Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has addressed important concern inside the recreation’s group, teasing new upcoming content material amid ‘principally unfavorable’ Steam critiques.
Current person critiques for the third-person motion recreation plunged to ‘principally unfavorable’ in response to dissatisfaction with current updates and a perceived lack of content material. Responding to “the group’s burning questions,” Arrowhead published an in-universe transmission acknowledging the backlash.
“Helldivers 2 issues to all of us, and we wish to be clearer about what we’re engaged on and what’s coming subsequent,” Arrowhead started.
New content material is coming quickly, the studio insisted, alongside enhancements to the core of the sport. Stability, development, and the Galactic Struggle have been all talked about as being in-line for work. The main focus proper now’s on enhancing meta-progression and the Galactic Struggle, Arrowhead stated. “We’ve considerably expanded the workforce working on this space, reflecting how essential these long-term programs are for the general participant expertise,” the studio continued.
Upcoming Galactic Struggle enhancements embody extra significant rewards and group development programs, evolving Main Orders into longer, multi-week themed “Campaigns,” and branching outcomes that “create clearer stakes and penalties based mostly on participant actions.” We’ll see the primary outcomes of this this summer season.
Arrowhead additionally addressed concern about hidden modifications in updates, promising to make patch notes “extra precisely mirror gameplay changes.” It’ll additionally higher clarify steadiness modifications. Arrowhead promised to discuss tech and efficiency enhancements quickly.
Right here’s a giant one: why did Arrowhead put exosuits within the premium Exo Consultants warbond? (This sparked important group backlash.) “The aim with the Exo Consultants warbond was to create one thing that felt thematically sturdy and thrilling, with exosuits as a core a part of that fantasy,” Arrowhead defined. “That stated, we’ve seen the suggestions round how that landed — particularly when it comes to expectations round how gamers unlock main gameplay objects like exosuits. Extra broadly, we wish to strike the fitting steadiness between what’s included in Warbonds and what’s accessible by way of gameplay, in order that rewards really feel each thrilling and truthful. And to be clear — sure, you may be getting different automobiles by way of gameplay sooner or later.”
And right here’s maybe the most important one: Arrowhead stated it has groups actively engaged on each new purple stratagems, evolving ships, and participant development to stage 150… “and past.”
“Our aim is to broaden these areas in ways in which add significant new choices and assist totally different playstyles, reasonably than simply including extra for the sake of it,” Arrowhead teased.
That final observe is bound to please disgruntled Helldivers 2 gamers, however there stays a level of scepticism round Arrowhead’s potential to ship right here.
Helldivers 2 is now over two years outdated, and whereas it loved a spectacularly profitable launch, turning into the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios title of all time, it has had its ups and downs with followers as Arrowhead strives to preserve curiosity within the dwell service. By all of it, Helldivers 2 stays one of many most-played video games on Steam (neither Sony nor Microsoft make participant numbers public), despite the fact that it’s removed from its launch heights.
There are larger questions on Helldivers 2 and what Arrowhead can do with it, at the same time as it really works on a model new recreation. Can Arrowhead make significant updates to Helldivers 2 past the form of issues we’ve seen within the final two years? In December, former Helldivers 2 chief Johan Pilestedt talked about the opportunity of a Helldivers 2 rogue-lite mode. However can the builders broaden the scope of the sport to, say, enhance the squad depend? Improve the variety of gamers in a squad? Launch larger maps?
As recreation director Mikael Eriksson advised me in an interview in February, these kinds of game-changing updates are being labored on.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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