GamesThird Person ShooterHelldivers 2Helldivers 2’s latest major order gives players the chance to make a sector permanently bug-free with a planet-sized pesticide systemWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

GamesThird Person ShooterHelldivers 2Helldivers 2’s latest major order gives players the chance to make a sector permanently bug-free with a planet-sized pesticide systemWhen 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.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Games)

A giant bile titan, a towering insect from Helldivers 2, lets out a vicious scream as it stomps over the landscape.

Earlier today Helldivers 2 called in pest control andtook care of a big bug problem. The quick version is that the game had been spawning in some of its most heavily armored Terminids right on top of players, everything from bile titans to chargers to annihilator tanks, which gave the Helldivers in question little time to respond before they were slashed, melted, crunched, and generally battered.

The patch fixed this, and also made some tweaks to the bugs generally, targeting things like the “leg meta” with chargers (where targeting the legs over the head was more effective than it should’ve been), and now we know why Arrowhead’s been focusing special attention on the Terminids: shortly after the patch, a new major operation was launched offering Helldivers the chance to permanently rid a sector of the infestation.

This has kicked off chaos as Helldivers swarm to the sector in question, but the permanence is the interesting angle here, first of all because Super Earth Command would never lie about something like that, and also for its implications in the wider galactic war.It may well be a push-and-pullbut the idea of permanently holding down a piece of turf is a new one: clearly we’ll have to see how that plays out.

MAJOR ORDER: Activate the Terminid Control System, Helldivers! pic.twitter.com/0UmUD4GESLMarch 12, 2024

MAJOR ORDER: Activate the Terminid Control System, Helldivers! pic.twitter.com/0UmUD4GESLMarch 12, 2024

The four planets targeted in this order are Erata Prime, Fenrir III, Meridia, and Turing, and the reward (as if you need a reward for it) is 50 medals. At the time of writing there areapproximately 205,000 playersacross those four planets, though only Fenrir III has a bit of a dent in the bugs' control. We’ll have to see if game masterJoel starts cranking the dial.

Helldivers 2’s popularityonly keeps increasing, and a major part of this is how Arrowheadhas unfolded the galactic warin the month since the game’s launch. This just doesn’t work like other live service games, and doesn’t feel likeit’s on a calendar schedulein the same way (even though behind-the-scenes the preparation is clearly meticulous).

The current bug-squishing order follows hot on the heels of an excellent side-story that saw players rushing to liberate planets that can produce mechs,after which we all got mechs. There’s clearly a lot more to come, including the introduction of a third enemy faction, but for now: go squash some bugs for liberty.

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