Helldivers 2 gave players a deliberately awful, crusty rifle from 1903 but they love it because they can bayonet charge bugs like sci-fi Waterloo

pcgamer.com:

Another liberty day has come and gone in the world of Helldivers 2, with the patriotic citizens of Super Earth rewarded by developers Arrowhead Game Studios with a throwback to the first Helldivers and the game's first melee weapon: The 2124 Constitution rifle and the armor set from the original game. A thinly-disguised M1903 Springfield, the American rifle of choice in the First World War, the Constitution is described in-game as the rifle given to all citizens of Super Earth at the age of 16 and in the timeline of Helldivers 2 is a design nearly 300 years old. Suffice to say that with its five-round magazine reloaded one bullet at a time and bolt action, it is basically terrible… but unlike every other gun in the game so far, it has a bayonet on it.

Naturally, the community absolutely loves it because they can bayonet charge a line of murderous robots or bugs like they're an American marine at sci-fi Belleau Wood in 1918. «This my brothers is a gun,» said one poster. «This is the best weapon ever,» said another. «You can even stab tanks!» said a third. «Constitution Rifle is peak,» said a fourth, posting a comparison TikTok of the weapon with its famous use by the sniper in Saving Private Ryan.

MAJOR ORDER: In accordance with the signing of the Liberty Day Pact, all Helldivers will spend 24 hours in contemplation of freedom and Managed Democracy. Today, spread these principles throughout the galaxy as you see fit, Helldivers. As a gift to our elite soldiers, in… pic.twitter.com/kVhVYumWEJOctober 25, 2024

It's basically the game community equivalent of a thunderous applause because the self-imposed challenge-heads in the Helldivers community absolutely love it when something is kind of bad, but not so bad that they can't use it anyway. Everyone else? Everyone else just lovers bayonetting things. A development that shouldn't come as a surprise when they've been hankering for melee weapons since the launch of Helldivers 2.

Back in April Arrowhead did give some