Summary
Almost exactly six months after it was first released,Helldivers 2is set to receive a major content update called Escalation of Freedom. The third-person co-op shooter found tremendous success when it launched on PS5 and PC in February 2024, immediately asserting itself as one of thebest co-op shooterson the market. Drip-fed new content has kept the game evolving at a slow pace while a number of bugs get ironed out, but come Escalation of Freedom’s drop on August 6, there will be plenty of new content for Helldivers to subject to the righteous embrace Managed Democracy.
With Super Earth embroiled in the Second Galactic War – waging on two fronts against the Terminids and the Automatons –Helldivers 2’s slow introduction of new content has served the game decently thus far, providing the illusion of a naturally progressing conflict. Nearing its half-year mark, however,it’s clear that the playerbase is eager for significant additions, most notably thedatamined return of the Illuminate enemy faction, which has been consistently teased since the game’s launch. Escalation of Freedom won’t bring the Illuminate toHelldivers 2, but there are plenty of big changes coming in August.
Helldivers 2 Review: “A Refreshingly Fun Power Fantasy”
Helldivers 2 is just about the best-case scenario for a live-service game, and its show-stopping gameplay delivers incredibly visceral moments.
10Acid Storms Will Now Reduce Armor For Helldivers & Enemies
Increased Damage For All
Acid Storms have so far been a rather disappointing environmental hazard inHelldivers 2. Despite their threatening name, Acid Storms simply reduce player visibility, usually on planets with Intense Heat. They’re essentially a yellow-tinged Rainstorm, but aren’t quite as consequential as other visibility-reducing weather effects like Sandstorms or Blizzards.
Escalation of Freedom aims to correct this timidity, however, by making it soAcid Storms corrode the armor of Helldivers and enemies alike. When caught in acid rain, there will effectively be a universal modifier for more damage taken by all combatants. It’s a minor change, but will likely be an interesting addition, increasing the volatility of encounters at essentially random times.
9Swamp Environment Is Getting A New Variant With Limited Visibility
Fog, More Flora, & Reduced Lighting
Helldivers 2planetstake a page out ofStar Wars' world design by covering an entire world in one kind of environment or biome. Swamp planets are a more recent addition to the game, and Escalation of Freedom will introduce another new twist to them. The update’sPlayStation Blogpost clarifies thatthe new environmental variant includes “rolling fog” and “untamed flora.”
Lightning strikes split the sky in all the clips shown in the Escalation of Freedom announcement trailer above, but it’s unclear if thunderstorms are a universal addition to the new Swamps. Regardless, visibility seems to be the key, with flashlights specifically mentioned in thePlayStation Blogas a huge benefit to Helldivers trudging through the new bayou. The “untamed flora” is also an interesting development, as most planets only feature sparse vegetation, and those that are more verdant don’t necessarily provide great hiding places for enemies.
8Helldivers 2 Is Introducing A New Griefing Prevention Measure
Alleviates Getting Kicked At The End Of A Mission
A persistent issue withHelldivers 2’s otherwise wonderful co-op experience is griefers kicking their teammates from a lobby right before the mission is about to end. Missions can be lengthy affairs, often up to 40 minutes long, and a host kicking another player out of the game ensures the latter receives none of the rewards.
Per thePlayStation Blog, the newHelldivers 2update will rectify this: “if a player is kicked, they will spawn into a new session as the host with all of the team’s lootfrom their previous session. All items can now be picked up by the player before extraction.” This seems to simply transfer a kicked player into a new mission, though it’s unclear at what stage, since it sounds like extraction is still required. Hopefully, this new session will also carry over completed objectives so that effort is not wasted.
7New Spore Charger Is Being Added To The Terminid Ranks
Charger Variant
The Charger is one of the more formidable Terminid enemy types, being heavily armored, boasting a significant health pool, and dishing out a lot of damage when it manages to run down a Helldiver. A new variant, the Spore Charger, will only complicate matters further. Spore Spewers are familiar secondary objectives at this point, so Helldivers will know what to expect from a Charger that spews its own spores.
While a Charger is certainly dangerous, Terminids heavily rely on their sheer numbers to overwhelm players. Spore Chargers will conceivably be a significantly larger threat because of this,not only obscuring itself in a cloud, but its allies as well. Other than the polyps covering its body, Spore Chargers appear much the same, so Helldivers' strategies for taking down their regular brethren will likely carry over.
A Charger’s weak point is on its tail end, but its armored carapace can also be stripped off with explosives to uncover more damageable areas.
Brood Commander Variant
Another new Terminid variant coming toHelldivers 2with the Escalation of Freedom update is the Alpha Commander, a more daunting version of the Brood Commander. According to thePlayStation Blog, an Alpha Commander “is a supercharged Brood Commander that’s bigger, meaner, and doesn’t hesitate to call in other bugs for backup.” Brood Commanders already rarely appear solo, butthe trailer implies an Alpha Commander’s squadron of accompanying bugs will be significantly more deadly.
The Alpha Commander itself is likely to pose a bigger threat as well, referred to as “heavier” and “more deadly” by Johan Pilestedt, CCO ofHelldivers 2developer Arrowhead Game Studios, in the update’s trailer. Although unconfirmed, the Alpha Commander being heavier implies that it will have greater armor than regular Brood Commanders, or at least more resilience.
Brood Commanders become more aggressive if their head is shot off, so it is often more beneficial to target their front legs first.
5Terminid Impaler Is Joining The Second Galactic War
Another Bug From The First Helldivers
Helldivers 2took a radical departure from its predecessor as a sequel, transforming the originalHelldivers' top-down, twin-stick shooter gameplay into an over-the-shoulder perspective. Many of the game’s enemies are lifted straight from the first game as well, but there are a handful that have yet to make an appearance in the Second Galactic War – among them is the Impaler.
The Escalation of Freedom trailer specifically highlights thatthe Impaler is designed to impede Helldivers fleeing a swarm of bugs. Keeping mobile is typically an effective strategy against the Terminids, even on the highest difficulties, but the Impaler’s towering tentacles will emerge from the ground to attack Helldivers and slow them down. Impalers are likely to bring significant changes to Terminid missions, even more so than the Spore Charger and Alpha Commander.
4Rocket Tanks Will Give The Automatons New Artillery
Tank Variant
So far, the only new Automaton unit revealed for theHelldivers 2Escalation of Freedom update is the Rocket Tank, another variant. Automaton Tanks already come equipped with either a laser cannon or a laser turret, but the Rocket Tank will provide a versatile new weapon. Its most straightfoward use will simply be aiming at Helldivers and firing rockets, a deadly threat if Rocket Devastators are any indication.
Their rocket pods can also be aimed up into the air, however, turning the Rocket Tanks into artillery batteries. It’s unclear how far their range is, though it seems unlikely to match that of the stationary artillery emplacements that serve as secondary objectives in some Automaton missions. It’s plausible that the Rocket Tank isn’t the only new Automaton coming in theHelldivers 2update, since many more new Terminids have already been announced.
Though unconfirmed, it appears likely that Rocket Tanks will have the same weak point as other Tank variants: a glowing exhaust port on their rear side.
3Helldivers 2 Will Have New, Larger Enemy Outposts To Destroy
New Source Of Super Samples
A fourth Outpost tier is coming toHelldivers 2with the Escalation of Freedom update, bigger than all three original iterations. Heavy Outposts can already be an especially difficult secondary objective to destroy, filled with bug holes or bot fabricators that constantly supply new enemies. These new Outpost appear as large complexes, and may even incorporate other kinds of secondary objectives, evidenced by the Detector Tower seen in the middle of an Outpost in the trailer.
Detector Towers allow constant reinforcements via Automaton dropships, so it’s often easier to destroy them by employing stealth.
A major component to these new Outposts is their rewards: Super Samples. Prior to the Escalation of Freedom update, there is only one source of Super Samples – a certain terrain structure surrounded by them in difficulties six and up. Super Samples are used to unlock thebestHelldivers 2Ship Modules, an important facet to the game’s overarching progression system. These Outposts may make Super Samples more plentiful, but also provide some much-needed variety in acquiring them.
2Combat Rating 10 Introduces A New Difficulty For Helldivers 2 Missions
Super Helldive
For the most hardened Helldivers, a new difficulty is being added in the Escalation of Freedom update. Combat Rating 10: Super Helldive will mark a new ceiling for challenging missions.Helldivers 2has had the same nine mission tiers since launch, but the most experienced players and especially coordinated squads find consistent success on Helldive difficulty, the current highest.
New Helldivers 2 Booster Is A Must-Have For High Difficulty Missions
Although its effects aren’t as obvious as other boosters, Helldivers 2’s Localization Confusion booster has one of the strongest effects in the game.
Super Helldive will increase enemy spawns and alter the included unit types.Presumably, this means the 10th difficulty will feature plenty of the new enemy typescoming in theHelldivers 2update, as Impalers, Alpha Commanders, Spore Chargers, and Rocket Tanks all appear to belong in the upper echelon of the enemy’s rank and file. It can also be assumed that difficulty 10 will yield more Super Samples, as six through nine have varying availability, though this is unconfirmed at the time of writing.
1Helldivers 2: Escalation Of Freedom Update Will Bring New Mission Objectives
Retrieve Larva & More
Alongside all these other changes, perhaps the most significant addition toHelldivers 2in the update is new mission objectives. One specifically outlined in the Escalation of Freedom trailer isthe Retrieve Larva mission, which tasks a squad with acquiring a larval Terminid and bringing it to extraction. Crucially, the capsule the larva is transported in takes up a backpack slot, meaning it could be a significant burden on the player carrying it. Adding even more danger, the larva cries out as it’s carried, attracting Terminids hoping to rescue their young.
Retrive Larva doesn’t appear to be the only new mission objective coming via the newHelldivers 2update, but it is the only one revealed so far. Similarly, the developers in the Escalation of Freedom trailer assert that not everything coming in the update has yet been revealed (and new jetpack Automatons are teased at the very end).Helldivers 2has seen a lot of positive feedback for adding surprises to the game without a prior announcement, and this content update will likely continue that tradition.
Sources:PlayStation Blog,PlayStation/YouTube
Helldivers 2
Helldivers II is the follow-up to the 2015 multiplayer top-down single-player/co-op shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios. The sequel, which has shifted gears to a third-person shooter format, drops players into the boots of elite super-soldiers who fight to protect Super Earth from invading alien forces while taking the fight to those who threaten the “democracy of Super Earth.”
