Helldivers II | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Arrowhead Game Studios |
Publisher(s) | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
Director(s) | Johan Pilestedt |
Designer(s) | Niklas Malmborg |
Programmer(s) | Peter Lindgren |
Artist(s) |
|
Writer(s) | Russ Nickel |
Composer(s) | Wilbert Roget II |
Engine | Autodesk Stingray |
Platform(s) | |
Release | 8 February 2024 |
Genre(s) | Third-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Helldivers 2 is a 2024 cooperative third-person shooter game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game is the direct sequel to Helldivers , a 2015 top-down shooter. It was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on 8 February 2024. It received positive reviews from critics and sold over 8 million units within the first two months of its release.
Unlike Helldivers, which is a top-down shooter, Helldivers 2 is a third-person shooter. [1] A core gameplay feature carried over from the first game is the use of 'stratagems' – such as cluster bombs, sentry guns, shield generators and supply pods containing limited-use special weaponry. [2] Friendly fire is always on. [3]
While Helldivers featured shared-screen co-op, Helldivers 2 does not. [4] The game features cooperative multiplayer with up to four players, [1] but does not include a dedicated single-player campaign. [5] It also provides optional cross-play between PlayStation 5 and Windows. [6] In the initial days of release, gameplay involved staff at the studio observing players and influencing gameplay in real time. [7]
The game features a battle pass that never expires. Players can earn various types of in-game currency during gameplay; "war-bond medals" and "requisition slips" are awarded for completing missions and game objectives, while "super credits" are found during missions or purchased via microtransactions. [8] As players gain experience and progress in level, they unlock different weapons and Stratagems to use during missions. [9] By completing missions, players also contribute to the collective "liberation" of planets, a percentage displayed on the Galactic Map. [10]
Helldivers 2 is set a century after the triumph of "Super Earth", a self-described managed democracy, over the Cyborgs, Terminids, and Illuminate during the events of the first game. It is discovered that, upon death, the Terminids produce a unique and highly valuable resource known as E-710. Farms are established on human-colonized worlds, but containment is eventually breached, releasing the bugs and causing chaos and destruction. Simultaneously, a new threat emerges in the form of the Automatons, a mechanical army intent on destroying humanity. The game begins with a recruitment video for the Helldivers, who are elite shock troops dropped from orbit to reclaim the colonized lands. [11] Environmental storytelling is prevalent throughout the game, with various logs, notes, and propaganda messages available for players to find during gameplay. [12]
On 3 December 2020, Arrowhead Game Studios revealed that work had started on a new project for PlayStation 5. It was confirmed that the game would be a third-person shooter. [13] Like the first game, Helldivers 2 runs on the discontinued Autodesk Stingray game engine (originally known as Bitsquid). Arrowhead Game Studios founder Johan Pilestedt confirmed on social media that "The project started before [Stingray] was discontinued," adding, "Our crazy engineers had to do everything, with no support to build the game to parity with other engines." [14] [15]
On 13 September 2021, Helldivers 2 was mentioned in a GeForce Now leak. [16] The game was teased in a TikTok post showing Arrowhead's social media manager starting their workday, which is followed by a series of posts from fans demanding them to release the game. [17] On 18 August 2022, a 12-second clip of gameplay was leaked on Twitter, but was later removed. [18] [19]
On 24 May 2023, Helldivers 2 was announced during the 2023 PlayStation Showcase, with a slated release of sometime in 2023. [20] On 6 July 2023, a trailer showcasing gameplay was released. [2] [3] On 30 July 2023, the game received an M rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board for "blood and gore" and "intense violence". [21] On 14 September 2023, gameplay was shown in a PlayStation State of Play event, and it was announced that the game would release on 8 February 2024. [22] Pre-orders became available on 22 September 2023. [23] On 8 February 2024, the game was released on the PlayStation Store and Steam. [24]
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | (PC) 83/100 [25] (PS5) 82/100 [26] |
OpenCritic | 90% [27] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Digital Trends | [28] |
Eurogamer | [29] |
Game Informer | 9/10 [30] |
GameSpot | 9/10 [31] |
GamesRadar+ | [32] |
Hardcore Gamer | [33] |
IGN | 9/10 [34] |
NME | [35] |
PC Gamer (US) | 86/100 [36] |
Push Square | [37] |
Shacknews | 8/10 [38] |
The Guardian | [39] |
VideoGamer.com | 8/10 [40] |
Helldivers 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. [25] [26]
Upon release, the game experienced a large influx of players, leading to widespread server and login issues for the first two weeks of release. [41] By the third week of release, the player cap was increased to "a whopping 700,000 concurrent users" according to Wesley Yin-Poole of IGN. [42]
Aaron Bayne of Push Square described the game as "a riotous affair, offering up best-in-class gunplay" and a "truly epic and often cinematic experience, mixed in with one of the best co-op gameplay romps currently available." However, he criticized the game for the server issues and crashes that players experienced after release. [37]
Helldivers 2 has been compared to the 1997 science fiction action film Starship Troopers ; both are a satirical comedy featuring a militaristic regime fighting against a race of large insectoids. [43] [44]
On 11 February 2024, Arrowhead Games CEO Johan Pilestedt announced that Helldivers 2 had sold approximately 1 million units. [45]
Helldivers 2 was the largest launch of any PlayStation Studios game available on PC. [46] Arrowhead stated that the game's success has greatly exceeded their expectations. [47] Following its initial success, Arrowhead Studios announced its intention to scale its studio and team to accelerate its post-launch content plans. [48] [49] Pilestedt reacted to the game's ongoing success by stating that he hopes to see Helldivers become considered as iconic as PlayStation's other IPs such as Uncharted , God of War , and Horizon . [50]
In Europe, the United Kingdom, and Canada, Helldivers 2 was the best-selling game of February 2024. [51] [52] [53]
By 24 February 2024, the game was estimated to have sold over 3 million units and became the most actively played game on the PlayStation Network, surpassing Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Fortnite . [54] By 15 March 2024, Helldivers 2 was estimated to have sold 8 million units and reached 450,000 concurrent players on Steam. [55] By 5 May 2024, 12 million units of the game had been sold, making it PlayStation's fastest selling video game of all time. [56]
At launch, Helldivers 2 did not require PC players to log into a PlayStation Network (PSN) account, allowing players to skip the integration despite a line on boot up stating that a PSN account is required. On 3 May 2024, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that the PC version of Helldivers 2 on Steam would mandate users to sign in with a PSN account, taking effect for new players on 6 May, and required for existing players by 4 June. SIE stated that a PSN login is necessary to "[uphold] the values of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games", and that this requirement was not implemented at launch due to technical issues. [57] The announcement was met with criticism. [58] Additionally, many players called out that official documentation from Sony claimed that PSN accounts were optional for games on PC, with this statement changing to an ambiguous "some games" statement [59] [60] after players were directed to contact Sony support by Pilestedt. [61] On 4 May, the listing on Steam was updated to disallow sales to 177 territories where PSN is not available. [62]
Pilestedt apologized for the sudden change, stating on Twitter that "I hope we will make it up and regain the trust by providing a continued great game experience". [63] Developers inside Arrowhead Game Studios stated that they were on the side of the players and called for the player base to negatively review the game on Steam, [64] leading to players review bombing the game; as of 4 May, nearly 53% of all posted reviews were negative, [65] [66] [67] with over 84,000 negative reviews on Steam. [68] As a result of the negative feedback, Sony announced on 5 May that it will currently not be moving forward in requiring account linking and was working with Arrowhead to find alternate solutions to protect players. [69]
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