Helldivers 2 has quickly become one of the biggest live service games ever made. The game won multiple awards last year and continues to grow even better. Arrowhead Game Studios has made tremendous efforts in developing the game, but a lot of credit also goes to the players. The Helldivers community is unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time and that says something.
Arrowhead Game Studios COO Johan Pilestedt has emphasized that Helldivers 2 was designed to encourage teamwork. But we all know that simple design choices don’t stop the gamers in the world who will take on any challenge. His reaction summed it up perfectly: “It’s crazy what the community does.”
Helldivers 2 wasn’t made to be played alone, Arrowhead made sure of it
From its very foundation, Helldivers 2 has been designed to be played by multiple people. Helldivers are encouraged to rely on one another be it in their weapons, stratagems, and tactics to survive the alien forces. Arrowhead COO Johan Pilestedt himself has talked about how the difficulty levels of the game were made with squads in mind, not solo players.
In an interview with Comics Gaming Magazine last year, Pilestedt revealed that some players are just too determined to go against the odds. He recalled how one player managed to clear the hardest difficulty in the first game using only melee attacks.
We have added up to difficulty level 50 in Helldivers [original], so we thought this one needs to be difficult as well, one guy in the community that soloed it with melee only no strats [stratagems in Helldivers 2]!
When discussing Helldivers 2’s difficulty scaling, Pilestedt admitted that the game was designed to make players lean toward cooperative play. He still acknowledged the kind of feats and challenges that some players go through to go against the game’s difficulty design.
It’s crazy what the community does, which is always inspiring to us. How can people be so good at this game? So, in Helldivers 2, there’s a little bit more of ‘stealth mechanics’ in place. So, it means that Helldivers can play in a sneakier way when you’re soloing, which should, in theory, allow you to go pretty far during solo play.
If you think back on it now, it’s pretty crazy that whoever did that even managed. Because Helldivers 2 has been a step up in terms of difficulty. The game has been up and down in terms of balancing but even still playing the game on the hardest difficulty alone would be nigh impossible.
We know that doesn’t stop some of the more challenge-hungry players
There have been reports of players completing Helldivers 2 missions on Super Helldive, the game’s hardest difficulty. But in this game, it’s mostly just a reward for staying out of battle and focusing on objectives. As one Redditor commented on a post, “Solo is not about fighting. In fact avoid as much fighting as you can.”
Pilestedt has frequently praised the Helldivers 2 community for their creativity and dedication. The game’s mechanics are so open for exploration that players find ways to push the limits of what’s possible. We’ve seen ridiculous stunts, crazy clips of teamwork, and so much more in the year that the game has been out.
Helldivers 2 was one of the biggest games of 2024. And this success will continue even in 2025. Johan Pilestedt recently announced his hiatus from working on the game but we have faith that he will no doubt return after taking a much-needed break.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
