Overview

Helldivers 2 Equality-on-Sea Chinese Review Bombing Controversy, also known as HD2 Heart of Democracy Review Bomb Campaign, refers to a May 2025 campaign in the multiplayer shooter video game Helldivers 2 (HD2), in which players were tasked with defending key cities on Super Earth, including York Supreme (New York) and Equality-on-Sea (Shanghai), from an Illuminate faction invasion as part of an in-game event.

Chinese Helldivers 2 players defended Equality-on-Sea while contributing to the defence of York and vice-versa, prompting a series of memes about U.S.-China cooperation on the Helldivers subreddit. In late May 2025, Chinese Helldivers 2 players managed to achieve a 99 percent defence rating but grew frustrated over being unable to fully liberate the city. Several players chalked down the confusion to a mistranslation in the Chinese version of the game. This led to several Chinese players leaving negative reviews on the Helldivers 2 Steam page, accusing Arrowhead of scripting the gameplay to push for a "final showdown" in the capital of Prosperity City instead of Equality-on-Sea. The review bombing campaign prompted widespread discourse online, as well as memes.

History

On May 20th, 2025, Arrowhead Game Studios released the "Heart of Democracy" update for its game Helldivers 2, introducing a campaign in which the Illuminate faction invades Super Earth, transforming key urban centers into battlegrounds.

In the event, players were tasked with defending key Megacities, including Prosperity City (the in-game capital), York Supreme (a fictional representation of New York) and Equality-on-Sea (Shanghai), and safeguarding civilians amid intense urban warfare.

A trailer for the campaign was posted to the official Helldivers 2 YouTube^[1] channel on May 20th, gathering over 1.4 million views in nine days.

Most Megacities had fallen by May 28th, leaving "Equality-on-Sea" under siege and "Prosperity City" secured, as seen in a tweet by the official Helldivers 2 X^[2] account that gathered over 14,000 likes in two days.

Developments

Several internet users began posting about Chinese players defending Equality-on-Sea against the invasion in late May 2025, as seen in a May 21st Bilibili ^[3] post by user 三音の老刀, who shared a video of the players achieving the difficult task of taking down a Leviathan ship.

Redditor /u/Ok-Garbage5011 reposted the clip to the official /r/Helldivers^[4] subreddit that same day, gathering over 30,000 upvotes in nine days on a post that read, "Chinese players taking down leviathans."

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Memes about the U.S.-Chinese fraternity also began to gain traction online after some Chinese players helped defend York Supreme, and U.S. players helped defend Equality-on-Sea after York fell.

On May 28th, 2025, a Chinese NGA^[5] user posted a graphic showing an American and a Chinese Helldiver doing a handshake. The American was shown to be saying, "Sorry it took me so long," while the Chinese soldier said, "You're right on time bro." The image was reposted to the /r/Helldivers subreddit^[6] by /u/leoooooooow, where it gathered over 16,000 upvotes in a day.

Also May 28th, Redditor /u/Furphlog posted a Chad Xi Jinping meme about Chinese Helldivers defending Equality-on-Sea, gathering over 17,000 upvotes on /r/Helldivers^[7] in two days.

Chinese Steam Review Bombing

On May 29th, 2025, several Chinese players defending the besieged Equality-on-Sea realized that they were unable to completely liberate the island through the in-game mechanics.

According to GamesRadar,^[8] Helldivers 2 received over 2,000 negative reviews on Steam on May 29th, primarily from disgruntled Chinese players.

Also on May 29th, Redditor /u/HelloHelloItsMe_ posted a screenshot of Helldivers 2 receiving hundreds of negative reviews on Steam to the /r/Helldivers^[11] subreddit, writing, "Can we not review-bomb the game because we're losing a city? Please and thank you." The post gathered over 18,000 upvotes in a day.

That same day, Redditor /u/Suitable-Departure-5 posted a graphic to the /r/Helldivers^[9] subreddit showing how a confusing mistranslation on the Chinese version of the game led several Chinese players to believe that their goal was to liberate Equality-on-Sea, instead of merely "holding" it in an extended tug of war.

Later on May 29th, 2025, Redditor /u/Valkyrie_Yukikaze gave an extended rundown of why several Chinese players were review bombing the game on /r/Helldivers,^[10] explaining that an influx of new players and a mistranslated graphic led several Chinese players to believe that they were being treated unfairly by the game developer. The post gathered over 5,000 upvotes in a day.

Search Interest

External References