Helldivers 2’s latest invasion threat is a mess of humanity’s own making

Helldivers 2 has been a masterpiece of live-service storytelling and the latest twist in the game had the alien Illuminate transport a mighty invasion force right on the doorstep of Super Earth, resulting in a Galactic Emergency, which brought big changes to the game in update 1.003.000.

While the obvious (and boring) answer to humanity’s continuing struggles in Helldivers 2 is the fact that it’s a video game and the show must go on, developer Arrowhead has actually crafted this seemingly eternal conflict between man, alien, and cyborg to be very believable and true to the game’s theme.

Naturally, Super Earth’s propaganda paints a black-and-white picture of the war: Mankind has been attacked and needs to defend itself at any cost. True to one of the tenets of fascism, the enemy is both inferior – and therefore easy to stomp into the dirt – and an existential threat at the same time.

The truth, of course, couldn’t be any different.

The Terminids were originally a peaceful species that colonized a few planets, but Super Earth found out that dead bugs make for useful raw resources and started to capture and farm them. This caused them to become more aggressive over time and led to war when they escaped.

The Cyborgs simply wanted to split off from Super Earth to form their own society – a socialist one at that – and, of course, that’s not something a fascist state can tolerate. So it was war.

The Illuminate, too, could be reasoned with. They were peaceful. Mankind could have shared the stars with them. But no, Super Earth went full ‘But they have weapons of mass destruction’ and declared war, stealing said weapons of mass destruction. Frankly, it’s a shocker that these weren’t simply another convenient lie, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

So, yes, Super Earth has no one to blame but itself for the endless conflicts — and the regime is probably very happy with itself, since external enemies make it simpler to keep its own people in line and a subdued population makes for satisfied – and safe – fascists.

The current situation is not much different and Arrowhead has masterfully built it up to fit into the picture. Remember the missions that had Helldivers protect giant towers spewing bugspray over Terminid worlds to keep them in line? It all started there. 

The Terminids were temporarily suppressed, but evolved into stronger versions and then formed a supercolony on Meridia. Players then used the weapons of mass destruction that Super Earth had stolen from the Illuminate to wipe out Meridia, turning it into a black hole.

That, in turn, signaled the Illuminate comeback, as the aliens manipulated the black hole, turning it against Super Earth and wiping out several planets before Helldivers could stop them, thereby saving Super Earth itself from annihilation. But it’s clear that mankind still has much to learn and that the Illuminate are absolute masters of their craft, because they used the stopped black hole to transport their entire invasion force right into the heart of Super Earth’s territory — and that’s where we’re at.

Humankind, blinded by its own arrogance and driven by the in-built failures of fascism, has dabbled with powers beyond its understanding and is now paying the price for it. Or, well, it would, if players wouldn’t get involved to save the day.

Arrowhead has given its universe a wonderfully satirical tone that would make Paul Verhoeven proud and keeps things light-hearted and fun, but never let slip its important core messaging.

Between Helldivers 2 and Star Wars Andor, sci-fi properties are delivering much-needed bite at a moment when a lot of the media utterly fails its duties.

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