GamesThird Person ShooterEarth Defense Force 6 delivers a Helldivers 2-style call to action in its launch date announcement trailerWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesThird Person ShooterEarth Defense Force 6 delivers a Helldivers 2-style call to action in its launch date announcement trailerWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
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Before there were the Helldivers, there was the Earth Defense Force: A die-hard unit of gung-ho go-getters who defend humanity against the insurmountable odds of a nigh-endless invasion of bugs from Planet Space. Soon those noble heroes will return to action once more: Earth Defense Force 6 is set to launch on PC and PlayStation 5 on July 25.
A great victory was won against the unknown invaders in Earth Defense Force 5, but it came at a great cost: 90% of the Earth’s population was wiped out (wow), and civilization was taken to the brink of collapse. Three years later, before we even had a chance to properly clean up that mess, it happened again—and the EDF is understandably eager to put some new recruits on the front line.
The trailer carries a powerful Helldivers 2 vibe, but Earth Defense Force has been doing this kind of thing for a long time. Check out this “Do you have what it takes?” bit of action from Earth Defense Force 2, which launched in 2005:
More on point, here’s a newcast-style trailer for Earth Defense Force 2025, which, slightly confusingly, was released in 2013—complete with “we thought the bugs were gone, then they came back!":
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Of course there’s plenty of room for both veins of bug-killing action: 20 years of Earth Defense Force games and the runaway success of Helldivers 2 are ample proof of that. And they are, at their core, very different sorts of experiences: Where Helldivers 2 is a smart, knowing, ever-evolving, and even kind of strategic shooter, Earth Defense Force is just balls-out videogames.
“EDF is very videogames,” UK editor-in-chief Phil Savage said in hisEarth Defense Force 4.1 review. “Its name—Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair—is about as videogames as you get. The action is unabashedly non-immersive, to the point that it feels like a celebration of raw videogame artifice and jank. Even the plot is peak videogames. Giant insects threaten the Earth. You, as a member of the Earth Defense Force, must shoot them.”
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