Helldivers 2 Continues to Impress With its Newest Free Update

Helldivers 2 dropped a small content update this past week. In addition to a new Warbond, the Illuminate faction got a nice update that helps to round out the roster and make it feel like a more fleshed out, balanced faction.

The current content cycle has looped back around to the Illuminate, and they really needed the help. As each update came out, and each faction received new content in the form of homeworld biomes, new units, and subfactions, the Illuminate just felt left behind. They had one faction composed of a whopping eight units (nine if you count Leviathans) and they were present everywhere. Now, there are two distinct Illuminate factions: the Mindless Masses and the Appropriators. The Mindless Masses are the usual Illuminate we’ve seen thus far: the ones that spam Voteless with a few Overseers sprinkled in. The Appropriators are brand new, and they like to throw pure Illuminate units at you, including three new ones. These units include Obtruders, Gatekeepers, and Veracitors. Obtruders are like Watchers, but instead of calling in reinforcements, they just shoot at you. These guys are the primary Appropriator chaff unit, so they aren’t super tanky and are fairly numerous. They can be dangerous when they swarm you, but they feel appropriately balanced and designed. The next two units are the Gatekeepers and the Veracitors. These two are very similar: they are Overseer piloted mechs, with the former being the ranged variant and the latter being melee. They are very well-designed in my opinion. They have a shield generator weak spot located on their “foreheads.” Once that’s destroyed, you can take out the cockpit. It’s good design because they have clear weak spots. They present sizable threats inside their effective ranges, but at the same time they’re very manageable if you approach them correctly. Overall, they’re a lot of fun to fight, and a great addition to the game. The Appropriators will spam Overseers at you, and especially Elevated Overseers, so they can definitely be a challenge.

In addition to the new Illuminate subfaction, we can now fight on a new biome: forests with Exostorms and Illuminate ruins. Exostorms are a new weather hazard involving lightning strikes. While dangerous, they’re very well-telegraphed. Aesthetically, the ruins are really cool. The entire planet has some blue, Illuminate aura radiating everywhere. One thing the game continues to nail is presentation and art direction.

There is also a new objective added in: destroying the exospire. It involves destroying two shield generators, then traveling underground to destroy the power source of the spire. The spire power source isn’t dissimilar from the caves of Oshaune, but unlike Oshaune, the power source cave is one room so being cut-off from your stratagems isn’t a big deal.

Finally, the Entrenched Division Warbond dropped earlier in the week. It’s an interesting mix of content. The armor sets contain combined passives that we’ve seen before (namely some damage resistance and grenade utility). Weapons include the Stoker, Veto, and Shovel. The Stoker is a solid SMG with an underbarrel flamethrower. Its fire-rate is surprisingly slow, but the fact that it’s a one-handed weapon gives it some useful utility. Same with the flamethrower portion. It’s a good weapon. I haven’t been able to unlock the Veto yet, but from my understanding it’s pretty solid. It has medium penetration and no damage falloff, which definitely makes it a viable option. The Shovel is… a shovel. Digging trenches is a unique new gameplay dimension, and I can tell that people have been enjoying it online. It is worth noting that the Shovel is technically different from the support weapon variant you can find scattered across maps. Entrenched Division also introduces the new Giga Grenade throwable. It hits hard. However, it can have a slight learning curve with throwing it. Still, it feels very satisfying to use and is great for taking out hordes and armored targets alike. As for stratagems, we get a new gas mortar and the Cremator heavy flamethrower. I have yet to unlock either of these, but from my understanding the gas mortar fires slower than its other mortar cousins, which means it’s less likely to kill teammates, and the Cremator is just really good. It’s always nice to have more variety, so a new mortar sentry is cool. As for the Cremator, it’s definitely the part of the Warbond I was the most excited for, and I can’t wait to give it a shot. I wasn’t too worried about its viability after the Hot Dog flamethrower rover drone dropped with Python Commandos because that thing could put in work, and the Cremator sounds like it lives up to my expectations.

Overall, Helldivers 2 continues to release stellar content, and all for free (well, aside from the Warbond). The simple fact that the developers are able to release these meaningful content updates semi-regularly and all for free speaks to the health of the game, and frankly its caliber. I think that Helldivers 2 is one of the best co-op games on the market right now, and arguably the best live service game I’ve seen. Little updates like this one just reaffirm my estimation. Sure, the game has had some rocky moments, but I think a lot of it tends to be overblown by a particularly vocal minority. These new enemies, biomes, and objectives are great additions to the game, and I really hope we continue to see new stuff like them added in. I’m particularly excited to see what comes next, especially now that the developers unveiled a roadmap for the next few months. But until then, I have some managed democracy to spread, and new fun Warbond gear to unlock.