Helldivers 2 has set the gaming community ablaze over the last month. Arrowhead’s unexpected runaway success has captivated fans across PS5 and PC, with Steam reporting a maximum of 450,000 concurrent players. Such was its success, that it massively overwhelmed servers for roughly 3 weeks after launch.
And it’s no wonder that happened, because Helldivers 2 gets everything right for a multiplayer live service game. Challenging PvE gameplay, hilarious moments, a focus on teamwork, and a promising lineup of future content make the co-op shooter an absolute riot to play with friends.
Funny Deaths Are The Backbone Of Helldivers 2
A recent X/Twitter post by PlayStation-centric YouTuber Reforge Gaming showed one of the many comical moments that the game can throw at you.
This is why #Helldivers2 is capturing folks… moments like this. pic.twitter.com/GneD0o3VmB
— Reforge Gaming (@ReforgeGaming) March 3, 2024
The clip shows the player and his team fighting a huge Bile Titan Terminid in Helldivers 2‘s typical frantic fashion. The bug was being targeted by an Eagle 500KG Bomb, which upon dropping, lit the Terminid up in flames and flung it towards the player, who was promptly killed by it as well.
Where One Clip Goes, Others Follow
Reforge Gaming’s tweet has racked up a fair bit of traction, with over 16,000 views and counting. Other Helldivers 2 players have also shared some of their favorite moments in the comments, a lot of which are even more amusing than the original post.
This goes to show that success for a multiplayer game doesn’t just come from the most intricate gameplay mechanics, the biggest maps, or a truckload of content at launch. A multiplayer live service game succeeds first and foremost by being fun to play, and Helldivers 2 has absolutely nailed it on that front, as proven by these clips.
The recipe behind Helldivers 2 is achingly simple – a ragtag team of 4 gunning down bugs/robots, peppered with hilarity throughout. That’s all the game has needed to decimate almost every other live service game on the market. The smash hit co-op shooter is currently sitting at #4 on the Steam most played chart, even beating the likes of Palworld, Apex Legends, and GTA Online.
An achievement this immense was obviously something Arrowhead couldn’t foresee, and thanks to their diligence behind the scenes, the server and queue time issues plaguing Helldivers 2 since launch have been fixed, freeing them up to work on exciting post-launch content.
Helldivers 2‘s success is evidence that the games industry’s tendency to overcomplicate the core tenets of a game’s success often works against them, and that sometimes, a simple, strong foundation is all you need to resonate with players.
What’s also helped greatly is the transparency with which Arrowhead has communicated with the playerbase. Their sincere apologies for the server issues, hard work on rectifications, and even the CEO telling players to hold off on buying the game until problems were fixed is a refreshing sight that you don’t see with most other studios.
Are you spreading managed democracy in Helldivers 2? Let us know in the comments!
