Helldivers 2 Review: Gameplay Impressions, Top Features and Videos

Helldivers 2 from developer Arrowhead Game Studios arrives with the potential to be a sleeper hit in another stacked year for games while getting ahead of the curve in a subgenre surging in popularity.

A follow-up to 2015's Helldivers, this sequel is a third-person extraction shooter that tasks players with tackling intense missions before attempting an escape, working alongside fellow players in both the mission and in overarching goals that fit the live-service model in interesting ways.

Surprisingly engaging with high replayability at launch, Helldivers 2 tackles one of the most oft-requested things in gaming—a strong co-op offering.

Like any live-service model, updates and support will ultimately decide the game's fate, but Helldivers 2 exceeds expectations out of the gates.

Graphics and Gameplay

From a presentation standpoint, Helldivers 2 is always interesting.

Meaning, it looks good in the way it presents lots of different-feeling biomes, such as maps where water commands most of the landscape, a heavily forested area or seas of sand, to name a few. It's a game that is much more reliant on gameplay and experience than top-flight visuals to let players have a good time and it works.

As such, it's not a knock to say it's not going to win any awards for character models and animation or lip-synching, sure. It's just not a showcase in that way. But considering this is a sequel to a top-down game, it's a pretty nice feat, and everything works in tandem in a way that doesn't detract from the experience at all.

Gameplay overall feels really good, with sprinting, crouching, going prone and even popping into first-person mode for refined aim possible. It helps that the gore meter is almost all the way turned up, with punchy explosions and blood backed by fantastic soundwork. That's an extension of the hard work put into the funny, well-done voice acting, too.

One of the big things that leans into the goofy (and brilliantly fun) side of the game is the fact that friendly fire is always on, leading to some hilarious gaffes as players are under siege and throwing out an arsenal of weapons.

Missions themselves vary, from destroying targets to activating items—pretty much the standard, expected list of objectives for looter-shooters and/or live-service games. Despite similar goals though, most missions actually manage to feel distinct in a way games that share the same space just don't.

The varied environments play into this, but so do little side quests within missions. It helps that mission length itself ranges from brief to 30-plus minutes of tough trekking and fighting before an evac, too.

Also playing into this is the excellent moment-to-moment gameplay that isn't afraid to take some risks. Helldivers asks players to manage the little things in interesting ways. Maybe the best example is ammo economy—reloading a weapon discards any unspent ammo, bringing the overall total down.

Some special abilities or weapons on cooldowns even require multi-button combos to execute. This includes Strategems, which can range from beneficial airdrops to other things that can help in the moment.

The result is more depth than one might expect. One can begin to see the brew—lots of enemy density, friendly fire on, combos under pressure necessary for special assists and to revive teammates. And yet despite just how intense things can get, the game rarely manages to actually frustrate, which is a pretty noteworthy feat on its lonesome.

At launch, at least, Helldivers seems to offer massive replayability that other live-service games don't. Whereas a service like Destiny 2 has repetitive Vanguard Strikes and multiplayer, plus a seasonal activity that eventually goes away, the list of planets and objectives within each mission seems to change by the week in Helldivers.

Again, the support and continued mixups will be key to the game's success. But right now, the initial gameplay package is engrossing in a way that shoves it to near the top of the co-op pile.

Story and More

Helldivers is hilarious in a Starship Troopers sense while riffing off other things in the sci-fi space like Warhammer 40k to great effect.

The gist? Players enlist to dole out some Managed Democracy in defense of their fascist Super Earth, defending and expanding against the likes of robots and bug-styled Terminids (whose corpses just so happen to be useful as fuel for faster-than-light travel to keep the spread of democracy going strong).

While undergoing a barrage of hilarious propaganda during enlistment, players control a single character who winds up dying for good in service of Super Earth, before assuming the role of another solider upon respawn.

All that said, while witty dialogue laces the early experience, there isn't much of a story really unfolding in the game. There's a narrative reason provided to shove players out there, but little beyond that in the way of character development or further story beats that expand or even critique the setting.

It's worth hoping the game eventually receives updates that peel back the curtain on a narrative a little more. But for now, players will just have to settle for interesting shared-world progression that helps things change by the week.

Progression in Helldivers 2 is partially community-based in a way that indeed manages to make it feel like an individual player is just part of a bigger whole. Or in this case, an empire expanding its reach across the galaxy.

As players in the community accomplish goals on certain planets, it pushes the needle toward the completion of weekly goals and otherwise. So far, it has been a fantastic way for the game to serve up varied planets and objectives on a rotator that keeps things very fresh. Done well months or even years later, there's no reason to think things can't remain this fresh, either.

Individual progression is more in line with standard-fare unlocks of cosmetics, weapons and upgrades. Of these there are many, which is a good thing.

There's a lot of quality-of-life thought put into Helldivers. One notable example is the handling of weapon unlocks. Players can stumble upon weapons they have yet to actually unlock during a mission and try them out in that mission before being able to purchase them in the overarching game's store.

As expected, the game does arrive with a battlepass, which features free and paid versions. But in this instance, it feels less like the nickel-and-dime approach of others in the space and more of a checking-boxes requirement.

It has to be said that Helldivers feels very fair in the overall microtransactions, always-online department. Players can spend real money, yes, but the free battlepass offers are robust enough to avoid feeling like it's a requirement for enjoyment.

Right at launch, Helldivers did experience some networking hiccups, though it's not totally unexpected for a new game in the space, especially for one that blossomed in popularity so quickly. What's been impressive so far is the response, with quick fixes and communication. Otherwise, the game runs well and offers a robust number of options tucked into the menus.

Conclusion

Helldivers 2 might not slot in the Game of the Year conversation by the end of the year, but it's easily going to register as one of the biggest sleeper hits.

Given the golden age feel of the industry since the start of 2023, that's quite the feat on its own.

One of the best co-op offerings in a long time, Helldivers 2 is a sheer joy to experience. It's got pick-up-and-play appeal with some unexpected depth, respects the player's time and mixes things up enough weekly to keep things fresh, all wrapped in a hilarious and endearing satirical presentation.

Sometimes it's clear a game is a hit right after starting it. Helldivers 2 is one of those and deserves every bit of praise and acclaim heading its way, especially with the way the launch product suggests great things to come in the upcoming months and years.