Fans of the original game will attest to how differentHelldivers 2is from its predecessor. The simple act of making the game athird-person action shooter rather than a top-down perspectivedid wonders for the series' mass appeal by putting the player more directly in the chaos of combat. It’s tangible proof that sometimes changing the established formula can be a good, even necessary, thing. But the perspective change wasn’t the only shakeup Arrowhead considered when making its record-shattering sequel.
Recent reports indicate that early plans forHelldivers 2featured five-person squads as opposed to the tried and true four-strong teams. The plans never made it past early development, with developers citing problems making the larger squads work with the objectives, enemy counts, and overall difficulty they were going for with the game. But with one full year ofHelldivers 2’slive service officially in the books, it may be time to reconsider expanding the ranks of Super Earth’s finest.
Bigger Maps, More Enemies, More Helldivers
Arrowhead doesn’t seem afraid to shake things up with the game’s formula, and players don’t even need to look at the originalHelldiversto see it.The surprise addition of the Illuminatein December proved that beyond any shadow of a doubt. The update added a new faction and, arguably more importantly, an entirely new type of biome for matches to take place in: urbanized city environments. But more than anything, the update showed the community that Arrowhead is willing to shake things up in a big way.Helldivers 2will not always be the same game it was at launch when the developers are willing to go for the big swings.
The best way to add an extra player to each game might just be to expand map sizes ever so slightly and up the enemy count. It would go hand in hand with those in the community claimingHelldivers 2needs a difficulty buff. Increase the scale of the maps, increase enemy volume, and give players an extra slot on their team to compensate for the upscaling of everything else.
This wouldn’t take too much effort on the balancing front. The enemies are already plenty hardy as they currently exist, so no buffs are needed for them on an individual level. The developers wouldn’t even need tochange the amount of reinforcementsin a given lobby. 20 lives for a squad of five just means everyone present gets four respawns instead of four, upping the difficulty ever so slightly to reflect the added body on the team.
New Mode Or Mission Type With Five Divers
But maybe Arrowhead doesn’t want to change the core of the game. After all, there are still only four pods for players to enter on the super destroyer. Perhaps the four-man squad is too deeply baked into the core ofHelldivers 2to permanently change anything now. This leaves room fornew extreme mission types inHelldivers 2that require larger than average amounts of force.
When thehelldivers descended on Meridia to create the dark fluidand eventually destroy the planet, it was one of the largest in-game campaigns/storylines to-date. It truly felt like a monumental effort by the community undertaking these new types of missions, working toward a very particular, grand scale goal over a few weeks. It was one of the best examples of Arrowhead’s meta narrative storytelling making players feel as though they’re actually a part of the galactic war.
In the future, these types of missions can be made even more special if Arrowhead temporarily increases squad sizes by one player. This would perfectly signify the importance of the mission at hand: the normal show of force of four divers just was not enough, so Super Earth high command needed to requisition a fifth body for the never-ending meat grinder that is their war machine.
Helldivers 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Do you believe in freedom? Can you stand in the face of oppression – and defend the defenceless? Wage war for peace. Die for democracy.Join forces with up to three friends and wreak havoc on an alien scourge threatening the safety of your home planet, Super Earth, in this multiplayer co-op shooter for PS5 and PC from Arrowhead Game Studios.Step into the boots of the Helldivers, an elite class of soldiers whose mission is to spread peace, liberty and Managed Democracy using the biggest, baddest and most explosive tools in the galaxy.Helldivers don’t go planet side without proper backup, but it’s up to you to decide how and when to call it in. Not only do you have a host of superpowered primary weapons and customizable loadouts, you also have the ability to call on stratagems during play.Helldivers 2 features Arrowhead’s best cooperative gameplay yet. Collaboration will be vital: Teams will synergize on loadouts, strategize their approach for each mission and complete objectives together.1Enlist in Super Earth’s premier military peacekeeping force today. We are heroes… we are legends… WE ARE HELLDIVERS.
