike right on their position has led to some hilarious team-kills. The game doesn’t penalize you for this other than losing a life for your reinforce ability, which does regenerate slowly. It leads you to being more strategic with your attacks, and overall, heightens the intensity of the gameplay. 

Story: 2

At first glance, playing the story may not seem like a core element, as you can easily skip through dialogues and updates. However, the more you play, the more you see how great it is. At a high level – you are a “helldiver,” an elite drop trooper sent by the faction of “Super Earth” to spread managed democracy across the cosmos. The over-the-top celebrations of freedom and liberty easily remind you of things like Starship Troopers. Most of the lore that you get is through little bits and chunks at a time. For example, when you are on your ship waiting to launch into battle, propaganda-style broadcasts will come over the TV telling you about the latest Illuminate invasion of a planet, updates on the Terminid or Automaton front, or even over-the-top advertisements advising Super Earth citizens to spend all their money supporting the helldivers. You will also find throughout the gameplay planet-side that there is a lot of atmospheric storytelling, like you may find in a great Bethesda game like Fallout 4 or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 

While it is a more subdued part of this game, the overall feel of these snippets of lore and story does build over time and drive a deep connection with the world you are playing in. In online forums like Reddit for Helldivers, people are conversing about how the latest major objective fought back space tyranny or about the trauma they faced losing the battle for a dark and rainy battlefront like “Malevelon Creek.” Truly, the best part about the story is that there is a Game Master who is developing these Major Orders, and isn’t afraid to let the players fail them. And based on the results of these each week, the planets, stratagems, and support the players can get on each planet dramatically change. This benefits the casual player as much as the daily helldiver. If you log on once a month, there is always new content to enjoy. If you play every day, there is always something new to focus on. 

Atmosphere: 2

The amount of variety that this game has atmospherically is top-tier. Every type of planet you can think of is represented in a beautiful graphical style. Fire planets, ice planets, toxic wastelands, decimated city centers, and many more are featured on each unique planet. Based on the planet and weekly order, there are also many factors that can impact players such as randomized Ion Storms, which prevent you from calling in support and from seeing your map and give you a sense of overwhelming horror if you are surrounded by enemies. There are many other elemental impacts like firestorms, tremors that slow your walking, blizzards and many more that create unique combinations and experiences each game. 

Visually, the game is stunning and really displays impressive world building and graphics to go along with it. Each biome is more intense than the last and really immersed me into the current battle I was slogging through. A small feature I also thought was a nice touch was being able to see your star destroyer from the planet, and watch it launch an orbital strike. This was great because you can see your own, but also the hundreds of other helldivers fighting other battles on the planet calling in their own support. It helped developed the sense of scale that each of these planetary battles has as thousands of players are trying to capture the planet back for Super Earth. 

Value: 2

This game is perfectly priced at $40 in my opinion and absolutely worth that price tag. I think if it was a full priced $60 or worse, the new AAA standard of $70 I could find some flaws, but the mid-tier range is perfect for this great title. 

You may be asking, how does this game handle microtransactions? The answer is: the best I have seen yet in any game with them. The two major currencies to consider are Warbonds and Super Credits. Warbonds are gathered by completing missions, or from side objectives in those missions, and can stack up to 250. These are the main currency used to unlock new gear, emotes, and cosmetics from their battle pass system. The first one is free and includes a lot of content that you can unlock. Super Credits are a currency that you can purchase for real world money, but there really never is a need to. They can be unlocked in tiers of the free and paid battle passes, as well as found planet-side on missions. Each new paid battle pass featuring about 10-20 pieces of content costs 1000 Super Credits to unlock. By progressing through the free battle pass and regular play, you will have no problem unlocking these. If you are someone who prefers to invest money to save yourself time, the option also exists, but it’s certainly not necessary. 

The other great thing is that, in my experience, this system does not feel very pay-to-win. None of the weapons or actual gameplay changers in these paid packs seem to be that much better than the free versions. You can really win a game on most difficulties with any of the free gear as long as you play to the strengths of that build. It gives the hardcore players something to grind for with some variation in their style but doesn’t penalize the casual players for not unlocking it the moment it was released, which feels like the sweet spot of a regrettable trend in gaming of monetization. 

Duration: 2

Each main mission is listed somewhere between 15-40 minutes depending on the core objective; however, most of the 40-minute ones are done way before that. The timer is really just an indicator of how long you have until you can call for support with your stratagems, so most players are through those missions in under 30 minutes. While you may find some downtime in between fights, the average of a half hour of intense strategic combat with explosions and death raining down from the skies is enough to make you feel like you need a cigarette after a fight even if you’re not a smoker. The intensity of each battle and sense of accomplishment really makes the time fly by, but also drains you as it’s not a casual play. Overall, I would say I can play somewhere between 3-5 missions before I am completely wiped, but that would be a few hours of gameplay so it’s a fair trade off.

A core criticism of this game may be that it’s the same gameplay loop. Land on a planet, kill aliens, complete objectives, extract. While that is true to an extent, the layers of complexity in planet design, new weapons and support gear, and atmospheric impacts create really unique settings and backdrops for each battle where it will feel like a new game every single level. The replayability for this gameplay loop is off the charts, and really keeps you locked into a basic routine while having the time of your life. 

Total Score: 10/10

Overall, Helldivers 2 was my favorite game from 2024 and it did so much right. I hope other games will follow in the year ahead. The constantly evolving world and strategies keep it feeling fresh months later, and the connection players have with each other over the shared Major Orders really builds a fun community to play with. They nailed the monetization piece in giving players options for fun stuff without breaking the game for those who don’t want to pay. They created enough variety to never feel bored since you can create a whole new playstyle. I’m excited for the year ahead with this game as the new third enemy faction, the Illuminate, recently dropped, and can’t wait to spread democracy with the rest of the helldivers.