Sony’s recent PlayStation Showcase was packed with plenty of new and upcoming titles, including Arrowhead Game Studios' Helldivers 2. With a ton of first looks into all-new games and a whole host of development updates like the first trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and new gameplay details for indie title Towers of Aghasba, PlayStation players should have their hands full over the next few years. But Helldivers 2's 2023 release date is definitely something for fans of the franchise to look forward to.
Coming eight years after the first Helldivers released in 2015, Helldivers 2 looks like it will be making some updates to the top-down shooter. Helldivers 2 quickly set the tone for its gameplay with a humorous and action-packed announcement trailer, which should tide fans over until more details about the upcoming game are released. The darkly satirical tone of the footage also brought to mind a similar sensibility found in Obsidian Entertainment's hit The Outer Worlds and helps to offer something a little different to the pro-military vibe of other video game shooters.
Helldivers 2's Announcement
Gamers might have been a little surprised when it was announced that Helldivers 2 was on the way, as even though the original game was a well-received arcade-style shooter for previous console generations, Arrowhead Games' Helldivers isn't necessarily something that's been on a ton of players' radars in recent years. Still, there were more than a few fans asking for a sequel to the macabre and comic sci-fi shooter since its launch, and the announcement trailer shown during PlayStation Showcase 2023 was a welcome addition for many among an already packed lineup. With an updated third-person format and some frantic and fun visuals, Helldivers 2 looks like a riot.
The trailer might only have shown off glimpses of gameplay, but it did reveal more than enough about the upcoming Helldivers 2 that gamers will know exactly what kind of title the developer is aiming for. Its over-the-top, rambunctious marketing style and healthy dose of comedy continue on the traditions of the first Helldivers, and help to paint the picture of the upcoming game's style. "Get ready to spread peace and liberty with extreme prejudice" – PlayStation's tagline for the game – really says it all, with its humorous contradictions and tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of the mismatch between the trailer's voiceover and its visuals.
Helldivers 2 And The Outer Worlds' Humor
Military shooters are a dime a dozen in the video game industry, and more modern releases like Helldivers 2 need to find ways to set themselves apart from their competitors. What games like Helldivers and its sequel Helldivers 2 have managed to do is incorporate a sense of humor and satirical lens to view their ultra-violent gameplay through. Similarly, this aligns with The Outer Worlds' anti-corporate messaging, which also focused on causal brutality and the cheapness of life, barely concealing its disturbing societal structure under the veneer of cheerful servitude. This allows both The Outer Worlds and Helldivers 2 to use their games for social commentary and unabashed fun at the same time – a smart combination for a sci-fi shooter.
Helldivers 2, The Outer Worlds, and its own upcoming sequel The Outer Worlds 2 are also hyper-aware of video game tropes and expertly undermine them in their marketing. Helldivers 2 perfectly encapsulates this with its announcement trailer, which serves as a coldly calculating recruitment video that espouses the "freedom" it will grant players to "encounter new lifeforms and introduce them to our sophisticated technology" as aliens are obliterated onscreen. Just like The Outer Worlds' corporate doublespeak, Helldivers 2's incongruous messaging about its "elite peacekeeping force" that works together "to spread prosperity, liberty, and democracy" is humorously undermined with images of figures hugging as they're silhouetted by explosions and the corpses of creatures piling up as they're slaughtered by trigger-happy soldiers.
Helldivers 2 will launch in 2023 on PC and PS5.