The Mycenaean

On February 8th 2024, Sony Interactive Entertainment published their new hit co-op shooter Helldivers 2, developed by Arrowhead Game Studios. 

Helldivers 2 is a sci-fi shooter game, taking place across an entire galaxy, in which players are dropped onto either robot or alien-infested planets to complete objectives, all of which are in service to the game’s paradisiacal home base “Super-Earth.” Tasks on a planet could include evacuating colonists, conducting geological surveys, and even setting up the launch of a nuclear missile. 
The game also features massive-multiplayer-online elements, with the collective actions of hundreds of thousands of helldivers contributing to the gradual liberation of planets. Planets on either side of Super Earth are split into “sectors” with planets to liberate. When the players collectively liberate all planets of a sector, the entire sector is considered “liberated,” and players move on to the next closest sector.

Overseeing this entire digital war-game is a single developer at Arrowhead Game Studios, known as Joel. This developer is tasked with overseeing not just the movements of the enemy factions across planets, but also issuing all “Major Orders” to Helldivers. Major Orders are massive campaigns that are assigned over a span of a few days and usually have major implications for the narrative of Helldivers 2. Previous Major Orders have included liberating the R&D planet of Tien Kwan (which unlocked giant mechs for all players) as well as the activation of Termicide, a multi-planet system of pesticides to eradicate the Bug menace.

Released for both PC and PS5, the game is available in both a standard and “Super-Citizen” edition. The “Super-Citizen” bundle includes an exclusive armor set, an exclusive weapon, access to the first “Premium Warbond” (Helldivers 2’s equivalent of a battle pass) as well as the exclusive status of “Super Citizen” on your in-game username.