Helldivers Finally Confirms Who The Real Bad Guys Are
"Helldivers 2" tasks players with killing violent bugs and Automatons in the name of Super Earth and Liberty, but does that make your character a hero? By this point, it should be pretty obvious that we can't trust the government of Super Earth. High Command is seemingly obsessed with spreading its power throughout the galaxy, even as average citizens on Super Earth face a bleak future. The entire society is committed to war, and that's because Arrowhead Game Studios designed Super Earth and its armed forces to be villainous.
Arrowhead CCO Johan Pilestedt recently gave a talk at the Nordic Game conference, during which he got into all kinds of details about the development of "Helldivers 2." Pilestedt gave us a compelling look behind the scenes in his talk, and he also revealed Arrowhead's original vision of what "Helldivers 2" would become. The original pitch for "Helldivers 2" describes it as "a co-op action shooter where players are put in the shoes of the 'evil side' grunts of pop culture. How would you fare as one of the 'extras' in your favorite '80s/'90s action movie? Would you be able to survive a galactic war without plot armor to protect you?" That may not sound like a news flash to some, but it certainly surprised a good number of players.
Super Earth may loudly preach about the benefits of democracy, but according to Pilestedt, the Helldivers are more like "Star Wars" Stormtroopers than intergalactic superheroes. They're not the heroic rebellion; they're expendable invaders who are always getting blown up.
We're all just grunts
The elevator pitch for "Helldivers 2" explicitly states that the Helldivers are the bad guys of the universe. However, it's a little worse than that, because the Helldivers themselves aren't mustache-twirling villains — they're just the expendable grunts that the real bad guys use to further their interests. If a Helldiver broke their brainwashing and figured out the truth, they'd probably be devastated. Suprisingly enough, a lot of folks missed the satire in the game, including the fact that the blatantly fascist Super Earth isn't on the up-and-up.
For Pilestedt, the "bad guy" framing helps make "Helldivers 2" as hilarious as it is. Much like Arrowhead's commitment to friendly fire, the game's narrative is set up to deliver some darkly comedic moments. In his talk at Nordic Game, Pilestedt recalled a moment in "Star Wars" when a Stormtrooper gets shot by Han Solo while trying to defend the cell blocks on the Death Star. "And that's the question," Pilestedt said, "Would you do better climbing into that room trying to capture the bad guys that are trying to take over your lovely Death Star?"
Pilestedt has previously told players that Helldivers have an average life expectancy of two minutes, so it's safe to say that the answer to his question is no, and that's part of the fun. It would be a little harder to laugh at Helldivers being blown to bits on the battlefield if we were also supposed to believe that they were the heroes the galaxy needed. The fact that they're bad guys (without even realizing it) makes every hectic battle or accidental friendly fire incident into a hilarious bit of comeuppance.
Players already figured out the truth
Players have theorized for a while that the Helldivers are making things worse throughout the galaxy. Pilestedt's talk basically confirms that theory, even playing into another more mind-bending theory that the Helldivers aren't even the real player characters of the game. Once you scratch the surface of "Helldivers 2," you quickly discover that the game is set in a deeply disturbing space-age dystopia.
Most games would shy away from making players be the bad guys, or they'd at least be more explicit about letting players know what's up right out of the gate. Part of the magic of "Helldivers 2" is that the game plays everything straight and lets us put the pieces together. That approach is at the heart of Arrowhead's game-making philosophy. In his talk, Pilestedt shared the studio's guiding motto: "A game for everyone is a game for no one." That belief has helped "Helldivers 2" reach this high level of success, and it should be thrilling to see where all of this leads Arrowhead in the future.