10 Things From the First Helldivers We Want to See Return

ign.com:

Helldivers 2 is still crushing it. Despite some serious drop-off to its player base, the community is still going strong, with an average of around 40K divers diving at any given moment. The developer, Arrowhead Studios, even had to slow down adding new content to the game with their Warbonds, because players were still taking their time unlocking everything in previous ones. Helldivers 2 has committed to keeping players engaged with their game, and so far it seems to be paying off.

Now, it’s time for their first big expansion. Escalation of Freedom which adds difficulty level 10, a new swamp map type, new enemies from both the Terminids and Automatons, and new mission types.

Shaking things up is always necessary for any live-service game to keep up momentum, but what if looking to the game’s future meant looking to the franchise’s past? The original Helldivers was evolving and adding to it’s formula for years after its release in 2015, and while Helldivers 2 reworked and left out a few of the features from the first game to streamline gameplay and make sure their game was solid (which was obviously the right move), they now have an opportunity to slowly reinstate some of the ideas they had all those years ago to make Helldivers 2 even better.

First and foremost, Arrowhead should bring back vehicles. Motorcycles, APCs, tanks, and exosuits eventually made it to the original twin-stick shooter, and with the Patriot and Emancipator Exosuits already having made their way to the sequel, it wouldn’t be surprising if more mobility options follow.

The larger size of Helldivers 2 maps compared to Helldivers 1 lend themselves even more to ways to get around them expeditiously. From the MC-109 Hammer Motorcycle for the lone wolves, to the TD-110 Bastion and M5 APC with their heavy firepower, there are tons of exciting ways Arrowhead could retrofit these vehicles from Helldivers 1 to fit within the gameplay context of the sequel.

Not only would vehicles bring new ways for players