The Illuminate invasion has turned Helldivers 2 into a madhouse! Who else is seeing the numbers skyrocket?
Brings a liber-tear to my eye.
Bennett said:
Brings a liber-tear to my eye.
You cheeky bastard. I see what you did there.
Edit: There are now 156,000 people on just one planet… and it’s a weekday.
This feels like being a new player again. After hundreds of hours and 130 levels, I’m back to screaming, “What the hell is that thing!?” and trying to figure out how to take it down. The new faction makes everything feel fresh and exciting.
I love this feeling.
Logged in, got annihilated by a War of the Worlds-style invasion. Everyone quit. Learned how to kill them, and then I quit too. 10/10 experience. I’ll be back when it’s not 3 a.m.
Facing the Illuminate reminds me of my first encounter with the automatons back at the creek. The chaos is insane, and I love it.
Sky said:
Facing the Illuminate reminds me of my first encounter with the automatons back at the creek. The chaos is insane, and I love it.
We’ve gone from Space Vietnam to Super Mogadishu. Fighting these squids in city zones on high difficulty is just madness.
Sky said:
Facing the Illuminate reminds me of my first encounter with the automatons back at the creek. The chaos is insane, and I love it.
Ran into a city swarm of zombies while aliens were shooting at us from behind. Absolutely terrifying. We were not ready. 
It’s expected. Updates always bring people back, but it usually settles back down after a while.
Keir said:
It’s expected. Updates always bring people back, but it usually settles back down after a while.
Not sure why this is downvoted—it’s true. The new faction is cool, but they aren’t significantly different or challenging compared to bugs or bots. It’s fun for a bit, but I’m not sure it has long-term staying power.
@Blake
Agreed. They’ve got four enemy types: boss bot, zombies, jetpack guy, and non-jetpack guy. That’s it.
Haru said:
@Blake
Agreed. They’ve got four enemy types: boss bot, zombies, jetpack guy, and non-jetpack guy. That’s it.
It’s a live service game; they’re probably adding more as the invasion progresses. Leaks show bastions and invokers coming soon.
@Blake
New vehicle, weapon, and turrets are already live. Same thing happened with the bugs and bots—the roster expanded over time.
@Blake
The update’s big, but the game still feels repetitive with no solid late-game content. Honestly, I’d prefer new missions over a new faction. This might hold interest for a week or two before numbers drop again.
What took them so long? They said a new faction would drop in 3 months, and it’s been almost a year!
Zan said:
What took them so long? They said a new faction would drop in 3 months, and it’s been almost a year!
I asked a dev about their timeline, and they said fixes kept leading to new issues, which slowed everything down. They also needed more time to test and polish content to make it meaningful. It’s a small studio learning the ropes of live service.
@Sam
Thanks for the insight. That actually makes a lot of sense.
@Sam
The fact that they’re this transparent says a lot about how much they care.
Might hop back on, but it doesn’t feel as meaningful as it used to. The updates are fun, but something feels… off now.
Haven’t played in months, but me and the boys are jumping in tonight. This update looks wild.