Helldivers Review: To Hell and Back

Democracy is a powerful thing. A number of nations have been enjoying for hundreds of years, while some others would rather do things their own way. In the dystopian universe of Helldivers, all of mankind is ruled by a “managed” democracy by 2084, and it’s up to Helldivers to help fight for humanity (and democracy), against three formidable alien races. How exactly this war began is completely unknown. All you know as a Helldiver is that Super Earth needs you to fight for it, so you’re tasked with defending it.

Helldivers is developed by Arrowhead Game Studios, best known for Magicka and last year’s revival of Gauntlet. The developer has some experience in developing co-op games, and in Helldivers, you’re going to need all the help you can get in order to survive the countless aliens you’ll be coming across.

Helldivers! To your pods!

The majority of your time in Helldivers will be spent completing missions across various planets. You’ll first need to select a warzone, which will dictate which one of three races you’ll battle: Bugs, Cyborgs, or Illuminates. You’ll then choose a planet, each of which have their own environments as well as difficulties. Helldivers allows you to choose from a wide range of difficulties, which is extremely helpful as first-timers will want to brush up on the game’s mechanics before attempting to complete missions with a higher difficulty.

Helldivers uses a progression system, research points, and successful missions to help in acquiring new gear for your soldier. As you gain experience, your Helldiver will be able to unlock either cosmetic customizations, new weaponry, or perks. Gaining Stratagems, which are military ordinance that can be called into battle, is done by unlocking them via completing a planet’s set number of missions successfully. Upgrading weapons and Stratagems can be done through the use of research points, which are awarded to Helldivers for either leveling up or returning valuable samples from alien planets. These three methods come together harmoniously, as it always feels like I’m making progress to something significant each time I complete a mission.

Stratagems play a very large role in Helldivers as having the right ordinance for your missions is extremely important. Calling in ordinance  can be done by holding down the L1 button and mashing in the designated D-Pad combinations. You’ll be able to call in airstrikes, giant mech robots, a resupply of ammo, turrets, and more through the use of Stratagems. The D-Pad combinations for each Stratagem is different depending on what a Helldiver wants to call in. Things can get a little hairy if you need a Stratagem to be dropped in while there’s a swarm of enemies making its way to your position. I’ve had a number of situations where I had to give up on calling in certain ordinance due to being completely bombarded by a swarm of enemies.

Trust everyone while trusting no one

Helldivers relies heavily on others to drive the experience, whether it be through direct co-op while playing through missions, or through indirect influence that is tallied up from everyone’s efforts in its Galactic Campaign feature. This gives the game a unique dynamic that requires players to trust one another to work together for a common goal, although at the same time, it requires players to be wary of other Helldivers.

A total of four Helldivers can play together in both online and offline co-op play, and that help will be invaluable during more difficult missions. While I experienced many Helldivers that were very helpful in completing my objectives, there were a handful of times when I was teamed up with players that were completely useless and either impeded my progression, or straight up got me killed with their inexperience.

When other Helldivers weren’t getting me killed, my deployable equipment was. Helldivers has a friendly-fire policy for everything, so that means other players can cause damage to me as well as my own devices. Turrets I set up to defend me can suddenly swing around in my direction if there’s an alien coming up behind me. Mines I forgot about can be detonated by accident, and ordinance I call in can come down and completely crush me if I don't pay attention to landing points.

While it may sound like I’m complaining, I really enjoyed how unforgiving Helldivers can be. Not only do players need skill in order to complete their mission objectives, but they also need to be aware of their surroundings as anything and everything can kill your Helldiver seemingly at any time. This is what makes the Helldivers experience such a unique one, and one that I found myself completely engrossed in as soon as I started playing.

Give 'em hell

Helldivers is the kind of game all co-op titles should strive to be. Not only does it offer a very rewarding top-down twin-stick shooter experience, but it's co-op goes beyond your own game. The experience is one all Helldivers will share together as well all work within a unified community in order to bring democracy to the galaxy. I for one will continue to play Helldivers well after its initial release to make sure the galaxy is rid of Bugs, Cyborgs, and Illuminates, or I'll die trying.