Helldivers 2 Players Failed the Last Major Order, and Now ‘The Second Galactic War’ Has Begun

ign.com:

Helldivers 2’s ongoing meta-narrative took another twist this week after players failed the last Major Order and thus failed to unlock a promised new Stratagem.

The explosive PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter had set the community a stiff challenge: kill 2 billion Automatons in five days and the Anti-Tank Mines Stratagem would unlock.

But despite players’ best efforts, Helldivers came 78% towards the stated goal, and in an in-universe Galactic War update from Super Earth High Command posted to the Helldivers Discord, Arrowhead signaled it would hold the the Anti-Tank Mines Stratagem back — for now.

“After five days of intense decommissioning of Automatons into scrap metal for use in advanced anti-tank mines, the Helldivers came 78% towards the stated goal of 2 billion dead bots,” the message reads. “This means that the new stratagem will continue to elude the Helldiver arsenal for now…”

It’s perhaps no surprise to see this Major Order failed, given Arrowhead had warned it had fixed a bug that caused a previous Major Order to kill 2 billion bugs to be completed too quickly. The Anti-Tank Mines Stratagem will obviously be released in time, but what’s interesting is what comes next in the Galactic War.

Dungeon Master Joel, who pulls the meta-narrative strings from within the bowels of Arrowhead headquarters, appears to have a surprise up his sleeve. The rest of Super Earth’s statement says the war has now escalated into what’s called The Second Galactic War, and that all conflict leading up to this point “was merely an elaborate special operation.”

And here’s a very interesting line, already being picked apart by the Helldivers community: “New recruits are being trained to bolster the ranks of SEAF, and the Helldivers are tasked with guarding these training facilities so that each recruit can be given their rigorous 72 hour basic training.”

It could be nothing, but some players are speculating that this is a tease for the arrival of NPC squads. Perhaps an upcoming Stratagem