The launch of Helldivers 2 in 2024 was a defining moment for the gaming industry that year, with the project experiencing an explosion of popularity and drawing a huge amount of attention that firmly stamped the wider franchise on the map. Helldivers 2 has done fairly well to maintain a positive buzz over a year following its initial release, and while the post-launch life of the game has not been entirely smooth, a passionate community still firmly surrounds the title.
Like many games with a multiplayer focus, there is a lot of pressure on the post-launch content of Helldivers 2 to build and expand on its core experience, with new missions, weapons, enemies, and much more having been added to the title over the past year. With so much attention and expectations still being placed on Helldivers 2, some content could be added in the form of optional new gameplay modes that honor the experience of the original Helldivers, with a potential top-down mode being a great callback while really shaking up the content that fans have come to expect.
After Helldivers 2's Borderline Justice Warbond, One Crossover Shouldn't Be Off the Table
With the recent introduction of the Borderline Justice Warbond to Helldivers 2, Arrowhead should consider one obvious crossover.
A Helldivers 2 Mode Inspired By its Predecessor Could Be a Lot of Fun
Helldivers 2 took the gaming industry by storm in 2024, with the game being considered as one of the year's most influential and enjoyable experiences. With a peak player count of over 450,000 on Steam alone, the launch of Helldivers 2 introduced a massive influx of players to the franchise, with new content and battle-pass-styled Warbonds maintaining a passionate fan-base to this day.
The success of Helldivers 2 has far exceeded the standards and expectations set by its 2015 predecessor, despite how well-received the original Helldivers was in its own right. While the first Helldivers project did well to sell over 4 million copies, Helldivers 2 has smashed this record, with the game reportedly selling well over 12 million copies within the first three months of its release.
Helldivers 2 still maintains daily peak player counts of around 50,000 on Steam alone, with this only rising around the time of any major updates to the title.
While it is clear that Helldivers 2 has taken on a world of its own, the game that started it all is still well worth celebrating, and Arrowhead Games should not shy away from embracing the roots of the series even further going forward. One of the biggest distinctions between Helldivers and its sequel concerns the major gameplay shifts between the two titles, with Helldivers 2 famously adopting a third-person perspective as opposed to the top-down perspective of the original.
A Top-Down Helldivers 2 Mode Could Be a Great Way to Keep Things Fresh
The third-person shift for Helldivers 2 has proven to be a fantastic way to evolve the core experience of the franchise's alien-slaying co-operative premise, yet the origins of the series are equally worth celebrating, and the lack of first-hand experience that many players may have with the first Helldivers game could be addressed by a unique mode in Helldivers 2's post-launch future. An optional top-down playlist for Helldivers 2 could be a huge breath of fresh air for the title, being the perfect way for players to add a fresh perspective to pre-existing maps or to add an extra level of difficulty to specific Helldivers 2 missions.
This kind of mode would, of course, be completely avoidable for players who prefer the modern gameplay formula of the Helldivers franchise, but a dedicated top-down mode could easily come with its own unique rewards to make this glaring change all the more attractive across the board. In the downtime between major Helldivers 2 content updates, a top-down mode could be an engaging way to boost the avenues of gameplay, while giving newcoming fans a glimpse into the gameplay that launched the franchise to such heights in 2015.
Helldivers 2
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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
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
