Helldivers 2 had an extremely rough launch, but it's already in much better shape

GamesActionHelldivers 2Helldivers 2 had an extremely rough launch, but it’s already in much better shapeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Helldivers posing

It doesn’t get much worse for a multiplayer launch: broken matchmaking, frequent crashes, and a kernel-level anti-cheat system that everyone hates.Helldivers 2’s first day was not a great start. And while stability seems a touch worse on PC, there have been problems across the board, regardless of the platform. The bugs were winning.

When I first jumped in, I was stuck playing solo. Nobody on my friends list was playing yet, and matchmaking was completely broken. For a game designed for squads, with no bot feature, this is a mammoth-sized problem.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Shooting bugs

It’s possible to solo Helldivers 2, especially on the lower difficulty levels, and even without teammates you can still drop back into a mission after death, but it’s a slog. Vastly outnumbered and relatively fragile, completing missions was an uphill struggle. I quickly gave up. Sorry, Superearth, you’re just not worth the hassle of saving.

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(Image credit: Arrowhead)Helldivers 2 weapons: Best guns of Super EarthHelldivers 2 stratagems: Understand the ordinanceHelldivers 2 loadouts: Finest kits for bug-killingHelldivers 2 armor: Which suits to wearHelldivers 2 medals: Where to claim more currency

(Image credit: Arrowhead)

Helldivers 2 key art, with Helldivers posing and firing weapons against a propagandistic backdrop.

Helldivers 2 weapons: Best guns of Super EarthHelldivers 2 stratagems: Understand the ordinanceHelldivers 2 loadouts: Finest kits for bug-killingHelldivers 2 armor: Which suits to wearHelldivers 2 medals: Where to claim more currency

Which was a shame, because it’s actually a whole heap of fun raining down death on bug nests with orbital lasers and watching alien nasties explode in a shower of gooey blood. The basic firearms are satisfyingly punchy, and fights are intense thanks to ammo quickly running out and the need to manually reload after every clip is spent. In some games that’s a pain in the arse, but here it emphasises your vulnerability, and is less of an issue when you’re in a full squad and frequently requisitioning ammo and new guns from your ships.

Despite being vulnerable, there’s still a power fantasy at play here, especially when you’re wielding one of the bigger weapons, like the murderous machine gun or the endlessly entertaining flamethrower. It’s absolute carnage. Unexpectedly, given the bombastic action, there’s also a hint of a military sim here, where movement causes weapons to sway, making it harder to hit targets, and each gun has distinct handling. You can also jump into a prone position, which is absolutely necessary when you’re in a squad, because friendly fire is a real killer, but much less of a problem when you’re clinging to the ground.

War games

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Using flamethrower

Even though you’re going to be in a squad of four at most, Arrowhead has made an effort to make it feel like you’re part of this huge war. As well as being given personal goals, there are community-wide objectives that drive the conflict forward. At the moment, the goal is to liberate two worlds in the region close to Superearth, after which we’ll be able to push the bugs back to the quarantine zone. It gives the conflict an overarching narrative, but doesn’t lock you into anything. If you want to fight on more distant worlds, or get tired of fighting bugs and want to blow up some robots instead, that’s entirely fine.

Thankfully, it’s now much easier to get stuck into the conflict. Arrowhead acknowledged the problems and, before the first day was over, pushed out a hotfix, which landed on PC first. I’d been playing on PS5 because it was much more stable, but with matchmaking still constantly failing, I switched to PC. I experienced one crash pretty early on, when I was checking out the armoury—which alsohappened to Morgan, suggesting that this screen in particular causes problems—but after that everything went pretty smoothly.

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After a couple of hours of missions, I didn’t have any more crashes, and crucially matchmaking actually worked. Activating quick play has been throwing me into squads immediately, allowing me to finally enjoy myself. This is not to say that the problems have been entirely resolved, though.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Calling down an orbital strike

In every squad, at least one person appeared to crash, and there are a few other bugbears. Cross-progression, for instance, doesn’t seem to be working—at least for me. Since I’d been playing on PS5, I wanted to carry over my progress and successfully linked my PlayStation account to Steam. Despite this, the PC version started me off in the tutorial again and didn’t acknowledge any of my progress. Thankfully, I didn’t get very far on the PS5 version thanks to the lack of matchmaking, so it wasn’t a huge loss.

The price of war

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Getting into the evac shuttle

Despite all of this, I’m cautiously optimistic about the future of Helldivers 2. The immaculate Starship Troopers vibes, the frenetic combat, the need to balance exploration with extracting before your ship strands you—it’s all great stuff. We only got review code yesterday, but we’ll have our full Helldivers 2 review up next week.

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The price of war