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Why is large-scale cooperation so rare in video games? Outside of guild raids in MMOs like WoW and interstellar conflicts in Eve Online, few include it. That’s why it’s so strange and refreshing to see Helldivers 2 get it right. The FPS crowd isn’t known for warm and fuzzy cooperation with other players, but the absence of PvP has helped keep teamwork the focus. The chance to kick in some bug teeth (err, mandibles) doesn’t hurt either. When the inevitable wave of games like Helldivers 2 comes, however, I’m less hopeful that they’ll recognize what made Helldivers special in the first place.
Helldivers 2’s Galactic War
The lynchpin of Helldivers 2 is the Galactic War. Humanity’s forces are beset by enemies on all sides, and it’s your job as a soldier of Managed Democracy to fight back. First, you choose which front to fight on, battling either the insectoid Terminids or robotic Automatons. Next, you complete Operations, edging the war effort toward your side one planet at a time. This dynamic creates a tug-of-war in which thousands of players haul at the same rope. The result? Emergent stories like the Battle of Malevelon Creek, aka “Robot Vietnam,” aka “the Fall of Reach Redux.”
Arrowhead even employs a Game Master who can react to players in real-time, helping or hindering to ramp up the drama. Few games like Helldivers 2 have tried this. The payoff has been obvious. High sales? Check. Endless Reddit memes? Those too. Tongue-in-cheek Super Earth propaganda videos on TikTok? Hundreds. Minutes before writing this piece, I watched a content creator’s mission briefing break down the war. Apparently, the Defense Campaign on Heeth is pulling Helldivers from the current Major Order against the Terminids. Players aren’t just playing; they’re investing time and energy in one another on an unprecedented scale.
Attack of the Clones
This kind of success creates ripples. Other devs will try to replicate what Arrowhead has done. Some will want to tell stories of heroism and defeat on the same grand scale. Some will see the audience for games of this kind and imagine their own spins on the cooperative gameplay loop. Others will just want to chase the hype in the hopes of cashing checks with as many zeroes. I’m worried that many of the inevitable copies will look more like the failed Ripley clones from Alien: Resurrection: grotesque imitations with none of the life of the original.
What makes Helldivers 2 fun? It’s the dynamic campaign, sense of solidarity with other players, and foundation of rock-solid shooting. Cut one of these, and you gut the magic. Add obtrusive microtransactions, PvP, or any of the dozen common live-service missteps, and the formula for success drops dead. With so many studios chasing the live-service high, most of the Helldivers 2 clones will fail. They’ll be the video game equivalent of AI art: superficial fakes that give themselves away with the amount of details they simply get wrong. Most games like Helldivers 2 will be bad.
After Malevelon Creek
Someone will get it right; there’s just no telling who. Some developer will understand why we love Helldivers 2, and it’ll make something that does it justice. The next great large-scale co-op game is probably already in the works. It’s fortunate the Galactic War is keeping us busy, however, because who knows how long it will take? I know the sludge of misguided imitators will be knee-high, so I’m donning my wading boots now. I just keep telling myself it’s okay to fail along the way as long as we win in the end. Of course, that’s what many of us said at Malevelon Creek, and we see how that worked out.
Helldivers 2 is available for PC and PlayStation 5.
