Undoubtedly, Helldivers 2 is one of the best co-op experiences out there. You and three soldiers with clear death wishes get to team up to bring democracy to the confines of the galaxy. While the gameplay loop of diving into a planet and blowing up nests and buildings is satisfying, some people like to have a narrative to guide them when playing. With that in mind, many gamers wonder if Helldivers 2 has a campaign or is strictly co-op with no story to follow.
Helldivers 2’s Campaign Explained
In short, Helldivers 2 doesn’t have a classic campaign mode. First and foremost, this is a co-op live service game. This means that the game relies on launching constant updates and tweaking a few events to give players fresh content weekly. Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an overarching story going on. This installment has a thing called “The Galactic War.” For those who don’t know, this is the event that transpires across the galaxy and what justifies Helldivers laying down their lives for Super Earth. It might not be a narrative that takes you from point A to point B, but it is an ever-changing plot that evolves depending on players’ actions.
For example, there’s a game master that is always changing how certain weeks work. Some weeks, you and other players might get a task to liberate Automaton-controlled planets. On other days, you might have to deliver pesticides to reduce the Terminid population. It isn’t the narrative we’re used to, but it changes in real time instead of waiting for a seasonal patch.
Another thing that Helldivers 2 has that could be considered a sort of campaign is its major orders. All players can participate in these quests. Most will require you to liberate a planet, and the war will change depending on the success or failure. For instance, after completing the pesticide missions as a community, some bugs mutated and grew wings, thus changing the landscape of the game. In another case, players had to defend certain planets, which created exosuits, and after doing so, everyone got a new stratagem that let them call in an exosuit for themselves.
Overall, we feel this is a fantastic way to bring a “plot” to a live service game instead of waiting for an update that just delivers a story through small cutscenes. While many would like a single-player campaign, they’ll have to make do with this. Still, it is great how, as a community, we all alter the course of this war, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for Super Earth and its loyal fighters.
