Robot Vietnam has fallen. Helldivers have failed their Major Order to defend against the Automatons, and now the Termanids are one step closer to humanity’s homeworld.
This collection of defeats amounts to a sad moment for Helldivers 2 fans. But it’s an event that will only embolden it. It’s difficult to think of any game in recent memory that has united a player base quite like Helldivers 2 has. The fight to push back alien frontlines has captured people’s imagination in such a way that it’s generated memes, camaraderie, and – most importantly – loyalty. A loyalty that has spread, bringing in new troops for the war effort day after day. But what’s the secret behind this cultural phenomenon? Well, aside from just being a bloody good game, it’s the Dungeons & Dragons of it all. Developer Arrowhead has made a galactic-scale RPG and everyone wants a seat at the table.
At first glance, it’s easy to compare Helldivers 2’s dynamically shifting frontlines to those seen in PlanetSide 2, Sony’s cult 2012 shooter. There certainly are broad similarities; the actions of Helldivers players contribute to the liberation percentage of planets across the galaxy. If the community successfully completes enough missions on a given planet, it falls under the control of Super Earth. Liberate every planet in a sector and the galaxy’s frontline can be reshaped. This overall goal, to push back the eastern and western fronts plagued by the robot Automatons and insectoid Termanids respectively, is made surprisingly engaging by the way your contributions help push forward day-to-day changes to the big picture.
The small, dynamic shifts within this sure-to-be-long-waging war create a sense of authenticity. Just days ago, the planet of Malevelon Creek – best known as “Robot Vietnam” – fell to the Automatons. Arrowhead made it inaccessible, essentially turning off Helldivers 2’s fan-favourite map for multiple hours in the name of storytelling. It comes alongside the recently failed Major Order that formed the first significant piece of narrative; the Automatons made a two-week long push towards Super Earth, and stalwart defense was required. Unfortunately, not enough players successfully contributed to the war effort, and just six of the required eight planets were successfully defended. But while the community failed, the event certainly created an authentic sense of urgency that could be felt across social media. The fact that it did this is sort of remarkable; the reward for completing the Major Order was just 12500 Requisition Slips – something that can easily be earned in a few hours of regular play. It’s a sum that’s barely worth the effort. And yet, thousands were dedicated to the cause. And so it’s clear: people don’t care because of the reward, they care because they have completely bought into the Helldivers fantasy. In short: they’re roleplaying.
That’s not a side-effect of Helldivers’ gameplay and lore. It’s intentional. Arrowhead may not have foreseen the colossal success that Helldivers 2 has turned out to be, but it always intended to craft Dungeons & Dragons-influenced unfolding storylines – so much so that it literally employs a full-time dungeon master.
Talking to PC Gamer, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt revealed that a man named Joel is in charge of managing Helldivers’ meta-narrative. “We have a lot of systems built into the game where the Game Master has a lot of control over the play experience. It’s something that we’re continuously evolving based on what’s happening in the game,” he said. “And as part of the roadmap, there are things that we want to keep secret because we want to surprise and delight.”
Of course, roleplaying games like D&D are designed for just a handful of players. But Pilestedt explained that the ideas that power tabletop games can be scaled up to galactic proportions. “It’s the same format when you build that for millions of players, it’s just that you can’t get as personal with every individual,” he said. “But you can still do the same twists and turns.”
That much is already clear. Many expected the failure of the recent Major Order to result in the Automatons pushing forward a sector. Instead, a Termanid hive has erupted in the Orion sector and seized the planet Veld. It’s an unexpected twist, but it’s also the work of a skilled game master. The new Major Order only requires players to reclaim this single planet, and when the order was first issued, Veld was already 48% liberated. Arrowhead recognized that players struggled with the challenge of the previous event and so tailored the second to make it much more achievable. As a good GM knows, never put your players through hell twice in a row.
This global reactivity creates something truly compelling; a sense of authorship that’s owned by both the developer and the players. That ownership breeds commitment, which in turn forges community. The result is hundreds of thousands of Helldivers, ready to fight tooth-and-nail against bugs and ‘bots.
Like in the world of tabletop RPGs, the story takes on a life of its own outside of the game. But where in D&D that manifests as in-jokes shared between the friends that play together, with Helldivers it has become a wide-reaching online phenomenon. Social media has been flooded by memes that mourn the loss of planets and riff on the ‘PTSD’ experienced by players ‘serving’ on the Automaton planets. On TikTok, a channel called Super Earth Broadcast does daily war updates in the guise of propaganda videos. This Starship Troopers-like format has been copied by a number of other creators, while others provide more casual (yet still enthusiastic) analysis of the shifting fronts. This is all evidence of just how much players have committed to the bit.
Of course, none of this would be possible without