The secret to Helldivers 2's success? The Last of Us and God of War designer points to immersive element "I don't see people talking about enough"

gamesradar.com:

Helldivers 2's popularity continues to be immense, and one senior game designer at Naughty Dog has been gushing about what they believe to be the main reason why – its focus on immersion. 

Derek Mattson has been credited with a number of huge Sony Interactive Entertainment-published games, including being part of the narrative technical design team on God of War Ragnarok and serving as a game designer on The Last of Us Part 2. The designer has been discussing how Helldivers 2's immersive design contributes to players feeling like real Helldivers, keeping us all coming back for more, even if it's a factor "I don't see people talking about enough," particularly regarding multiplayer games.

"They remove as many barriers as possible between you and living the fantasy of being a Helldiver," Mattson says. "You are on the stick controlling your Helldiver as soon as the game can let you. No main menu, instead you are on your ship. You are not a player. You are a Helldiver."

The designer points to the war table and its 3D holographic map and how Helldivers are instructed to get into their Hellpods to begin missions as examples of details that draw players in, noting that "even the loading screen commits to immersion." Mattson explains: "The theme song kicks in as we watch the appropriate number of pods drop from the ship for our player count. We are singing the theme song in the chat. [...] We are Helldivers and no one can tell us otherwise." 

Where any other game would have a full screen 2D GUI for the mission interface, Helldivers says NO! Let's commit to the war table experience. All 4 players, huddled around a 3D hologram style interface for mission selection. Fully synced over the net. This takes effort. pic.twitter.com/l4QBDByFCwApril 9, 2024

Being a bit more critical for a moment, Mattson says it can be argued that the screen that pops up when you're choosing your loadout is a bit less immersive, but "my brain fills in the blanks" with the idea that it could be an