Helldivers 2 is a third-person co-op shooter that's centred as much around action as it is comedy. Gigantic insects and red-eyed robots threaten the sanctity of Super Earth and, frankly, this isn't on. As a Helldiver, you must team up with your compatriots and pulverise these menaces for freedom (a shoulder-mounted laser cannon) and democracy (an aerial bombardment). Seriousness is reserved for the act of extermination, which adds tactility to the familiar motions of a shooter, making for horde management that promotes efficiency and frequent lapses of judgement in equal measure. Helldivers 2 is a slapstick masterpiece.
Much like a lone Super Earther descending from orbit, only to Nope The Heck back to their spaceship after glimpsing the insect hordes, Arrowhead have released and swiftly pulled a Helldivers 2 patch designed to address the new shooter's server capacity and progression issues. The bugs were too much to handle, I guess! Lord, this news post practically writes itself.
Though the reception to Helldivers 2 has been generally very favourable, people started paying attention to all the different ways the game is monetised after most of the server issues were resolved and you could spend a few hours of uninterrupted fun.
The main point of contention appears to be the fact that the game’s Warbonds - effectively a battle pass of sorts, offers functional weapons and armour. These contain perks and passives that are not available elsewhere, meaning they are not cosmetic variants.
This has lead many to call it the system pay-to-win, a sentiment the game’s developer does not agree with.