Helldivers 2 is all the time altering. In the future you may get up to a brand new DLC including aliens with thoughts management powers referred to as the Illuminate. One other you may encounter an enormous patch that secretly provides shovels. Otherwise you may load up the sci-fi shooter and instantly obtain an evacuation order for Angel’s Enterprise as a result of it’s about to be destroyed by a rogue black gap.
Gamers who have been on-line on the time might bounce to the planetary system in query and behold the destruction of what’s been one of many massive battlefields within the Galactic Conflict that started again when Helldivers 2 launched in February 2024. Thousands and thousands of Helldivers died liberating the autumnal planet from Terminid management starting with Operation Valiant Enclosure. Gamers solely ever misplaced one battle there. However this week, it proved to be all for naught when Helldivers dungeon grasp Joel determined to make it the primary pawn to fall in a way more sinister recreation.
However it’s not the primary time a planet was destroyed in Helldivers 2. Meridian was the primary to fall, and never by the hands of outdoor forces. It was gamers who destroyed that planet final 12 months by turning it right into a black gap as a method towards eradicating a mutated Terminid Tremendous Colony of their very own unintentional making. It was the primary instance of Arrowhead Recreation Studios basically altering its in-game cosmos in service of its grim army storytelling. And it’s not clear it was a part of a grander plan.
Final weekend, gamers got the Main Order to go contest the Illuminate’s management of the black gap, lest the aliens gasoline it with darkish vitality for unknown functions. “The Illuminate are actually actively shifting Meridia,” an in-game message knowledgeable gamers on February 8. “The Middle of Science on Fenrir III can verify: Meridia is in movement. The Darkish Power that the illuminate muster by their many invasions seems to be key. The Helldivers is [sic] now referred to as upon to restrict the Illuminate accumulation of this Darkish Power.”
It’s unclear how the black gap could be stopped however issues will get very, very unhealthy if it’s not. The anomaly is now on a collision course for Tremendous Earth, with 5 different planets in the way in which. Plus, the extra darkish vitality it accrues, the sooner it strikes. Gamers had been monitoring it through in-game instruments over the previous week. What number of extra planets will fall earlier than the Illuminate’s plan could be unraveled and halted? Or is Arrowhead planning to have fun Helldivers 2‘s one-year anniversary with a Tremendous Earth showdown gamers have been ready for?
Both manner, it’s a testomony to the sport’s one-of-a-kind evolving on-line world that it feels prefer it’s constructing towards one thing regardless of the entire repetition and incremental progress. Gamers of the unique Helldivers have gained the Galactic Conflict a number of occasions at this level, with every victory clearing the board forward of a brand new marketing campaign. I’m excited to see what Arrowhead’s long-term plans are with this sequel. It seems like Helldivers 2 has room to persevering with evolving, each mechanically and narratively, for years to return.
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