Summary
- Illuminate enemies are missing from Helldivers 2, but rumors suggest they may be added, bringing new challenges and enemies to the game.
- The Illuminate faction could introduce a range of new enemy types to the game, including drones, melee attackers, shield generators, and advanced weaponry.
- If added to Helldivers 2, the Illuminate could expand the game with new planets and environments, potentially focusing on aquatic worlds and adding new vehicles.
Released in 2015, the first Helldivers was a top-down shooter that wasn't afraid to wear its influences on its sleeve. Taking control of an elite, yet completely expendable soldier known as a Helldiver, players blast their way through hordes of Bugs, Cyborgs, and Illuminate, all in service to Super Earth and its citizens. Much of the first Helldivers' gameplay and satirical narrative has carried over to Helldivers 2, but there are still a few glaring omissions.
Possibly the most obvious missing element from the first Helldivers is the entire Illuminate enemy race. An alien species that used to reside on aquatic planets, the Illuminate use powerful beam and energy-based weapons, along with personal teleporters and shields. By the time Helldivers 2 picks up in the year 2184, the Illuminate have apparently been exterminated from the galaxy. But that might just be what the Ministry of Truth wants people to think. It's been heavily rumored for a while now that the Illuminate will come to Helldivers 2 eventually, and when they do, they'll expand the game in more ways than one.
Helldivers 2 Mechs Could Be the Golden Ticket To One Missing Weapon Type
The addition of mechs in Helldivers 2 has been awesome to play, but the feature could actually be taken even further in combat.
Introducing The Illuminate Could Improve Helldivers 2 Two-Fold
The Illuminate Would Bring A Range of New Enemy Types to Helldivers 2
Of course, the biggest benefit of adding the Illuminate to Helldivers 2 would be the wealth of new enemy types that come along with them. In the first Helldivers, enemy types were split into five categories: Scout, Infantry, Tank, Elite, and Master. These general enemy types are still present in Helldivers 2, and as such, many of the Illuminate's enemies could be translated into the sequel's third-person action seamlessly.
For instance, the Illuminate's most basic unit is the Observer, a small drone that surveys the battlefield, cloaks, and teleports back to base. The Observer would make complete sense in Helldivers 2's gameplay loop, requiring players to carefully watch the horizon for any cloaked sentries that could reveal their position. The Illuminate is also home to a slew of melee-focused attackers, which Helldivers 2 already has plenty of. But the real hook of the Illuminate is that they also have access to advanced weaponry and gadgets, such as shield generators.
The Illuminate have the potential to be Helldivers 2's hardest faction yet, blending together the lethal melee attacks of the Terminids with the ranged deadliness of the Automatons, and sprinkling in some high-tech gadgets to make them even harder to kill. With plenty of Illuminate enemy types already there and ready to go, it's hopefully only a matter of time before Helldivers 2 veterans are given an even greater challenge.
The Illuminate Would Add a New Segment of The Galaxy
But adding the Illuminate to Helldivers 2 would also presumably add an entirely new section to the galaxy map, presumably one that's filled with a plethora of brand-new planets. While Helldivers 2 already has some pretty varied environments, there are still more biomes that the game could explore, and adding the Illuminate to the game could be the perfect excuse to kill two birds with one stone, adding a bunch of new enemy types and planets.
Originally hailing from aquatic planets, it would make sense for the Illuminate's portion of the galaxy map in Helldivers 2 to focus more heavily on water-based arenas than the other factions' homeworlds. To coincide with these new planet types, Helldivers 2 could also add a range of new vehicles or Stratagems to the game that help players traverse these watery worlds.
Helldivers 2
- Released
- February 8, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
The Galaxy’s Last Line of Offence. Enlist in the Helldivers and join the fight for freedom across a hostile galaxy in a fast, frantic, and ferocious third-person shooter.
URGENT BROADCAST – SUPER EARTH ARMED FORCES
Freedom. Peace. Democracy. Your Super Earth-born rights. The key pillars of our civilization. Of our very existence. But the war rages on. And everything is once again under threat.
Join the greatest military force the galaxy has ever seen and make this a safe and free place to live.
BECOME A LEGEND
You will be assembled into squads of up to four Helldivers and assigned strategic missions. Watch each other’s back – friendly fire is an unfortunate certainty of war, but victory without teamwork is impossible.
LOADOUTS
Rain down freedom from above, sneak through enemy territory, or grit your teeth and charge head-first into the jaws of combat. How you deliver liberty is your choice; you’ll have access to a wide array of explosive firepower, life-saving armor and battle-changing stratagems… the jewel in every Helldiver’s arsenal.
REQUISITION
Super Earth recognises your hard work with valuable Requisition. Use it to access different rewards that benefit you, your squad, your destroyer ship and our overall war effort.
THREATS
Everything on every planet wants you dead. That’s what we’re dealing with. Each enemy has distinct and unpredictable characteristics, tactics, and behavior – but they all fight ferociously and without fear or morality.
THE GALACTIC WAR
Capturing enemy planets, defending against invasions, and completing missions will contribute to our overall effort. This war will be won or lost depending on the actions of everyone involved.
We stand together, or we fall apart.
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
- Metascore
- 83
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- PC & PS5
