Helldivers 2's reinforcement system fixes my biggest issue with horde shooters—it makes dying fun

GamesActionHelldivers 2Helldivers 2’s reinforcement system fixes my biggest issue with horde shooters—it makes dying funWhen 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 2 screaming man from intro

Left 4 Dead was revolutionary for its time. Dynamic enemy generation that made every run feel just that bit different, hordes of zombies that flowed from one place to another like a murderous river—it ruled. But I always had a problem with its formula: dying always sucked.

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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.

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It’s a genre staple in these games that death is to be avoided at all costs, carrying on into Fatshark’s take on the formula in Vermintide and Darktide. One moment you’re ripping and tearing, the next you’re relegated to watching your team amble about while you wait for the director to plonk you in a closet or an enemy encampment somewhere.

That’s not to say it’s inherently bad. Death in these games has weight, and the slow war of attrition that happens as a result is interesting. But itisslow. Even the process of actually dying can take a while, watching as a hunter slowly rips through your mammoth health bar over the course of a full minute. It’s a frustrating and drawn-out process.

Helldivers 2fixes this—and if you’ve not yet been debriefed, let me introduce you to the reinforcement system. Each team has a limited number of reinforcements, which act as a sort of shared health bar. Run out of them, and you’ll have to wait for a cooldown to tick over before another’s available—and if the lone survivor dies, that’s a mission failure. The number is typically generous, and bringing your mates back takes a few seconds at most.

This keeps the war of attrition feeling alive and well, but directs the costelsewhere.It’s still tense when you’re about to run out, but before then? Dying’s not really a big deal. It’s to be avoided, sure, but it’s gonna happen. Managed democracy requires sacrifice.

This lets you play the kind of silly, aggressive plays that make this genre shine—going full-tilt rambo or clipping your mates with airstrikes—all without consigning anybody to a minutes-long wait just to get back in the action. Under this system,incidents of friendly fire are a hootrather than a hindrance.

For example: I was playing with some of the PC Gamer team yesterday, and the ‘Guard Dog’ Rover stratagem (a backpack that deploys a drone wielding a laser rifle) kept clipping us. Our response wasn’t to stop using it, but to double down and bringmorefor the next deployment—because it’s pure slapstick to wade into a warzone with a workplace hazard strapped to your back, causing chaos like an overexcited puppy on Christmas Day.

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(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Helldivers 2

This puts the ‘horde’ back in horde shooter. Sure, on higher difficulty levels in Left 4 Dead and Vermintide, being surrounded is a death sentence. But for the bulk of players, culling waves of bad guys grows routine. In Helldivers 2, though? Your enemies are dangerous on almost every difficulty—they just come in various degrees of manageability.

The more I think about it, the more Helldivers 2’s reinforcement system feels like the bones of the game’s core loop. Mechanics that would annoy the snot out of me become exciting encounters that make me feel like an ant scurrying around a boot.

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