How Helldivers II is Superseding Violence with Wholesome Collaboration

Hellbombs. Guns. Robots. Giant insects.

None of these things scream ‘wholesome’ at first read, and yet having now sunk over 100 hours in Helldivers II, it’s been a surprising addition to my go-to comfort games. As someone who generally steers clear of first person shooters and gravitates towards titles of a similar ilk to Little Kitty, Big City or Stardew Valley, it took some time for Helldivers II to come around on me. Now that it has, it’s my most played game of 2024 so far.

On its surface, Helldivers II is a co-op shooting game hosting satirical themes around freedom and democracy. Players drop down in ‘hellpods’, landing in vicious worlds to face bile-spewing bugs, or armed automatons. Their missions? To raise flags, collect samples, and ultimately wreak havoc upon these planets, all whilst sporting fabulous capes.

I’ve always found it difficult to join online games, with or without friends. Online communities have the potential to be inspiring places for belonging and support, but if left unchecked, can be places that foster hate and gatekeeping. One of the most common turn-offs in shooter games is the hostility amongst players, reflecting a more negative overall experience in-game. Whilst I can’t speak on behalf of the Helldivers community, the missions I’ve been on have generally been positive and wholesome, even with voice chat enabled. In my opinion, this is in no small part due to the lack of focus on player-player competitiveness, allowing groups of strangers to unite with a common environmental enemy, rather than turn on each other.

But for me, Helldivers best unites their community through personal and major orders. Major orders exist as an overarching objective for all players to work towards. This might look like killing a certain amount of bugs or holding down control over planets in a limited time. Having received several dispatches from Super Earth over the last few months, it’s been unbelievable to see thousands of players adjusting course on their ships to join the fight. Regardless of how much you engage with these missions, everyone who takes part reaps the rewards. Personal orders are scaled down, achievable goals that are common amongst team-mates. They are manageable if diving solo, but much easier when diving with friends, as all members on your team can contribute.

Once you dive into the finer nuances of the gameplay, you can see elements of cooperation that were not initially obvious. Almost everything within the gameplay itself is pushing players to work together.

Before you even leave the ship, players are directed to look at the map, suggest places to land to the party leader, and ready up together; everyone has a voice in pre-diving strategy. Samples collected within missions are assigned to all players, regardless of who extracts them – which the team at Arrowhead have been regularly reminding players across their social media. Reinforcing players back into the world after they meet their demise is from a collective budget, encouraging strategic cooperation amongst teams, especially on more challenging missions.

For those who prefer not to use voice chat, there are plenty of ways of staying in the communicative bubble; by simply turning towards a location or item and tagging it for other players to see, or marking a location on the map will indicate your destination. The game also incorporates short messages/commands to enable players to communicate quickly; whether you’re thanking someone for helping you out, or apologizing for landing an eagle on top of them.

It’s generally much more enjoyable when these silly, hilarious or tragic moments are shared, and these subtleties in the gameplay draw players to work together.

From a more personal satisfaction perspective, being able to hop online, see your friends in the middle of an operation, and dive down to join them to help save the day is such a delightful motivation to play amongst friends.

This doesn’t just extend to existing friends, but making new ones as well. Recently we saw a tragic meme shared on a Helldivers Community Reddit, showing a Helldiver called ‘dremskiy’ being kicked from a game that was “friends only”. The Helldivers Community responded, and Dremskiy soon racked up so many friend requests on Steam that Valve had to pause them.

The interaction between experienced and new players has also shown some wholesome moments, such as this clip showing a more experienced ‘diver calling down a mech suit for a new player. Being able to access items and weapons that you haven’t yet unlocked can be a magical experience, further encouraging you to play with friends and strangers alike. This ability to share items among team mates allows everyone to feel included (unless of course, your gear was looted from your corpse without permission).

One of the biggest things I refer to in conversation around mental health and games is the personal relationships that we hold with the games we love. There is no one-size-fits-all. Whilst peaceful games hold an important and special place in my heart for combatting stress, games like Helldivers provide a different virtual environment to focus on team success, rather than anything else.

In essence, Helldivers II makes you root for your fellow Helldivers, even if you’re cheering from the sidelines. A simple phrase I’ve seen adopted by the community has been “No Helldiver left behind”. Whilst cheesy, it’s the perfect embodiment of how I see this game within the hours I’ve sank into it. The sense of achievement, camaraderie and pure joy I feel as my squad and I scramble onto the extraction shuttle, barely escaping the frenetic chaos of a landing zone teeming with enemies is something I hold close to my heart. For me, it’s these small details that make the difference and will continue to foster a wholesome corner in an otherwise violent world.

Written by Rosie Taylor