Helldivers 2 Warns Against 'Rogue Item' And Players Are Scrambling
Whether you're actively in the game or simply scrolling through Reddit, "Helldivers 2" has cultivated a universe that you can't leave. Arrowhead Game Studios and its CEO, Johan Pilestedt, have effectively turned themselves into characters in the game, making it so that the story doesn't end when you log out. The devs have used their unique role to hilariously lie about in-game events and to deliver cosmetic items that tear the community apart. It turns out that working at Arrowhead Games is essentially a role-playing game on its own.
Well, the devs are at it again, and this time they've turned an apparent bug in the game into a galaxy-wide talking point. Recently, the devs took on the role of the Ministry of Truth to deliver a special message in the official "Helldivers" Discord: "ALERT: ROGUE ITEM DETECTED. The Ministry of Truth has confirmation that a rogue item called the 'catalog expansion' is temporarily visible in the Ship Management menu and, in accordance with regulations, we instruct all Helldivers to avoid this rogue item until further notice. The Ministry of Truth cannot confirm the reliability or safety of this item, nor can they confirm its origin."
As you might imagine, that message did not discourage Helldivers from purchasing the mysterious item, which has since been patched out of the game. However, the fact that the module actually did nothing is only fueling their excitement for what Arrowhead might have planned next.
Rogue components in Helldivers 2
The rogue item in question was a ship component called the Catalogue Expansion that players could purchase for their destroyer. : "New stratagem permits added to the ship management terminal for purchase."
Considering that stratagems are the biggest, baddest offensive tools available to Helldivers, this is very much a reason to get excited. Months ago hackers revealed some big changes coming to the game, and those included functional mechs and drivable vehicles. We've either gotten access or have seen confirmed proof of just about everything that round of leaks revealed, so it's possible that Arrowhead is about to push into some genuinely new territory with whatever stratagems it has planned next.
In any other game, you could chalk up the sudden appearance of a non-functional upgrade as a simple glitch in the system, part of an update that got pushed through too early. But "Helldivers 2" isn't just any game, so fans are naturally busting out their tinfoil hats and theorizing about what this accidental reveal really means. Is it possible that Arrowhead's message to the Discord was actually meant to hype up something bigger?
Faux pas or fiction?
This new ship component is the latest unanswered mystery fans have uncovered in "Helldivers 2," and even though it's already been removed from the game, fans are doing their best to investigate. Some are ready to take the situation at face value. "This is the dev's [sic] way of saying it's a technical bug," wrote one Redditor. Others have been down this road with Arrowhead before, and they imagine that this "mistake" was a way to get everyone excited for the new stratagems that are inevitably going to be added to the game. One Redditor even thinks that this is actually part of a secret plot from Arrowhead's R&D department, writing, "Perfect game marketing. Release some weird stuff that doesn't work so the entire community can go rabid speculating. Then glean through the ideas and take the best."
We can't know the truth for sure, but it's probably a combination of the most popular theories. Every game developer makes mistakes, so it's very possible that Arrowhead didn't mean for anyone to see the Catalogue Expansion just yet. At the same time, the devs have already set themselves up with cover for incidents like this, so they may have just leaned in and made it all a part of the story. "Helldivers 2" might be the only live service game that can successfully turn a minor glitch into a source of rampant speculation and excitement.