Helldivers 2: Major Update Adds New Challenges
- Higher difficulty level
- New game modes
- Return of the Impaler enemy
- New variant of the Charger with noxious spores
- New version of the swamp environment
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News
HELLDIVERS 2 IS GETTING EVEN TOUGHER IN A HUGE NEW UPDATE
The update, which lands on August 6, brings back a fan-favorite enemy from the first game and more.
By Moises Taveras
Published Tuesday 11:22 AM
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Helldivers 2 has changed a lot over the past five months, but that change has been largely incremental.
It seemed like every other week there was some new feature, enemy, or environment being debuted.
Eventually, these releases slowed down because they were causing numerous problems for the community.
Now, Helldivers 2 is back with its first major update, and it's packing a lot of heat.
This includes a higher difficulty, some new game modes, and the return of a favorite enemy.
Key Features of the Update
- Higher difficulty level
- New game modes
- Return of the Impaler enemy
Arrowhead Game Studios has announced that with the Escalation of Freedom update, things are going to get worse for players in a fun way.
This begins with the reintroduction of the Impaler, a Terminid enemy type that burrows in the ground and unleashes large, ferocious tentacles to fight players.
According to Helldivers 2's design director Miklas Malmborg, the Impalers are meant to cut off your escape route with their large tentacles.
Fans began theorizing that the Impalers were on their way to Helldivers 2 months ago after a blog post mentioned tentacles a few times.
It seemed to show off at least one new weapon specifically meant to combat them.
New Enemies and Variants
- New variant of the Charger with noxious spores
- Automatons with jump pack upgrades
- New rocket-launching tanks
These updates to the enemy forces are being accompanied by a whole new difficulty level.
While Arrowhead didn't go into too much detail about what to expect on difficulty 10, it's probably safe to assume that it'll be a nightmare.
Mission variety is also being spruced up in the Escalation of Freedom update.
Arrowhead teased a new mission type about the retrieval of a Terminid larva.
The larva will cry, attracting bigger Terminids who will proceed to swarm squads.
Additionally, there will now be bigger enemy outposts to take out.
Arrowhead's CEO Johan Pilestedt referred to these things as fortresses.
These encampments have always been randomly generated and placed around the map but were hardly an issue due to their small size.
Throwing the right kind of stratagem into one would wipe it off the map.
These much larger outposts seem like they'll present far more of a challenge.
New Environments and Hazards
- New version of the swamp environment
- Darker sky with occasional lightning
- New environmental hazards
- Reworks of existing hazards like the Acid Storm
There will even be some quality-of-life fixes in the new update that players will likely appreciate.
Social menus are being improved to make it easier to join friends.
Kicking is being retooled to stop griefing players as much.
Kicked players will now become the host of their own session immediately after being given the boot.
They will be able to pick up any loot from the last match.
Elsewhere, the galactic war is still in full swing.
While the studio teases developments for the story, it stops short of giving away anything major.
In fact, the trailer ends with various members of the studio doubling down on secrecy.
As far as I'm concerned, this major update marks the beginning of a new kind of season for Helldivers 2.
Seeing Arrowhead begin to take its time to properly stew on some ideas and mechanics is a relief.
Fans appreciated the stability as well as the ability to just keep up with their new favorite game.
Moreover, slapping a date on a bunch of new content has me genuinely excited to jump back in when Helldivers 2 receives its first major update in just two weeks.
Continue reading.
