Helldivers 2

About

Helldivers 2 is a 3rd-person, co-op shooter video game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios that drew significant buzz online upon its release in February of 2024 as gameplay clips spread online.

History

In Helldivers 2, groups are tasked with missions that involve fighting off insectoid alien or robot armies. Teammates must work together to complete objectives. However, the game's features contribute to making simple tasks more tense and arduous. For example, friendly fire is always on. Furthermore, the game has a "strategem" system where players can call in additional artillery or sentries to be dropped from the sky. These can land on teammates and enemies, resulting in their death. As such, the game requires chat between teammates to complete missions.

The game is a sequel to 2015's Helldivers and features many similar features, but notably moves from the original's top-down perspective to the third person.^[1] It was developed by Arrowhead Game Studios. The game's first trailer was released on May 24th, 2023 (shown below). It released on February 8th, 2024.

Online Presence

The game quickly developed an online presence through word of mouth thanks in part to gameplay clips showcasing the experience. For example, on February 12th, 2024, Twitter user @JMaine518 posted a gameplay clip, gaining over 3,700 retweets and 30,000 likes in two days (shown below, top). On February 10th, user @GrimmHollywood posted a montage of clips they'd had with the game, showcasing tense moments between teammates, gaining over 950 retweets and 7,200 likes in four days (shown below, bottom).

The subreddit for the Helldivers franchise, /r/helldivers,^[2] launched in 2013 and has over 95,000 subscribers as of February 2024.

The game also reviewed well on YouTube. On February 8th, 2024, the day of release, YouTuber jackfrags posted a "Gameplay and Impressions" video that gained over 1.4 million views in six days (shown below, left). On February 9th, YouTuber gameranx released a video reviewing the game, gaining over 1.2 million views in five days (shown below, right).

Helldivers 2 PlayStation Account Requirement

On May 3rd, 2024, it was announced via a post on the Steam page for Helldivers2 that all users across platforms, including Steam users, would be required to make a PlayStation account in order to keep playing the game. This post, and the PlayStation Requirement created a controversy with people boycotting the game on Steam and review bombing it.

Search Interest

External References