Helldivers 2 has churned out yet another free cosmetic for players to enjoy: the Ingress-81 commemorative cape. This new fashion statement is a stunning royal purple and depicts a series of braille characters over a dark circle, making it a striking but esoteric piece of gear. But the story behind this flashy accessory is something that some Helldivers 2 fans might not know about.
The Ingress-81 cape references an ARG, or alternate reality game, that began in the official Helldivers 2 Discord earlier this year. For the uninitiated, an ARG is a method of storytelling wherein the audience is an active participant in every way, whether that's by uncovering clues, deciphering codes, or visiting locations in the real world for more intel. It requires the audience to become detectives, uncovering evidence and secrets as they dissect the narrative that the ARG creator has spun up. It's a rather fitting medium for the gaming community for obvious reasons, and other video games, like Halo 3 and The Binding of Isaac, have gotten official ARGs as part of broader marketing campaigns.
Helldivers 2's Latest Commemorative Cape is Its Most Personal One Yet
The Pillars of Freedom cape, the newest commemorative cosmetic that has been added to Helldivers 2, is one of the game's most personal ones yet.
How Helldivers 2's Ingress-81 Cape Relates to Its Station-81 ARG
Helldivers 2 Sent Players On a Wild Goose Chase Earlier This Year
Back in May, Arrowhead Studios surprised the members of its Discord by creating two new channels: Station-81 Input and Station-81 Output. As their names suggest, players were meant to send data through the Input channel and receive relevant feedback in the Output channel. The Helldivers 2 community launched into a wide-scale investigation, which quickly revealed that Arrowhead staff members had changed their profile pictures to include messages encoded in braille. By cross-referencing these messages with the string of numbers found in the transmission that followed the destruction of Moradesh, players were able to crack the code and enter the correct inputs in the Station-81 Input channel, and ultimately gain access to four in-game cameras surveilling different stations around Super Earth.
Players were then tasked with calibrating antennae on three stations by entering the inputs of "left" or "right." Players were quickly able to come together to complete this task, for which they were rewarded with the first of four datablocks. After completing a series of other minigames and challenges, Helldivers 2 players eventually gained access to all four datablocks, and subsequently, the final surveillance camera.
This footage revealed that the Meridian Wormhole was orbiting Super Earth, and that a fleet of Illuminate ships were planning an invasion of the planet. By chipping away at this nebulous and multifaceted ARG, the audience was able to bring this story to its final stage: the invasion of Super Earth by the Illuminate, which the defenders of democracy would then rebel against. Now, two months later, the Ingress-81 cape has arrived to commemorate those who helped carry this story arc to the finish line.
Although the Ingress-81 cape is meant to celebrate the ARG and those who participated in it, it's available to all Helldivers 2 fans—not just those who had a hand in uncovering the Illuminate plot.
Helldivers 2 Once Again Demonstrates the Power of Its Community
The Ingress-81 cape serves as a reminder of the battle for Super Earth, but also to highlight the strong community-building that Helldivers 2 has become so well-known for. As a live-service game, Helldivers 2 must keep its audience engaged and entertained, sometimes in unique and unexpected ways. A Discord-wide ARG, which encourages participation from everyone, is an ingenious way to do that, and other GaaS developers may want to take a leaf out of Arrowhead's playbook in this respect.
Helldivers 2
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- 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
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.
- Engine
- bitsquid
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
