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You fire your Eruptor at an oncoming Charger, but instead of being thrown backward by the explosion, you’re catapulted forward. It’s like your explosive rifle suddenly decided to fire miniature black holes instead. Is this some unlisted weapon perk? No. It’s a bug, and the Eruptor isn’t the only gun to have it. Arrowhead Game Studios has accomplished a tremendous amount with Helldivers 2, but sometimes it feels like there are more bugs in the game’s code than there are on Hellmire. With 250,000 active players in the last 24 hours, Managed Democracy isn’t going anywhere, but its soldiers deserve better.
Bugs, Glitches, and Terminids
Helldivers 2 is more polished than many AAA games, and some of its bugs are even endearing. That said, some of its most common glitches are bad enough to send you and any nearby Skull Admirals back to Super Earth with toe tags on. While dying in the name of Managed Democracy is kind of the satirical point, this is still a PvE co-op game. Your deaths should be fair (or at least intentionally unfair), not the result of code more squirrely than Sandy Cheeks. Non-host damage desync borks DoT weapons. Thermite is broken. Fire is broken. Even friend requests are broken.
The weapon meta evolves with every update, but so do the bugs. Despite the many guns in the game, few primaries and sidearms get used. It’s natural for meta weapons to float to the top, but many of their competitors wouldn’t be sitting at the bottom of the barrel if they weren’t wearing concrete boots. Fixing bugged weapons and mechanics isn’t about solidifying or disrupting the meta: it’s about ensuring that all the game’s content is fun, even if it’s not viable on a solo Helldive. I don’t care if the Arc Thrower is useless. I care if the Arc Thrower is fun, and if it’s broken, the answer is “No.”
War Bonds vs. Bugs
While some players have called for Arrowhead to slow down War Bond production until more bug-squashing occurs, that request is misguided. Game dev jobs aren’t interchangeable. Asking the artists responsible for new armor designs to Alt-Tab out of Blender and go bug-hunting doesn’t make sense. As a live-service game, ceasing the production and release of new content isn’t realistic. Helldivers 2 depends on a steady drip of goodies as much as Fortnite. Arrowhead is going to prioritize player retention, and that means prioritizing new content over polishing old content.
There are several reasons that Arrowhead might release bugged content, even with a QA team working hard to catch problems. What works in a test server might not work on live servers, especially when crossplay elbows its way in. Even if everything does work on the live server at first, changes in other areas can cause unforeseen ripples. As welcome as game-changing ship modules and Stratagems are, every addition risks breaking something. Bugs are a part of every game, but their inevitability doesn’t excuse Arrowhead from doing something (more, please) to combat them.
Illuminate Impending
So far, the Galactic War has been a battle against the Terminids and Automatons. The war on two fronts will fundamentally change when the Illuminate join the fray. Unfortunately, my excitement for these sci-fi squids is dampened by concern over what new bugs they’ll introduce. Helldivers 2 has mustered a huge fanbase by delivering co-op gameplay on an unparalleled scale, with satire as sharp as its gunplay. There are a thousand reasons to love this game. All I want is for the bugs to fade in prominence so we can direct our focus where it belongs. The Menkent Line must be held.
Helldivers 2 is available for PC and PlayStation 5.
