Helldivers 2 reminds us that friendly fire isn't just an annoying penalty—accidentally obliterating your buddies can be good, actually

GamesActionHelldivers 2Helldivers 2 reminds us that friendly fire isn’t just an annoying penalty—accidentally obliterating your buddies can be good, actuallyWhen 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 Studio)

Helldivers 2 two characters hugging as an explosion detonates in the background

Helldivers 2 wears the over-the-top brutality of Starship Troopers on its fascistic sleeves. Soldiers bark propaganda slogans dynamically, missions are labeled “Restore Liberty” with no further elaboration on the alien genocide you’re committing, and theopening cinematicis pure Verhoeven.

But I didn’t expect that same brutality to make friendly fire a source of fun.

Helldivers' friendly fire is the harshest I’ve encountered in a non-sim shooter. You can’t disable it, and even secondary weapons can kill a co-op partner in two or three misplaced bullets. In just three days I managed to kill my teammates with multiple varieties of airstrike, a flamethrower, grenades, a mini-nuke (Hellbomb), and every primary weapon. We won most of those missions, I strain to add. (I am currently banned from using the autonomous mortar turret.)

How Helldivers' ruthless friendly fire enhances the whole game

The ease with which you and your teammates can annihilate each other isn’t just difficulty for difficulty’s sake, it reinforces that these guns were made to chew upgiant, exoskeletal aliensand their robot equivalents. A lot of little systems converge and in turn benefit from this painful FF:

Most weapons have a fixed crosshair and a second, dynamic reticle that shows the true aim of your gun. Tracking this bobbing reticle is a major skill in a context where enemies often have armor plating that diminish damage or outright deflect it
Guns emit a green targeting laser when aimed, a visual indication of your teammates' intentions that distributes some of the responsibility of avoiding friendly fire to the recipient
You can dynamically raise or lower the rate of fire on some weapons in exchange for better recoil control, making DPS vs. weapon control a lingering consideration

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Equipment airdrops are fired violently from orbit on variable timers. Usually you want to drop equipment Stratagems in close proximity, but these airdrops can impact players and enemies, killing them instantly
Airstrike markers and grenades, when thrown, will often bounce and end up somewhere other than you intended
Squads enter each match with a finite amount of respawn tickets, an important mission resource that you feel the loss of whenever you kill a teammate. I think it’s deliberate that your character’s voice can be randomized between a few different presets, underlining the notion that you’re not a single, permanent person in this cruel setting

helldivers 2 is game of the year so far pic.twitter.com/WjXMexX6XHFebruary 11, 2024

Environmental fog is a obstacle on many maps, with harmless puffball mines that kick up dust clouds and giant, blow-uppable Spore Towers that make a huge area soupy—both of these conditions make friendly fire more likely

helldivers 2 has been a great time pic.twitter.com/sDyivWPQBjFebruary 12, 2024

This is what great game design looks like to me, a web of interrelated systems folding into one another like origami.

Most shooters understandably try to steer players away from friendly fire with heavy-handed systems. Helldivers 2 sees it as just another fulcrum for its core themes. I’ve been shooting my buddies since Quake 2, but Helldivers 2 is the first time I’ve killed a teammate with the respawn pod of another, recently deceased teammate. Poetry.

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How Helldivers' ruthless friendly fire enhances the whole game#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

How Helldivers' ruthless friendly fire enhances the whole game

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals