REVIEW: ‘Helldivers 2’ Captures The Magical Chaos Of The Original (PS5)

After nine years, Helldivers 2 has finally hit PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam. Developed by Arrowhead Studios, they meaningfully capture the magic of the first one despite the changes to the gameplay formula. The biggest and most immediate shift is its perspective. The original game had a fixed bird’s eye perspective. All the players on screen were working together not only to beat back the enemies but also to share the screen real estate. This led to chaotic moments, where the full team was frantically trying to survive while also keeping track of teammates.

Back in 2015, I was living in South Korea, teaching English. I graduated from university and decided to pack up and move across the world to work with kids and explore the world. The first little while was tough. Finding new friends and trying to learn the language was all an uphill battle. The good thing is, I really found my place there. I made friends that I consider family today.

As we got closer, we’d spend hours playing games on my PS4 in my tiny apartment. We were looking for a new game to play together when Helldivers dropped. The game was a fixed perspective, a cooperative shooter that tasked us with helping save democracy across the universe. It was a blast to play. Fast, frenetic, and chaotic, and it really brought us back to the old-school multiplayer vibes from growing up. I was elated when Helldivers 2 was announced.

Helldivers 2 switches perspective to full 3D and third person. Initially, I was worried that this change would take away from the constant anxiety of the first game. I’m happy to be wrong because that chaos lives on entirely, just in a new form. You have to keep track of a wider battlefield, more enemies, and a great distance between teammates. Being able to get enemy attention, start running, toss a revive pod into the objective point, and try to hold out until your newly spawned friend can complete the objective.

The gameplay itself is fantastic. The shooting feels tight and electric, guns popping off with a satisfying crunch when they hit. Guns feel different thanks to the Dualsense. Moving decreases accuracy, but you don’t always have the luxury of standing still and taking shots. The balancing act between the need for movement and the ABSOLUTE necessity of keeping up the fire while you get overwhelmed by bugs is a blast. While you can’t jump, you can both crouch or dive into prone, Max Payne still. The dive is your main evasive maneuver against enemies, too. The hectic repeated diving to get away from a swarm is hilarious to watch while popping shots off from the ground makes you feel like a space-action hero.

The gameplay loop feels familiar but works well. You’ll pick a mission, helping to further the democratic spread across the universe. The more players actively fighting, the more the area will be liberated, and the farther into space you’ll go. It’s an awesome way to feel connected to the community at large. Once your drop pod lands on the planet, the time limit on your objectives will start. They’re mostly simple – kill x amount of bugs, destroy eggs, extract civilians.

Completing the main and optional objectives earns you more credits and gold to be able to upgrade your ship, buy new weapons or armor, or invest in new stratogems. Stratogems allow you to drop in new weapons, summon airstrikes, acquire a jump pack, and plenty of other ways to augment your kit. There are a ton to buy and choose from, allowing you to craft entirely different loadouts depending on how you want to play.

One of my favorite things returning from the original game is the button combos you need to input to summon stratogems or call in for extraction. Holding L1 will bring up your stratogem menu, but then you must hit a chain of at least 3 or 4 directional inputs. Doing so will let you actually summon whatever you’re trying to work in. In a moment of calm, this isn’t an issue.

The ridiculousness comes in when you’re the last one alive, desperately trying to revive a friend that went down. You’re trying to focus on the string you need to get it done while getting mobbed from all sides. This similar anxious display follows when trying to extract from a mission. Call in for your drop ship by hitting the combo, then hold out for two minutes. It just adds to the overwhelmingness of the entire experience in the best way.

The overall writing and vibe of the game is also hilarious. The opening tutorial hits the mark right away, with a drill sergeant yelling at you about the power of democracy. It feels entirely tongue-in-cheek, hammering home the absolute blind patriotism needed to protect SuperEarth. Democracy needs to be spread to the galaxy, and it’s up to the Helldivers to do it. One of my favorite early moments was naming my ship the base of your operations. You have a massive list that you can choose from, picking the front and back halves of the name. I opted for the Elected Representative of Individual Merit, trying to pick the dumbest combination possible. It still makes me laugh. Even then loading screens mix helpful tips, and ones that are just meant to make you laugh.

The humor translates to the gameplay as well, especially so when playing multiplayer. Single-player is fun, and jumping in to run a few missions solo can be a great way to get the resources you need to buy new equipment. Still, the game shines when playing with friends, yelling at each other about incoming enemies, trying desperately to summon strategies while also actively avoiding your teammate’s line of fire. Friendly fire is an active part of each mission. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve accidentally shot or blown up a friend. I also can’t tell you the amount of time I did it on purpose. You throw a grenade at a friend in the final moments of a mission one time, and all of a sudden, you can’t be trusted.

Helldivers 2 is pretty difficult, even on lower-difficulty modes. Playing solo, I can get through missions easily and am working my way into the medium. Playing with a squad of 4, we were able to get to challenging. The fights were brutal and overwhelming, but we managed to scrape by. Higher difficult modes yield better results, so finding that balance is important. Using the right kit for the right enemies makes a huge difference. A shotgun and machine gun combo for bugs works, as they come at you in droves. With higher damage but a slow rate of fire, rifles bust through armor on the machines.

Playing on PS5, the game looks incredible. The alien landscapes look eerie and otherworldly, especially when mist blankets the field. The explosions are huge, lighting up both the ground around you and the sky above. Seeing a nuke go off for the first time is a sight to behold. I’ve had no technical issues at all, and the frame rate is holding strong through the midst of the madness. The music is huge and gorgeous as well, as a huge orchestra pumps you further into battle. The sound designs back all this up as well, as the gunshots pop and crackle around you. The enemies sound terrifying, screeching as they attack and, subsequently, explode underneath your hellfire. The graphics, music, and sound design are all huge highlights.

While it wasn’t running on Steam Deck initially, a Proton Hotfix has already been released. Playing on Deck feels great. On low settings, the framerate is comfortably around 35fps, even with a lot going on at once on screen. Crossplay enables one to play with friends no matter where they’re playing, but cross-progression isn’t. I really hope Arrowhead can implement it, as I’d love to be able to keep democracy-ing on the go.

My biggest question for Helldivers 2 is its ability to sustain itself as a live service game. Right now, it feels great. The mission variety and gameplay loop are enough to keep coming back, along with multiple free and premium battle passes. So far, the passes feel tuned appropriately. If you’re completing all objectives in a mission, you can make enough to have a consistent stream of new unlocks. I hope Arrowhead can maintain this. There is no roadmap for its live service plans as of yet, but coming back consistently will depend on new maps, new modes, and new ways to engage with the game. Time will tell if Arrowhead can deliver and make this a live service hit for PlayStation.

Right now, Helldivers 2 is an easy game to recommend. It’s fun solo, even better in multiplayer, and feels worth it at its price point. The gunplay is fantastic, the gameplay loop is satisfying, and the reward progression is consistent. Its live service plans are its biggest question moving forward, but right now, Helldivers 2 is a ton of fun. It really captures the old-school couch co-op madness that I felt with the original back in Korea, and I’m excited to keep bringing democracy to the galaxy.

Helldivers 2 is available now on PS5 and Steam.