On Feb. 8, 2024, Arrowhead Studios released Helldivers 2 on the Play Station 5 and Computer. Helldivers II is a third-person shooter that takes place in a satirical dystopian future where humans have to fight aliens and robots to protect their home planet, Super Earth, and the very concept of democracy itself. 

Since its release, Helldivers 2 has received great reviews from players thanks to its player-friendly model with few microtransactions. It features no pay-to-win mechanics, rewarding players who play well and often most of all. The game has done nothing but gain steam throughout the past month, boasting an average 400,000 players on PC alone according to Steam Charts. Helldivers 2 has one of the greatest player retention rates of any game, losing only 4% of its players in two weeks.

This game has elements from various games and movies, drawing comparisons to Star Wars Battlefront II and Halo and even led to a revival in the cult classic Starship Troopers. The ability to play a game reminiscent of your favorite franchise makes the game appealing to so many people.

In Helldivers 2, you play as a Helldiver, an expendable shock troop more than willing to give their life for Super Earth. You drop down onto various planets to complete a selected mission, like defending a site from the alien advance or destroying enemy fuel silos. There are also optional objectives throughout the map, like destroying enemy satellite towers and artillery.

You are equipped with just a handful of weapons, grenades and stims, but don’t fear, you can call down extra weapons or aerial support via the use of your destroyer’s stratagems. 

The stratagem system is the game’s most unique feature. You can press the control key and open up a list of support skills that your ship can deploy via a specific sequence of arrow keys. This feature reminds me of Mortal Kombat fatalities, with longer sequences of keys usually correlating to cooler or more powerful stratagems, like the Autocannon or the devastating Hellbomb. 

All of these features along with true live-service features, with Game Master Joel affecting the game as he sees fit, have made Helldivers 2 an immediate success. If you want to join the ranks of the Helldivers and join a war effort 400,000 strong, buy Helldivers 2 standard edition on PS5 and PC for $39.99 or the deluxe version for $59.99.