Helldivers 2 drops players into a war against giant bugs and armored robots, and it does not let up. The game, out on PS5 and PC, turns every mission into a small, chaotic story of narrow escapes and last-second calls for backup. It earns its 8.3 out of 10.
Trailer, via PlayStation.
Super Earth’s Call to Arms
Players sign up as citizens of a fictional Super Earth, dropped onto hostile planets to fight two enemy factions: the Terminids and the Automatons. The setup is simple. The chaos that follows is not.
Squads of up to four must work together or die trying. Friendly fire is on by default, and it stays on. Rockets miss their mark. Turrets swing the wrong way. The result is comedy as often as it is tension, and Helldivers 2 seems to know it.
Stratagems and Split-Second Choices
The core of the game sits in its stratagem system. Players call down support from orbit using quick directional inputs, under fire, while enemies close in. Options include:
- Airstrikes that level a hillside
- Resupply pods that drop fresh ammo
- Turret emplacements to hold a position
- Exosuits for heavier firepower
Getting the input wrong at the wrong moment can kill a teammate as easily as an enemy. That risk keeps every call-in tense, even after dozens of hours.
The Automatons and the Terminids
The two enemy factions play very differently. The Terminids swarm in overwhelming numbers, forcing players to manage crowds and chokepoints. The Automatons hit harder from range, forcing cover and coordination instead.
Fights against the Automatons can turn into standoffs.
Both factions scale with difficulty settings that go well beyond casual play. Higher tiers throw enemy density and aggression at squads that have not prepared with the right stratagem loadout, and missions can collapse fast once a team gets overwhelmed.
Democracy, Delivered With a Wink
Helldivers 2 leans hard into satire, casting Super Earth as a propaganda machine and players as its cheerful, expendable soldiers. Mission briefings and loading screens play up the joke without breaking the momentum of the action. It is a tone that could easily curdle into smugness, but the game mostly avoids that trap by staying focused on the fighting.
The game’s live-service structure adds a layer on top of the missions themselves. A galactic war map tracks the collective effort of the entire player base, with community-wide objectives that shift which planets are under threat. Individual missions feed into that larger campaign, giving even a routine bug hunt a sense of stakes beyond the immediate squad.
Technical hiccups have been part of the experience. Server issues and matchmaking problems have surfaced at points, frustrating players trying to drop into a mission with friends. When the connection holds, though, the four-player co-op is the game’s clear high point, turning near-misses and desperate retreats into stories worth repeating.
Where It Falls Short
Mission variety is the game’s weakest point. Objectives repeat across planets with different scenery but similar structure. The core loop is strong enough to carry that repetition for a long stretch, but it becomes noticeable after extended play.
The progression system, tied to unlocking new stratagems and weapons, gives players a reason to keep grinding even when the missions start to feel familiar. New gear changes how squads approach fights, and the loadout customization keeps the arsenal feeling worth chasing.
Helldivers 2 succeeds because it commits fully to its own chaos, letting friendly fire and swarming enemies and constant satire all work together instead of against each other. It is a game built for squads willing to laugh at their own mistakes as often as they celebrate a clean extraction. The mission structure could use more range, and the server troubles have cost it some goodwill, but the four-player core holds up mission after mission.
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