Helldivers 2 Gets Review Bombed Again, This Time Over Its Big Battle for Super Earth

The conflict for Super Earth is raging connected successful Helldivers 2, arsenic players combat to clasp backmost the invading Illuminate fleet. A caller contention surrounding the invasion, though, has led to immoderate vexation and a caller flood of antagonistic reviews.

To acceptable the stage, the latest update for Helldivers 2 — Heart of Democracy — brought months and months of storyline gathering to fruition. The Meridian Singularity, a achromatic spread formed during an cognition against Terminids, had been flung towards Super Earth arsenic the extremity of the spear for an Illuminate invasion. The "Great Host" fleet flooded done the now-wormhole and onto Super Earth, turning the satellite into a battlefield.

In the days since the update went live, players person fought to clasp the assorted Mega Cities of Super Earth, which correspond to large cities successful real-life. York Supreme, for example, corresponds astir to New York, and Remembrance to Buenos Aires. As the penetration has continued, much and much cities person fallen; arsenic of this writing, lone Equality-On-Sea (Shanghai) and Super Earth's capital, Prosperity City (Stockholm) stay standing.

As the penetration has approached what feels similar endgame, a lot has happened. Helldivers players thin to "get into character" and play up the Major Orders, rallying down antithetic causes and calls to effort and bushed each caller situation that developer Arrowhead lobs astatine them. Some, for example, stopped playing matches connected Super Earth to lend to a caller effort successful different assemblage against the Automaton forces, which yet brought the DSS — a monolithic subject orbital abstraction presumption — backmost to Super Earth to assistance with the antiaircraft efforts.

With the Illuminate gaining crushed and taking Mega Cities, efforts rallied down Equality-On-Sea to marque a past stand. Amid each this, determination was a consciousness of comradery extended crossed nations; arsenic much players dropped successful to rise Equality-On-Sea's percent and clasp it against the Great Host, memes and enactment flooded in. Even arsenic the Illuminate focused efforts connected the city, players held retired and kept diving.

It's each been reasonably heartwarming and breathtaking stuff, the benignant of emergent communicative that Helldivers 2 is rather susceptible of forging successful its top moments; wherever developer storylines, subordinate investment, and assemblage efforts effect successful immoderate truly superb moments of cooperative warfare theater.

But Equality-On-Sea ne'er deed 100%. From here, the concern gets a small much complex, and a batch rougher.

While players made a concerted effort to clasp Equality-On-Sea against the continued onslaught, the existent arc closed with the cities' percent metre astatine 99.9783% (keep that fig successful mind). Most Major Orders and operations successful Helldivers are astir completion, a binary success-or-failure state. As immoderate person pointed out, though, determination mightiness person been disorder astir what the percent metre meant successful the defence of Super Earth. Rather than "liberating" a metropolis and re-taking it, players are holding it. So it stands to crushed that Helldivers mightiness not beryllium capable to "100%" the defense, due to the fact that the Illuminate are continuing to invade.

This, alongside theories that the warfare is narrowing down to an eventual showdown successful Super Earth's superior of Prosperity City, seems to beryllium the main operator down a caller influx of antagonistic reviews connected Steam. As of this writing, astir 2,312 antagonistic reviews of Helldivers person been submitted to Steam successful the past 24 hours compared to 324 positive.

Many of the antagonistic reviews are successful Chinese, and portion the instrumentality translation doesn't look close capable to quote, determination are immoderate recurring points 1 tin easy glean: vexation implicit driving the narrative, the cognition of a thumb connected the standard from Arrowhead, and repetition mentions of "99.9783%."

Now, it's important to support this each successful context. Yes, determination is simply a caller circular of antagonistic reviews connected the game, and it's evidently a larger magnitude than the mean trickle of reviews. It besides still, astatine this moment, pales successful examination to the more-infamous review-bombing of Helldivers 2 from May 2024, wherever thousands upon thousands of antagonistic reviews flooded successful implicit PSN requirements.

Players are, broadly, understandably frustrated. This should beryllium a highest successful Helldivers 2 history, arsenic some the culmination of a long-running storyline and 1 of the cooler in-game moments Arrowhead has concocted. I've spent immoderate clip diving connected Super Earth, and it's truly an unthinkable feat. Arrowhead has nailed the feeling of holding retired successful these Mega Cities arsenic massive, terrifying Illuminate forces rampage through, causing wanton destruction.

And due to the fact that truthful overmuch of this is each tied into nationalist identity, the erstwhile consciousness of planetary comradery has been tainted a spot too. Even arsenic players, mods, and instrumentality accounts person urged players to not get caught up successful the controversy, it has enactment a tinge of a atrocious sensation connected this different unthinkable moment.

As of this writing, Helldivers are inactive holding retired crossed the Mega Cities of Equality-On-Sea and Prosperity City, with the erstwhile holding the higher percentage. It looks similar the conflict for Super Earth is entering its last phase, and the existent bid is simple: Hold Super Earth. Hopefully players tin inactive clasp out, prehend victory, and observe the bully successful each this.

Eric is simply a freelance writer for IGN.