The Illuminate in Helldivers 2 appear to be inching closer to the black hole we left at Meridia back in June, which is also looking a lot scarier, but I'm sure it's probably fine, stop worrying about it

GamesThird Person ShooterHelldivers 2The Illuminate in Helldivers 2 appear to be inching closer to the black hole we left at Meridia back in June, which is also looking a lot scarier, but I’m sure it’s probably fine, stop worrying about itWhen 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 Games)

The Super Earth Spokesperson from Helldivers 2 looks nervously over his shoulder, while stood in front of a very democratic-looking "black hole" in Helldivers 2.

The Illuminate have been terrorising the galaxy and, for the most part, havesort of been sucking at it so far. At the time of writing, Super Earth’s finest have won their first major order against the squid scum, and are on track to win the second, punting them out of the Galaxy whenever they rear their tentacled heads.

However, there’s a problem: Each time they pop up again, they move a little bit further space east (like east, but in space. Don’t ask me how that works). In fact, here’s a little mock-up I made of them doing just that—their warpath taking them from Calypso, to Genesis Prime, to Mog, and now to the planets of Skaash and Bashyr.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Games)

An image showing the Illuminate warpath in Helldivers 2.

This is concerning because, well, uh,that’s where the black hole players left back in June is. To recap, players were instructed to inject “dark fluid” into the ex-planet in the summer of 2024 in order to combat the Terminid threat, which had a nasty side effect of doing, well, this.

Well, the Illuminate’s slow nudging towards Meridia has been somewhat of a concern, especially since the black hole’s looking quite a bit spookier than it once was, with lots of extra psychedelic particle effects dancing along its rim. Here’s a handy before and after picture, courtesy ofReddit user KohJL.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Games - viaReddit user KohJL)

A before and after image of the black hole at Meridia.

Well, I’m not ignoring my distractions. As a matter of fact, I’m parked outside of the thing right now, listening to its calming (note: existentially horrifying) deep sea noises. While it’s a little hard to tell—and it could just be placebo—it does sound a little louder. There’s a bassy gurgling sound I’m not sure was there before, either.

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