Players in Helldivers 2 have been battling in what they believed was a real galactic war against the Terminids and Automatons since early February 2024. However, Super Earth recently revealed that everything up until May 15, 2024, was an elaborate special operation, and the Second Galactic War has only just begun.
This revelation dropped on the Helldivers 2 Discord server where Baskinator, speaking on Super Earth’s behalf, explained, “After five days of intense decommissioning of Automatons into scrap metal for use in advanced anti-tank mines, the Helldivers came 78% towards the stated goal of 2 billion dead bots. This means that the new stratagem will continue to elude the Helldiver arsenal for now…”
“The war now escalates into what is officially called “The Second Galactic War.” All conflict leading up to this was merely an elaborate special operation. New recruits are being trained to bolster the ranks of SEAF, and the Helldivers are tasked with guarding these training facilities so that each recruit can be given their rigorous 72-hour basic training.”
This announcement followed two failed Major Orders, the biggest of which was to kill 2 billion Automatons. Helldivers had previously been tasked with killing 2 million Terminids, a Major Order the community completed in a matter of hours. That Major Order moved quickly because of an issue that sped up the Terminid kill counter. But the success was a win players needed after organizing outside of the game to battle with Sony over PSN account linking.
Outside of the very real battle between Sony and the Helldivers 2 community, it looks like that was Super Earth’s plan for us all along.
After failing the most recent Major Order, Super Earth put out a call for more Helldiver recruits, asking every citizen to step up to help in the Second Galactic War. According to an in-universe news report, almost 100% of citizens signed up to either be Helldivers or help make weapons to contribute to the cause.
I fought the Automatons for that Major Order, as I’m sure most Helldivers did. We sacrificed so many bodies, stratagems, and weapons in that fight, but it felt like it was never really one we could win. While I might get a visit from Super Earth authorities for saying this, I think the entire Major Order was a ruse to boost Helldiver numbers.
Think about it. Super Earth only benefits from more citizens signing up because they have a set rate of pay. It helps Major Orders move faster and gets oil production up and running on more planets while managed democracy spreads to more corners of the galaxy.
By handing us an impossible mission and watching as we fail to hit our goal as Helldiver bodies pile up on planets Super Earth has lost, it inspires even more citizens to fight. Even outside of the game, this Major Order made Helldivers 2 feel like not enough people were playing it, which made me want to recruit my friends.
While this might sound pretty underhanded of Super Earth, it’s not too far from what happened during our own World Wars. In the UK, conscription initially only asked young men to sign up to fight, but the scope widened greatly over the years, so as we approached the end of the war, even pensioners were looking at heading out to the front lines.
This sounds like madness today, but it was driven, in part, by desperation for more bodies to throw at what seemed like an insurmountable enemy heading our way. That’s why I’m almost certain Super Earth never intended for us to kill 2 billion Automatons. Making the machine menace look bigger and scarier and exhausting Helldivers even further was designed to drive recruitment, and it achieved the desired result.
Once again, I’m floored by the dynamic Helldivers 2 story’s ability to replicate life and history through a satirical lens, which only makes me want to play it more. I’m pushing to help the new fictional recruits through their 72 hours of basic training so they can throw their fleshy bodies against the might of the Automaton and Termind forces, and so should every other democracy-loving Helldiver.
