Os Helldivers 2 Gameplay Diaries

Helldivers 2 for the PS5 and PC is now out, and we've enlisted three IGN staff members to take on the disgusting bug like Terminids, and the Terminator-esque Automatons, in this explosive, intense and bloody 18 minutes of 4K 60FPS gameplay - all captured with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU.

Sweet liberty! One of my favorite PS4-era shooters is back with a whole new perspective and it’s up to me and my friends to defend Super Earth in glorious co-op! After going hands-on with Helldivers 2 for three hours, I’m sold on the bold pivot from the original’s top-down view to the sequel’s new third-person perspective, the appetizing roster of deadly gadgets, and the outrageous comedic tone that expertly channels the low-budget action film vibes that pair perfectly with the developer’s live-service ambitions.

We can actually blow away individual bits off each enemy, taking off limbs with small arms fire - or obliterating them with artillery fire. I loved the physics here - especially in aggregate, when the frame is just filled with physicalised objects, particles, and disintegrating enemies. Buildings can be destroyed in dramatic fashion when hit by airstrikes or blown up with a well-placed grenade, and the terrain deforms too under the barrage. Helldivers 2 is a unique and visually interesting console title, so how do the performance and quality modes stack up? The most obvious split comes down to resolution. The performance mode runs at 1080p, while the quality mode steps up to approximately 1728p. Both modes counted at those figures in every shot I tested, so there are no signs of dynamic resolution as far as I can tell. In stationary shots, the difference between the two is obvious.

The game is still as chaotic and as fun as the first game. With the added caveat that the game is now third-person so that you don’t commit as much friendly fire as before. Of course, this isn’t to say that the game doesn’t have friendly fire or even self-inflicted damage, but that’s part of the fun.

Blow the doors off! Things can be destroyed in Helldivers 2, and some of the optional objectives will encourage you to blow places to bits. Sometimes when you find points of interest, you'll see crates or doors nearby. Throw a grenade and open them up to find even more loot.

So whether you're jumping into your Hellpod for the first time or you've already taken down an onslaught of Terminids and Automatons, here are our tips and tricks to get you started in Helldivers 2.

Plus, you get to see the hideous bug creatures and murder-loving automatons closer than ever before, which is a nice bonus – each faction had lots of variety too, from chainsaw-armed androids who slowly closed in for the kill to heavily-armored beetles who charged at me with reckless abandon.

Always keep an eye out for samples on the map. They lead to research points, which are the only way to upgrade your weapons/stratagems.

Also, the game being in live-service means that you get rewards playing more as well as different missions to strive for and do. This was the missing piece in the first game, and I think they pulled it off quite well.

Outside of gaming, you'll find her re-watching Gilmore Girls or trying to cram yet another collectible onto a shelf that desperately needs some organizing.

takes place in Helldivers 2 Gameplay a galaxy where alien invaders are starting to slip through the cracks and put your planet under threat. Hoards of unknown creatures are starting to shatter the peace and wreak havoc on the inhabitants of your planet, and the world as you know it is starting to descend into chaos.

As the Helldivers battle the foes of Super Earth, you will not only change the face of the galaxy, but the course of its history. Super Earth will issue global, time-sensitive Major Orders, challenging all players to work together to achieve large-scale goals, the outcome of which will shape the story going forward. Meaning, the story is not something that happens to

As a multiplayer experience, I think Helldivers 2 hits all the right notes. The gameplay basics are fun and the open-ended environments give you a fair amount of flexibility in how to tackle each objective. It seems like quite a tactical game too, though the need for advanced strategies wasn't too pressing at the lower difficulties I had the time to unlock. It doesn't seem terrifically complicated, nor does it come packaged with the kind of comprehensive content package that modern players often expect, but I think those omissions are more than forgivable at its asking price. The special abilities the game provides, combined with friendly fire (which is enabled at all times) is a recipe for a lot of squad-based fun with friends. There are echoes of other PvE shooters here - namely of the extraction shooter variety, though Mass Effect 3's multiplayer also came to mind - but this game seems more oriented around having fun than creating a tightly crafted competitive experience.

The gameplay loop is so tight, it would be laughably slim in the wrong hands. You team up, hit the planet, kill things, collect stuff then extract to count your earnings and buy better weapons. Repeat until exhausted. Levelling up unlocks new collections of deadlier hardware, but it’s basically the same thing over and over again until the planet has been “liberated” and you and all the other players in the world move on to another (yes, there’s a global real-time battle map, with every participant contributing to the intergalactic, ahem, peace effort).