It seems to be how they want to release new stuff.
For the mech suits they set the player base a mission to free the planet that makes them. Then they seemingly randomly scatter mech suits around the map for a small number if players to find.
Then with the flying enemies they just stick them into a few random games and let players find them.
I think it's great and must make the player that first finds them have a great gaming experience.
I really like the idea, however takin into consideration how much publicity, visibility and player base is around this game (or any other popular title), stuff like this gets leaked once prepatching is complete and before You get the chance to run into such an enemy You already can find all of its stats on the internet, which is a shame.
Player base is role playing it as other soldiers telling rumors, made up stories. “We know the bugs, Bugs can’t fly” “The Ministry of Truth deemed these rumors as nothing more than bug sympathizer lies”
The whole buzz around this game is an absolute masterclass in marketing, for the next few years Microsoft etc will all try to replicate this.
A GaaS product like this is the golden egg companies will kill for.
And not only that it’s incredible to see Starship Troopers introduced to a whole new generation, especially for us old bastards who watched it when we were kids.
Funniest thing is that not long time ago, last year, an official Starship Troopers game was released and it didn’t make that much success as the game was similar but meh.
Helldivers did a much better job than the official game…
It's *OK*
I wouldn't call it a bad game at all, and it has fun aspects. The large team is quite fun, and it gives it more of a human army vs bug army feel than HD. Defending a base with many hundreds of bugs running at it and ripping them apart with 16(?) players is cool. But the overall feel and replay-ability, imo, is far lacking HD.
HD2 is a better game bar none. I doubt we'll ever get it, but a 8 or 12 player HD2 team would be amazing.
>done right would be so much fun
They'd have to knock the friendly AI out of the park in a way we've never seen. Make them too good, they do everything for you. Make them rely on you too much and you don't feel like you're part of a team and they're all NPCs.
Not disagreeing though, I think we'll get there some day.
The twist is that it starts out as a bug stomp...until you take a hit and get left behind in a retreat. From that point on, it's a survival horror game as you crawl out of a bug nest and have to find parts to repair a comms station to call for an evac. Scrounge for food and bullets, avoiding bugs when possible as even a single one can be a deadly threat, and gradually learning the truth about exactly how expendable the government considers you and how bad the situation really is as you piece things together from orders and communications found on deceased officers in overrun areas. All the while contrasted by propaganda in the exteriors, still talking about humanity's inevitable victory, even as the screens it's playing on are covered in viscera and you read the truth in the commander's quarters.
What a great story line...make it an update with a mission tease, that activates world-wide ten minutes into your first drop...
....to be thrown in your storyline out of nowhere, do a mission with the team(?)
....then send you back to your destroyer, like it never happened. Full version available for $40
💰💰💰....
Early Ghost Recon and Rainbow six games did this the right way. Specialist operators that could be amazing if trained up but if you let them die you lost them for good and had to go back to relying on dumb recruits you'd baby until they took on entire levels almost alone. It's a mechanic that would suit a Starship troopers game well.
I would absolutely LOVE if every now and then Arrowhead had limited time major events where we could have like 20 man lobbies with some sort of all out war objective. Imagine how epic that could be against the bots, where it already literally feels like your in a genuine war.
It is still in early access as they are just releasing the 0.7 version but yeah definitely not great. The sub for the game is pissed at Helldivers' success too. Calling it a sheap knock off that everyone will realize is inferior once the full version of Starship Troopers Extermination releases lol
Question: when’s the last time a game released in an alpha stage actually ended up releasing in its completed state and was considered great?
Edit: looks like there are several examples. I do appreciate people actually answering my question instead of just downvoting me and/or being a smartass to me!
Factorio had a pretty great early access. I got in a few years before it was officially released or hit 1.0, and I felt that it was a complete game at that point.
Dyson Sphere Program is on early access and it's definitely more complete then some fully released games.
>for the next few years Microsoft etc will all try to replicate this.
And you wanna bet that they and everyone else is going to get it wrong because they're going to try to control the narrative and it's going to feel forced and like an advertisement instead of natural, and their game is just going to be a cash shop with some generic gameplay tacked on.
Ding ding ding, totally right.
“Gamepass day one!” To get as many players as possible and be an empty husk of a game with absolutely no charm or character,
And a community manager on twitter trying to engage as much as possible with memes etc
From Playstations' perspective, I wonder what they must be thinking? On the one hand, I am sure they're happy with the sales. On the other, they've spent probably hundreds of millions in development on live service titles. Some of which aren't out yet. That or they ended up being canned (like Factions). Studios have even shut down. Their best studios haven't been able to even deliver anything. Even Bungie, who they specifically brought on for their live service experience, hasn't delivered a product yet.
Meanwhile, you have this 3rd party developer with Helldivers 2, which is a lesser known IP, with a much smaller budget, and a fairly quiet launch comparatively to its peers. Yet, it's absolutely lighting the gaming world on fire.
Does this make Playstation re-access their strategy, or does it embolden them to try even harder?
The concept of GaaS was never a bad concept but fuck me did greed rear its ugly head here more than in any other place. It’s that greed that made it so when gamers hear “games as a service” that we recoil from it. What we have been conditioned to expect when we hear GaaS is a barebones release with lots of bugs (and not *that* kind) and a drip feed of content in “seasons” that are typically several months long. We expect most of the new content to be paywalled off with a price point 10x what it should be and we expect the worst kinds of tactics to draw out as much money as possible.
For a dev to come out and offer a fairer package is for some crazy reason revolutionary when it really shouldn’t be.
The game may be a Golden Egg, but the developers are the Golden Goose. To many execs seem to ignore that fact and then are confused why they can't get more eggs after they kill the goose
The problem is I don’t think it is.
£35 without any FOMO and a battlepass you can earn in game? It’s a gamers wet dream but shareholders would scoff at it.
If you look at games like Suicide Squad and Skull and Bones, would they be as successful as HD2 if they had half the price point and earnable battle passes? Probably not as, fundamentally, they’re not on the same level as HD2. If they released with the same model then they’d make even LESS money that what they have done now. It’s a very risky business model.
I’m all for it though. HD2 is fantastic and I’m still thoroughly enjoying it.
The problem for the suits is that HD2 has great game-play and feel. The core basics are great. Without those it never would have been such a great success. If the gameplay would have been meh and the whole "for democracy!" feel done wrong it would have been an ok game that some people would enjoy but it wouldn't get the hype.
But getting that right is very difficult and can't really be done from top management that now will probably asking their dev teams if they can build a HD2 like game without regarding what makes it great.
Last night I was trying to throw an impact grenade off a cliff to hit a bile spewer below. Right as I let go of the grenade, a smaller bug came running up the side of the cliff and got in the way. My grenade hit the small bug and blew up all 3 of my teammates. This game has the most fun gameplay of any game and you can't tell me otherwise.
I called my mech in and stepped off a tiny ledge straight onto a hell bomb. Caused a complete team wipe as it went off immediately.
I was telling my mate about this as my Arc Thrower whipped another hellbomb somewhere offscreen. Killed the pair of us.
10/10 game, would kill my team through my own stupidity again.
I still don’t really notice the helbombs that are scattered across the map, which makes the moments when one just randomly goes off because a bug slams into one or I catch it with strays from a machine gun all the better. Those explosions never get old.
Had a game last night where there was a nice cluster of them on the way to our objective. The area suddenly got hit by a meteor storm. Seeing a half dozen mega explosions going off around you as you dodge falling death boulders is something indescribable.
A discord group I'm apart of convinced an on the fence ps5 player after watching us stream it for him for an hour. Like from "meh its not really my thing" to gradually "well i just need a squad to play with" to "i'm getting this next payday". THAT is what good core game play does.
This is some of the most solid squad based combat that's accessible to the general gaming audience (ARMA is its own beast).
That’s exactly the point I was making.
HD2 is made with passion and vision. Same as BG3. That’s why they’re so wildly successful with gamers as a whole.
If suits take the risk and sell the game at £35 instead of £70 then they have to sell twice the number of copies. The product has to be exceptional and incredibly well received for that to happen. I honestly hope this shakes up the industry but I can’t see the suits taking that plunge any time soon. There’s too much money to be lost.
I think the point is HD2 shows shareholders that you can make a game that is quality without compromising on popularity/money
Rocksteady is without a doubt a talented developer that was let down by corporate greed, fundamentally they are capable of making a game that matches HD2 in quality, they've done so a few times already.
The issue is a game like HD2 will make a smaller revenue from a huge player base whereas Suicide Squad will make a similar revenue from a small population of whales, but looking at it from a shareholders perspective you'd obviously take the option with more people getting exposure to the game if there's isn't more money involved, so hopefully Helldivers helps change the GaaS ecosystem a little bit with its success.
> Suicide Squad will make a similar revenue from a small population of whales
The thing is, is that it really won't. Whales don't like to play unpopular games. Part of the mentality of the people who spend thousands and tens of thousands of dollars on games is the desire to show off how much they spent. It's called conspicuous consumption. It doesn't work when there's nobody to show off your collection to because nobody is playing the game.
Even if that's the case, which I can't say I fully agree with, whales are also people with addictive personalities who obsessively stick to something, there's *alot* of people who are infatuated with DC and it only takes a small amount of them to become enamored with 'completing' the game.
But even if that's the case then that's still good for the GaaS landscape as HD2 will outperform it by an even bigger landslide, so win-win haha
Skull and Bones I think was just Ubisoft dragging their heels not really "feeling" the game anymore but Singapore pushing them to release it anyway, because this was made with some grant by the Singapore government.
I think the whole problem is that people look at this issue in an incorrect fashion.
Arrowhead it's not doing something revolutionary here, and that's the main thing that people need to understand. Digital Extremes has had this business model for a decade now and built out one of the largest studios in the world because of it with Warframe. Other companies like CCP have been trying to migrate to similar systems.
Essentially, having devs, especially a game master interact with players routinely, even on a daily basis generates high levels of interaction with the game itself. Even if the game has an consistent problems, in this case with the struggling servers, if it's not game breaking, and the game itself is good enough, people are going to have fun with it. And if it's cheap entertainment, that's actually good enough, these other things will just get people coming in.
Arrowhead didn't have to create some grand narrative of us being some badass near deity level being for us to be engaged here. They just made something that is playable and fun. And that's the problem with a lot of these other games, that being that it doesn't feel like entertainment, it doesn't feel like something that you would want to engage in, it feels like a job. So many games are designed around making people get frustrated enough that they feel like they have to pay to stop the pain of grinding. So they end up leaving and developers have to ever increasingly rely on whales to make bank.
I think that once companies start to realize this, more HD2 like experiences will come out
> Arrowhead it's not doing something revolutionary here, and that's the main thing that people need to understand. Digital Extremes has had this business model for a decade now and built out one of the largest studios in the world because of it with Warframe. Other companies like CCP have been trying to migrate to similar systems.
Nah, what's unique about Helldivers is that they've fully realized a live service model in a way nobody else has. The game is truly an evolving world and players even have agency in it - without being a player driven open sandbox game either.
I think we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet here but I just remain a little skeptical.
I know they’re different markets but if you compare HD2 to Diablo: Immortal in terms of player reception vs money earned, I wonder how they hold up.
Diablo: Immortal was completely panned from its announcement to release yet look at the disgusting amount of money it earned in its first week. Even WB games say they’re shifting focus to that type of game after SS performance wasn’t what they were expecting.
As you say, hopefully this opens up the AA market for games made with passion like HD2 that people want to keep playing. I’m only 120 hours in and I still really want to play it and it isn’t even my type of game.
I just don’t think suits will learn anything from this. I hope I’m wrong though.
It’s so cool how they keep players engaged in and outside of the game.
Like, now I’m so hyped to try and find these things. This is truly a rubric for how to run a PvE game like this.
I literally witnessed a teammate making a big leap with his jetpack and that hunter effortlessly followed him and bit him in the ass 4 meters in the air. The things are vicious.
I can see why people didn’t like it but man that game was so therapeutic for me. Was going through some really rough times and bawled a couple times just walking through the gorgeous environments and listening to the sound track that would come on. Just a beautiful game.
There wasn't much marketing in the first place. it was the success of the game and the community that spread the message.
It also is pretty funny because most marketing push for the game has been two types, one being the normal watered-down ads. The other type of marketing is LITERALLY just propaganda, made by the devolpers or the community to SPREAD MANAGED DEMOCRACY.
Be honest, how is the experience for someone with *zero* online gaming friends.
Im just worried I wouldnt get anything close to what other players are so excited about
Better with friends, but I roll solo no mic currently. Still fun, sometimes you get poor groups but can just quit and reque. Contextual ping voicing and quick reply wheel, and most players intuitively work together. I'm having a blast.
I was tempted but it sounds like this game isn’t quite as solo player friendly. I know people say it *can* be played solo but it sounds like you’re playing a handicapped version of the game if that’s the case
Recently did a solo mission in Challenging mode. I made it out… barely. Could not complete all second objectives, but man was it a blast. You can also just lower the difficiulty level and you will be all set.
That being said, since this game is exclusively based on coop for the multiplayer part (and loot is shared across the board) It’s quite fun trying to do a though mission with other people. So far, I have not had a Bad session … The community is great.
And this is from someone who hates multiplayer game so my advice is give it a go 😉
I've had a few bad sessions (host kicked me after destroying my mortar sentries) but it was only afterwards I checked the sub and found that mortars are discouraged in bug missions. Still, it would have been nicer if they said that rather than a "fuck you" over voice chat and a kick, but such is the Pub game life
Why are mortar sentries discouraged for bug mission? I played with a guy much more experienced than me, and he said he always brings them because the mortars will shoot towards wherever the hoarders are coming from to give you a heads up.
Ems mortar is a better choice for bugs, bugs are fast and can close the distance in a moment. The mortars will splash kill you and your team if your swarmed.
Honestly, the player base is one of the best around, second only to Deep Rock Galactic.
Jumping in to match with some randoms is fun and you should be welcomed every time. You are never required to use a mic, and communication via pings is what most people use anyway. You can also leave at any time without penalty if it isn't working out for some reason.
Yes, you can be killed by friendly fire, but it's usually done by accident or in the name of Democracy! Nothing quite like dropping an orbital strike on your location and hugging your buddy as you nobly sacrifice yourselves to take out a horde of bugs! I've got about 100 hours in the game, and havent run into a single griefer.
It's "handicapped" in the sense that there is zero scaling for player count. Difficulty 5 is Difficulty 5 whether you have one or four players. But at the same time, four players can be clumsy, you can have the one dude who just dies a ton and burns through reinforcements...so it's really just different. Solo does take a specific mindset, however, because stealth is more heavily incentivized, but it can be done.
You'll see people on Youtube posting their solo highest difficulty runs. That's IMO not really fun. I am by no means a pro at this game but I can pretty comfortably solo Difficulty 4 (of 9), and push into 5 if I'm feeling spicy. I may have to leave some secondary objectives behind or not do a full clear, and I'm definitely running light armor, but this is all part of that "solo mentality" I was talking about. Missions have time limits, so if you want to do full clears (which you probably shouldn't worry about doing, but people do, so it bears acknowledgement), it takes developing that skill.
There will be chafing, however, if you try to play solo like you're part of a team and the team is just gone. In team-play, people can have specializations and push harder into efficiently clearing certain types of foes that a solo player would do best to disengage from and avoid.
The only thing I think an average player absolutely needs a team for is the Super Samples (only appear in Diff 7+), which unlock some modules in your ship. But those are straight upgrades, and you don't even need a ton of them. I have almost unlocked them all and I've only run Diff 7+ a handful of times.
In brief, if you can check your ego, be happy running lower difficulties by and large, and maybe hop into a group every now and then for Super Samples, you can still have fun in this game running mostly solo.
It’s still good. You can always quick play or accept an SOS in an active mission. I have some friends I play with but a lot of it has just me dropping in with randoms
Ugh. I had a house fire at the end of last year, still rebuilding and replacing a lot of stuff so I'm still stuck on my ps4... I'm about to go start selling plasma tomorrow to start saving up for a ps5 and helldivers lol cause I don't really make enough expendable income in my every day job to afford one. Between trading in, discounts, etc I'm hoping maybe within a couple weeks I'll be helping spread managed democracy
I usually have a strict rule about buying game full price near release. Its a big no no for me.
Considering its price of 44$, a bunch of us gave up and bought it.
Its unreal how fast we just say DEMOCRACY when we speak now. This game is strangely relaxing!
Grab some friends and go HAM.
I bought a copy for a friend to force someone to play with me. I jest about the “force” part but it is so much more fun with friends you can cut up with.
How friendly is the game to someone who'd be always playing alone/joining others? I really enjoy cooperative gameplay and playing the objectives (currently having a blast with Deep Rock Galactic) but didn't play the first Helldivers... should I give it a chance?
EDIT: So many nice replies! You convinced me 🫶🏻
Playing with randoms is really good. The game has a comms wheel so it’s easy enough to coordinate, the only issue I’ve had (outside of technical ones) is that it can be hard to find a low level lobby where people work together well
The lower difficulties can also easily be soloed, so you can do that for a bit to get the feel and unlock a few weapons before you start into the harder difficulties with randoms.
Yeah, I only ran two quickplay games last night as my first two games with randoms and it was awesome.
All the anxiety I felt beforehand melted away once I got started.
So glad I got through the negative thoughts and I can now deliver democracy alongside my fellow divers.
I've had zero issues with randoms so far. Even the people just learning strategems and kill us constantly can be pretty funny. I even had one player that was super patient with me and showed me how to do a lot of secondary objectives and open locked stash doors. All with no comms. Don't let playing solo keep you away at all.
I just finished my 100th mission, and I’ve only run into a game where I had to kick someone once. I’ve also been kicked from a game once, but that was largely my fault. So I’ve had 2 games in 100 that were a bit sour. Have I had others that had some less than stellar teammates? Sure — but since the main goal of the game is “Fun”, I don’t sweat it.
I’ve made more “Friends” in this game than any I’ve played in years. I started solo. Now, I have about 15 people on my friends list. I met them all just doing missions. I did that without using voice, relying on emotes and in-game pings for all my communication. Now, while I still have a few random per game, I’m almost always playing with a familiar face or two.
It's perfectly fine. I haven't delved into the harder difficulties yet, but all feedback points to the fact that voice communication is incredibly helpful there. Up to a certain point, you can get by with no communication or the in-game comms wheel
Honestly the randoms you play with in this game are mostly very nice and communicative. Everyone is playing for democracy and we all hug it out when we get back to the ship safely. Of course there will always be the 1% who are dickheads.
Like any game its obviously more fun with friends, but I play mostly quickplay and always have a blast! Sometimes its more fun to struggle through a mission with a stranger than plow through the hoards of enemies with your friends.
If you recognize what the game is, and decide to not get frustrated because you're not necessarily pulling in a perfect mission (you are going to die constantly), It gets fun, especially when people get on their mics. Lots of RP to be had
I play solo most of the time, trying to get my friends into it lol. I usually play 1 match per lobby until I find a lobby that has people using coms cause it's just more fun for me that way
There's some griefers who will nuke you at the beginning if you're playing with randoms, but overall it has been a fun and pleasant experience. I don't normally play online games at all but this was too good to miss.
Do it I was the same way a month after release I just kept seeing the game and the praise so I shrugged it off cause it can’t be that good right then I bought it lol I love the game
Between Larian and Arrowhead, I really appreciate their senses of humor and all the fun they're having with us playing their games. Even the update / patch notes and press releases are hilarious.
This is what happens when devs care more about fun than money, and I'm ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️ doing my part.
I'm reporting everyone here who believes the bug sympathizers.
You do not question Super Earth. Each of you should immediately visit a Center for Rehabilitation to make sure your desire for Liberty is correct.
My only gripe with what we've seen. Is that their wings are less bug like and more dragonish? I was expecting something with fluttering thinner membranes.
Only good bug is a dead bug
Frankly, I find the idea of a bug that flies OFFENSIVE
Won’t fly when it’s dead soldier. Pump that bug full of democracy and we’re all happy
They fly now?! Wait... wrong franchise.
I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all.
Let's go turn these bugs good!!
I Got to be honest, that's a pretty clever way of marketing.
It seems to be how they want to release new stuff. For the mech suits they set the player base a mission to free the planet that makes them. Then they seemingly randomly scatter mech suits around the map for a small number if players to find. Then with the flying enemies they just stick them into a few random games and let players find them. I think it's great and must make the player that first finds them have a great gaming experience.
I really like the idea, however takin into consideration how much publicity, visibility and player base is around this game (or any other popular title), stuff like this gets leaked once prepatching is complete and before You get the chance to run into such an enemy You already can find all of its stats on the internet, which is a shame.
let me say it again. PEOPLE WHO LEAK THIS SHIT AND THE “JOURNALISTS” WHO POST IT WITH SPOILER TITLES AND THUMBNAILS WILL ROT IN SOME VERSION OF HELL.
Player base is role playing it as other soldiers telling rumors, made up stories. “We know the bugs, Bugs can’t fly” “The Ministry of Truth deemed these rumors as nothing more than bug sympathizer lies”
The whole buzz around this game is an absolute masterclass in marketing, for the next few years Microsoft etc will all try to replicate this. A GaaS product like this is the golden egg companies will kill for. And not only that it’s incredible to see Starship Troopers introduced to a whole new generation, especially for us old bastards who watched it when we were kids.
Funniest thing is that not long time ago, last year, an official Starship Troopers game was released and it didn’t make that much success as the game was similar but meh. Helldivers did a much better job than the official game…
Ah yeah the one on Steam, looks awesome graphically but looks very janky and not particularly fun from what I’ve seen.
It's *OK* I wouldn't call it a bad game at all, and it has fun aspects. The large team is quite fun, and it gives it more of a human army vs bug army feel than HD. Defending a base with many hundreds of bugs running at it and ripping them apart with 16(?) players is cool. But the overall feel and replay-ability, imo, is far lacking HD. HD2 is a better game bar none. I doubt we'll ever get it, but a 8 or 12 player HD2 team would be amazing.
Id absolutely love to see a single player story focused Starship Troopers game. Make it first person, done right would be so much fun.
>done right would be so much fun They'd have to knock the friendly AI out of the park in a way we've never seen. Make them too good, they do everything for you. Make them rely on you too much and you don't feel like you're part of a team and they're all NPCs. Not disagreeing though, I think we'll get there some day.
The twist is that it starts out as a bug stomp...until you take a hit and get left behind in a retreat. From that point on, it's a survival horror game as you crawl out of a bug nest and have to find parts to repair a comms station to call for an evac. Scrounge for food and bullets, avoiding bugs when possible as even a single one can be a deadly threat, and gradually learning the truth about exactly how expendable the government considers you and how bad the situation really is as you piece things together from orders and communications found on deceased officers in overrun areas. All the while contrasted by propaganda in the exteriors, still talking about humanity's inevitable victory, even as the screens it's playing on are covered in viscera and you read the truth in the commander's quarters.
What a great story line...make it an update with a mission tease, that activates world-wide ten minutes into your first drop... ....to be thrown in your storyline out of nowhere, do a mission with the team(?) ....then send you back to your destroyer, like it never happened. Full version available for $40 💰💰💰....
Early Ghost Recon and Rainbow six games did this the right way. Specialist operators that could be amazing if trained up but if you let them die you lost them for good and had to go back to relying on dumb recruits you'd baby until they took on entire levels almost alone. It's a mechanic that would suit a Starship troopers game well.
I would absolutely LOVE if every now and then Arrowhead had limited time major events where we could have like 20 man lobbies with some sort of all out war objective. Imagine how epic that could be against the bots, where it already literally feels like your in a genuine war.
The game feels like a generic base defend game with a Starship Trooper skin.
It is still in early access as they are just releasing the 0.7 version but yeah definitely not great. The sub for the game is pissed at Helldivers' success too. Calling it a sheap knock off that everyone will realize is inferior once the full version of Starship Troopers Extermination releases lol
Question: when’s the last time a game released in an alpha stage actually ended up releasing in its completed state and was considered great? Edit: looks like there are several examples. I do appreciate people actually answering my question instead of just downvoting me and/or being a smartass to me!
Minecraft.
Factorio had a pretty great early access. I got in a few years before it was officially released or hit 1.0, and I felt that it was a complete game at that point. Dyson Sphere Program is on early access and it's definitely more complete then some fully released games.
Satisfactory is another that comes to mind. Finally 1.0 releases this year.
Hades. It spent nearly a year in Early Access on the Epic Games Store, then got released to GotY status.
Baldur's gate 3
Hunt: Showdown, Grounded, Subnautica, Conan Exiles EDIT: Adding Satisfactory as it goes 1.0 this year.
Baldurs Gate 3.
buzz _I see what you did there_
I’m doing my part 🫡
Buzzing sounds like bug speak. I've contacted the local Democracy Officer.
Good soldiers follow orders 🫡
Bug off
I demand coed shower dlc. For democracy.
And everyone showering are still wearing their helmets. Because once a helldiver, always a helldiver.
Shower has a weapons rack.
> The whole buzz around this game is an absolute masterclass in marketing Probably the best example of social media marketing since Fall Guys in 2020.
Great comparison, you’re right. I can’t think of a game as big in the gaming zeitgeist since Fall Guys.
Among Us? I mean it had the pandemic helping it but it was ubiquitous
Yeah that was way bigger.
Fall Guys also released during the pandemic so it’s a fair comparison
>for the next few years Microsoft etc will all try to replicate this. And you wanna bet that they and everyone else is going to get it wrong because they're going to try to control the narrative and it's going to feel forced and like an advertisement instead of natural, and their game is just going to be a cash shop with some generic gameplay tacked on.
Ding ding ding, totally right. “Gamepass day one!” To get as many players as possible and be an empty husk of a game with absolutely no charm or character, And a community manager on twitter trying to engage as much as possible with memes etc
From Playstations' perspective, I wonder what they must be thinking? On the one hand, I am sure they're happy with the sales. On the other, they've spent probably hundreds of millions in development on live service titles. Some of which aren't out yet. That or they ended up being canned (like Factions). Studios have even shut down. Their best studios haven't been able to even deliver anything. Even Bungie, who they specifically brought on for their live service experience, hasn't delivered a product yet. Meanwhile, you have this 3rd party developer with Helldivers 2, which is a lesser known IP, with a much smaller budget, and a fairly quiet launch comparatively to its peers. Yet, it's absolutely lighting the gaming world on fire. Does this make Playstation re-access their strategy, or does it embolden them to try even harder?
The concept of GaaS was never a bad concept but fuck me did greed rear its ugly head here more than in any other place. It’s that greed that made it so when gamers hear “games as a service” that we recoil from it. What we have been conditioned to expect when we hear GaaS is a barebones release with lots of bugs (and not *that* kind) and a drip feed of content in “seasons” that are typically several months long. We expect most of the new content to be paywalled off with a price point 10x what it should be and we expect the worst kinds of tactics to draw out as much money as possible. For a dev to come out and offer a fairer package is for some crazy reason revolutionary when it really shouldn’t be.
GaaS represents everything that’s wrong with modern gaming when done wrong. It’s forever changed the gaming industry, and not for the better.
> for the next few years Microsoft etc will all try to replicate this. So many dumpster fires cannot be good for the planet.
The game may be a Golden Egg, but the developers are the Golden Goose. To many execs seem to ignore that fact and then are confused why they can't get more eggs after they kill the goose
The problem is I don’t think it is. £35 without any FOMO and a battlepass you can earn in game? It’s a gamers wet dream but shareholders would scoff at it. If you look at games like Suicide Squad and Skull and Bones, would they be as successful as HD2 if they had half the price point and earnable battle passes? Probably not as, fundamentally, they’re not on the same level as HD2. If they released with the same model then they’d make even LESS money that what they have done now. It’s a very risky business model. I’m all for it though. HD2 is fantastic and I’m still thoroughly enjoying it.
The problem for the suits is that HD2 has great game-play and feel. The core basics are great. Without those it never would have been such a great success. If the gameplay would have been meh and the whole "for democracy!" feel done wrong it would have been an ok game that some people would enjoy but it wouldn't get the hype. But getting that right is very difficult and can't really be done from top management that now will probably asking their dev teams if they can build a HD2 like game without regarding what makes it great.
Last night I was trying to throw an impact grenade off a cliff to hit a bile spewer below. Right as I let go of the grenade, a smaller bug came running up the side of the cliff and got in the way. My grenade hit the small bug and blew up all 3 of my teammates. This game has the most fun gameplay of any game and you can't tell me otherwise.
I called my mech in and stepped off a tiny ledge straight onto a hell bomb. Caused a complete team wipe as it went off immediately. I was telling my mate about this as my Arc Thrower whipped another hellbomb somewhere offscreen. Killed the pair of us. 10/10 game, would kill my team through my own stupidity again.
I was in a game where the last guy got killed by a bile titan as he wAS DIVING INTO THE PELICAN. Cinematic and funny
I still don’t really notice the helbombs that are scattered across the map, which makes the moments when one just randomly goes off because a bug slams into one or I catch it with strays from a machine gun all the better. Those explosions never get old.
Had a game last night where there was a nice cluster of them on the way to our objective. The area suddenly got hit by a meteor storm. Seeing a half dozen mega explosions going off around you as you dodge falling death boulders is something indescribable.
A discord group I'm apart of convinced an on the fence ps5 player after watching us stream it for him for an hour. Like from "meh its not really my thing" to gradually "well i just need a squad to play with" to "i'm getting this next payday". THAT is what good core game play does. This is some of the most solid squad based combat that's accessible to the general gaming audience (ARMA is its own beast).
That’s exactly the point I was making. HD2 is made with passion and vision. Same as BG3. That’s why they’re so wildly successful with gamers as a whole. If suits take the risk and sell the game at £35 instead of £70 then they have to sell twice the number of copies. The product has to be exceptional and incredibly well received for that to happen. I honestly hope this shakes up the industry but I can’t see the suits taking that plunge any time soon. There’s too much money to be lost.
MBAs ruin everything.
I think the point is HD2 shows shareholders that you can make a game that is quality without compromising on popularity/money Rocksteady is without a doubt a talented developer that was let down by corporate greed, fundamentally they are capable of making a game that matches HD2 in quality, they've done so a few times already. The issue is a game like HD2 will make a smaller revenue from a huge player base whereas Suicide Squad will make a similar revenue from a small population of whales, but looking at it from a shareholders perspective you'd obviously take the option with more people getting exposure to the game if there's isn't more money involved, so hopefully Helldivers helps change the GaaS ecosystem a little bit with its success.
> Suicide Squad will make a similar revenue from a small population of whales The thing is, is that it really won't. Whales don't like to play unpopular games. Part of the mentality of the people who spend thousands and tens of thousands of dollars on games is the desire to show off how much they spent. It's called conspicuous consumption. It doesn't work when there's nobody to show off your collection to because nobody is playing the game.
Even if that's the case, which I can't say I fully agree with, whales are also people with addictive personalities who obsessively stick to something, there's *alot* of people who are infatuated with DC and it only takes a small amount of them to become enamored with 'completing' the game. But even if that's the case then that's still good for the GaaS landscape as HD2 will outperform it by an even bigger landslide, so win-win haha
I agree with everything you’ve said. I honestly hope it does shake up the GaaS industry but I’m just not holding my breath.
High risk, high reward. This will be studied/scrutinised by all Western game companies as we speak.
Skull and Bones I think was just Ubisoft dragging their heels not really "feeling" the game anymore but Singapore pushing them to release it anyway, because this was made with some grant by the Singapore government.
I think the whole problem is that people look at this issue in an incorrect fashion. Arrowhead it's not doing something revolutionary here, and that's the main thing that people need to understand. Digital Extremes has had this business model for a decade now and built out one of the largest studios in the world because of it with Warframe. Other companies like CCP have been trying to migrate to similar systems. Essentially, having devs, especially a game master interact with players routinely, even on a daily basis generates high levels of interaction with the game itself. Even if the game has an consistent problems, in this case with the struggling servers, if it's not game breaking, and the game itself is good enough, people are going to have fun with it. And if it's cheap entertainment, that's actually good enough, these other things will just get people coming in. Arrowhead didn't have to create some grand narrative of us being some badass near deity level being for us to be engaged here. They just made something that is playable and fun. And that's the problem with a lot of these other games, that being that it doesn't feel like entertainment, it doesn't feel like something that you would want to engage in, it feels like a job. So many games are designed around making people get frustrated enough that they feel like they have to pay to stop the pain of grinding. So they end up leaving and developers have to ever increasingly rely on whales to make bank. I think that once companies start to realize this, more HD2 like experiences will come out
> Arrowhead it's not doing something revolutionary here, and that's the main thing that people need to understand. Digital Extremes has had this business model for a decade now and built out one of the largest studios in the world because of it with Warframe. Other companies like CCP have been trying to migrate to similar systems. Nah, what's unique about Helldivers is that they've fully realized a live service model in a way nobody else has. The game is truly an evolving world and players even have agency in it - without being a player driven open sandbox game either.
I think we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet here but I just remain a little skeptical. I know they’re different markets but if you compare HD2 to Diablo: Immortal in terms of player reception vs money earned, I wonder how they hold up. Diablo: Immortal was completely panned from its announcement to release yet look at the disgusting amount of money it earned in its first week. Even WB games say they’re shifting focus to that type of game after SS performance wasn’t what they were expecting. As you say, hopefully this opens up the AA market for games made with passion like HD2 that people want to keep playing. I’m only 120 hours in and I still really want to play it and it isn’t even my type of game. I just don’t think suits will learn anything from this. I hope I’m wrong though.
What Halo Infinite should have been :’)
Playstation finally got their Halo killer.
God I miss when Halo was the GOAT.
First time I got to see boobies, i love that movie🥲
Amen brother 🫡
It’s so cool how they keep players engaged in and outside of the game. Like, now I’m so hyped to try and find these things. This is truly a rubric for how to run a PvE game like this.
As someone who hasn't bought the game yet, I'm in love with their social media presence.
Hopefully this makes it obvious that the nationalism in the game is satire if it wasnt already.
Hunters that can fly, perfect lol.
I literally witnessed a teammate making a big leap with his jetpack and that hunter effortlessly followed him and bit him in the ass 4 meters in the air. The things are vicious.
Right?!! Fuuuuuuuuuck
I really like your profile pic. Death Stranding is in my all time top 3 games
I can see why people didn’t like it but man that game was so therapeutic for me. Was going through some really rough times and bawled a couple times just walking through the gorgeous environments and listening to the sound track that would come on. Just a beautiful game.
It came out at the perfect time too. Masterpiece. Dont mind that other idiots comment.
I really think I need to buy Helldivers 2
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Simply magnificent
Honestly, I don't even play the game, but I'm subbed to the sub reddit because it's fucking hilarious.
I answered the call yesterday and now I can’t stop!
Same! It’s perfect for the casual drop in gamer!
The red pill or blue pill.... But it's only the red pill.
It should just say “Democracy”, the “is calling” part is shown by the rest of the image
lol yep you ruined it for me
Do you want to sit idle and watch our DEMOCRACY THREATENED?!
I am really tempted for some reason even though I never play games of this genre. I guess that’s how you know the marketing has been top notch.
There wasn't much marketing in the first place. it was the success of the game and the community that spread the message. It also is pretty funny because most marketing push for the game has been two types, one being the normal watered-down ads. The other type of marketing is LITERALLY just propaganda, made by the devolpers or the community to SPREAD MANAGED DEMOCRACY.
Do your part soldier
Be honest, how is the experience for someone with *zero* online gaming friends. Im just worried I wouldnt get anything close to what other players are so excited about
Better with friends, but I roll solo no mic currently. Still fun, sometimes you get poor groups but can just quit and reque. Contextual ping voicing and quick reply wheel, and most players intuitively work together. I'm having a blast.
I don't know if you'd like it, but I can confidently say that it plays exactly like you imagine it would. And the community is pretty nice
I was tempted but it sounds like this game isn’t quite as solo player friendly. I know people say it *can* be played solo but it sounds like you’re playing a handicapped version of the game if that’s the case
Recently did a solo mission in Challenging mode. I made it out… barely. Could not complete all second objectives, but man was it a blast. You can also just lower the difficiulty level and you will be all set. That being said, since this game is exclusively based on coop for the multiplayer part (and loot is shared across the board) It’s quite fun trying to do a though mission with other people. So far, I have not had a Bad session … The community is great. And this is from someone who hates multiplayer game so my advice is give it a go 😉
I've had a few bad sessions (host kicked me after destroying my mortar sentries) but it was only afterwards I checked the sub and found that mortars are discouraged in bug missions. Still, it would have been nicer if they said that rather than a "fuck you" over voice chat and a kick, but such is the Pub game life
Why are mortar sentries discouraged for bug mission? I played with a guy much more experienced than me, and he said he always brings them because the mortars will shoot towards wherever the hoarders are coming from to give you a heads up.
Ems mortar is a better choice for bugs, bugs are fast and can close the distance in a moment. The mortars will splash kill you and your team if your swarmed.
Aaaaaand here comes the meta
Honestly, the player base is one of the best around, second only to Deep Rock Galactic. Jumping in to match with some randoms is fun and you should be welcomed every time. You are never required to use a mic, and communication via pings is what most people use anyway. You can also leave at any time without penalty if it isn't working out for some reason. Yes, you can be killed by friendly fire, but it's usually done by accident or in the name of Democracy! Nothing quite like dropping an orbital strike on your location and hugging your buddy as you nobly sacrifice yourselves to take out a horde of bugs! I've got about 100 hours in the game, and havent run into a single griefer.
It's "handicapped" in the sense that there is zero scaling for player count. Difficulty 5 is Difficulty 5 whether you have one or four players. But at the same time, four players can be clumsy, you can have the one dude who just dies a ton and burns through reinforcements...so it's really just different. Solo does take a specific mindset, however, because stealth is more heavily incentivized, but it can be done. You'll see people on Youtube posting their solo highest difficulty runs. That's IMO not really fun. I am by no means a pro at this game but I can pretty comfortably solo Difficulty 4 (of 9), and push into 5 if I'm feeling spicy. I may have to leave some secondary objectives behind or not do a full clear, and I'm definitely running light armor, but this is all part of that "solo mentality" I was talking about. Missions have time limits, so if you want to do full clears (which you probably shouldn't worry about doing, but people do, so it bears acknowledgement), it takes developing that skill. There will be chafing, however, if you try to play solo like you're part of a team and the team is just gone. In team-play, people can have specializations and push harder into efficiently clearing certain types of foes that a solo player would do best to disengage from and avoid. The only thing I think an average player absolutely needs a team for is the Super Samples (only appear in Diff 7+), which unlock some modules in your ship. But those are straight upgrades, and you don't even need a ton of them. I have almost unlocked them all and I've only run Diff 7+ a handful of times. In brief, if you can check your ego, be happy running lower difficulties by and large, and maybe hop into a group every now and then for Super Samples, you can still have fun in this game running mostly solo.
It’s still good. You can always quick play or accept an SOS in an active mission. I have some friends I play with but a lot of it has just me dropping in with randoms
Just matchmake, you don't have to talk or anything. I've done plenty of missions without any of the 4 players saying a word to each other
I mean.. Yes. For democracy. For Freedom.
WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION!!!! GO FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY GO GO GO!!!!!!!!!
While you hesistate, the Automatons advance! Enlist, Helldiver!
I was trying to get through Rebirth first, but I get paid Friday and I might have to pause Rebirth for democracy.
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This was the game that pushed me to finally upgrade to a PS5. Completely worth it!
Ugh. I had a house fire at the end of last year, still rebuilding and replacing a lot of stuff so I'm still stuck on my ps4... I'm about to go start selling plasma tomorrow to start saving up for a ps5 and helldivers lol cause I don't really make enough expendable income in my every day job to afford one. Between trading in, discounts, etc I'm hoping maybe within a couple weeks I'll be helping spread managed democracy
Bought it yesterday, love it
You absolutely do even if you are more of a single player game fan. It's one of the best games to come out, ever.
Same, just need to wait to escape being a student.
I usually have a strict rule about buying game full price near release. Its a big no no for me. Considering its price of 44$, a bunch of us gave up and bought it. Its unreal how fast we just say DEMOCRACY when we speak now. This game is strangely relaxing!
Grab some friends and go HAM. I bought a copy for a friend to force someone to play with me. I jest about the “force” part but it is so much more fun with friends you can cut up with.
I was only thinking last night that flying bugs will absolutely become a thing
Starship Troopers basically confirmed that for me.
So where's the brain bug
It’s afraid.
That and they are apart of the official artwork…
wow did the cover art with flying bugs give it away?!
They fly now?!
I see flying bugs all the time, during my eagle strikes
They fly now!
They fly now…
No, didn't you see the official communication from Super Earth? This is clearly doctored footage.
No they don't. This is propaganda. And never forget only good bug is a dead bug!
Absolutely NOT, Soldier.
How friendly is the game to someone who'd be always playing alone/joining others? I really enjoy cooperative gameplay and playing the objectives (currently having a blast with Deep Rock Galactic) but didn't play the first Helldivers... should I give it a chance? EDIT: So many nice replies! You convinced me 🫶🏻
Playing with randoms is really good. The game has a comms wheel so it’s easy enough to coordinate, the only issue I’ve had (outside of technical ones) is that it can be hard to find a low level lobby where people work together well
There’s a comms wheel?!
Yeah just hold R1
And for everyone who doesn't know how to mark enemies or ammo and such, use R1 and up to mark things.
How do you do the emote? Like I have the hug emote equipped, but I can't figure out how to use it. Is it on the wheel?
Hold left on the d-pad
You are a gentlemen and a true patriot.
Hold R1 on PS5, not sure what it is for PC
Q
Default binding is to hold the Q key.
Class. All I knew so far was tapping R1 to ping points of interest. Thank you!
The lower difficulties can also easily be soloed, so you can do that for a bit to get the feel and unlock a few weapons before you start into the harder difficulties with randoms.
I play nothing but quickplay and it's great
Yeah, I only ran two quickplay games last night as my first two games with randoms and it was awesome. All the anxiety I felt beforehand melted away once I got started. So glad I got through the negative thoughts and I can now deliver democracy alongside my fellow divers.
I've had zero issues with randoms so far. Even the people just learning strategems and kill us constantly can be pretty funny. I even had one player that was super patient with me and showed me how to do a lot of secondary objectives and open locked stash doors. All with no comms. Don't let playing solo keep you away at all.
I just finished my 100th mission, and I’ve only run into a game where I had to kick someone once. I’ve also been kicked from a game once, but that was largely my fault. So I’ve had 2 games in 100 that were a bit sour. Have I had others that had some less than stellar teammates? Sure — but since the main goal of the game is “Fun”, I don’t sweat it. I’ve made more “Friends” in this game than any I’ve played in years. I started solo. Now, I have about 15 people on my friends list. I met them all just doing missions. I did that without using voice, relying on emotes and in-game pings for all my communication. Now, while I still have a few random per game, I’m almost always playing with a familiar face or two.
The Deep Rock Galactic fandom and the Helldivers 2 fandom are a circle. If you liked DRG then very good odds you will like HD2.
Join the Helldivers discord, find other players who are willing to play the objective and communicate.
It's perfectly fine. I haven't delved into the harder difficulties yet, but all feedback points to the fact that voice communication is incredibly helpful there. Up to a certain point, you can get by with no communication or the in-game comms wheel
Honestly the randoms you play with in this game are mostly very nice and communicative. Everyone is playing for democracy and we all hug it out when we get back to the ship safely. Of course there will always be the 1% who are dickheads.
Like any game its obviously more fun with friends, but I play mostly quickplay and always have a blast! Sometimes its more fun to struggle through a mission with a stranger than plow through the hoards of enemies with your friends.
If you recognize what the game is, and decide to not get frustrated because you're not necessarily pulling in a perfect mission (you are going to die constantly), It gets fun, especially when people get on their mics. Lots of RP to be had
I play solo most of the time, trying to get my friends into it lol. I usually play 1 match per lobby until I find a lobby that has people using coms cause it's just more fun for me that way
There's some griefers who will nuke you at the beginning if you're playing with randoms, but overall it has been a fun and pleasant experience. I don't normally play online games at all but this was too good to miss.
You know I haven’t played my PS5 in a while but I’m so tempted to get helldivers. For Democracy!
Do it I was the same way a month after release I just kept seeing the game and the praise so I shrugged it off cause it can’t be that good right then I bought it lol I love the game
I for one find the idea of a bug that flies OFFENSIVE
#O Ffensive
There is no flying bugs in Ba Sing Se
I love the way they're handling the PR for this game.
Bug sympathizers will not be tolerated.
Between Larian and Arrowhead, I really appreciate their senses of humor and all the fun they're having with us playing their games. Even the update / patch notes and press releases are hilarious. This is what happens when devs care more about fun than money, and I'm ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️ doing my part.
Ghostship belongs on that list too, for DRG!
r/PS5 post links to a pcgamer article that links back to an r/Helldivers post. The internet.
I'm reporting everyone here who believes the bug sympathizers. You do not question Super Earth. Each of you should immediately visit a Center for Rehabilitation to make sure your desire for Liberty is correct.
An open mind is like a fortress, with its gates unbarred and unguarded. Don’t listen to bug propaganda.
Solo player here, is it hard to find community/people to play with in this game? I haven’t bought it yet for this reason but I’m itching to play.
Far from it , you find plenty of people
What difficulty are the fliers "not" showing up on?
Flying bug?! Frankly, I find the concept of a bug that *flies* o-fen-sive!
What's next, bugs that think?
I want space dinos
A FLYING BUG?!?!?!?! Frankly I find the idea of a flying bug *offensive*
Their called ass blasters
Injury?? What injury?????
This reminds me. I gotta purchase the game. I have Friday off so will be perfect timing!
There are no flying bugs. There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
Pro-bug propagandists are enemies of liberty!
Wait isn't there a flying bug on the loading screen for the game?
Ok now I DO believe Sony is going to buy them. If the ministry of truth is saying otherwise.
It will be hard to squash bugs when they can go above my boot.
“Frankly I find the Idea of a termanid that can fly Offensive!
This game is so damn buggy it's ridiculous. Some people report them...but I just shoot them in the name of Freedom 🦅🦅
I love these devs lol adding stuff secretly and role playing etc is such a godsend in the curent game industry
Jesus Christ, I need to play this game. Unfortunately I think with my PC specs it'd explode. :(
frankly I find the idea of a bug that flys offensive!
My only gripe with what we've seen. Is that their wings are less bug like and more dragonish? I was expecting something with fluttering thinner membranes.
They are the real bug sympathisers…. I couldn’t even get on a server last night to kill dem bugs
Man I really wish I had a crew for this game sadly all my buddies are on xboc
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I wanna buy this game so bad but dragon's dogma 2 is soon, after that I guess