Helldivers 2The next Battle Pass is just around the corner. Arrowhead Studios announced that the Polar Patriots Warbond will release on May 9th with new arctic-themed weapons and armor. It’s the third Battle Pass the co-op shooter has received in as many months, and the latest example of how the PlayStation/Steam hit has handled its post-release rollercoaster ride.
The Polar Patriots Warbond Includes three new weapons, three new armor sets, a new pistol and incendiary grenade, three additional cloak styles, three additional emotes, and a utility booster that prevents players from being interrupted by enemy status ailments. A short film as the equipment shows it running across the snowy paths and icy cliffs of what looks like the Automaton planet Vandallon IV. I’m most excited about PLAS-101 Purifier, which can apparently one-shot Scout Strider from the front.
If you haven’t ensured freedom day after day since then Helldivers 2 Since its release on February 8th, it’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed by how much has happened in the three months since. When it comes to paid Battle Passes alone, Arrowhead Studios releases a new one every month. While Helldivers 2 It shipped with the “Helldivers Mobilize” and “Steeled Veterans” warbonds, and added the cyber-themed “Cutting Edge” in March and the explosion-inspired “Democratic Detonation Warbond” in April, each consisting of three pages of new rewards to unlock.
Although it requires purchasing 1,000 Super Credits, dedicated players have managed to earn them quickly by searching planets for packs of free Credits. I put in dozens of hours Helldivers 2 and have the game certified Platinum on PlayStation 5, but I’m still nowhere near unlocking all the additional gear and cosmetics that were added to the game this way. And unlike most other live service multiplayer games, Arrowhead has a chapter cut out Halo Infinite‘s book and made every Warbond permanent, so players don’t have to worry about FOMO when they take a break to play something else (like one of the other huge RPGs released in the first half of 2024 ).
The Battle Pass rollout would be snazzy enough on its own, but it crucially comes with weekly updates Helldivers 2is the player-driven Galactic War. This could just be weekly change lists. Instead, Arrowhead has integrated them into the game’s story with compelling twists as players achieve new goals, suffer major defeats, or discover new threats on patrol before they are officially announced. These “leaks” along with Dungeon master “Joel” appears to be turning the knobs for difficulty and progression like a live service DJ Helldivers 2 It feels remarkably fresh, even if the initial record-breaking rush on Steam has waned somewhat.
With most live service games, you only get one chance to impress and captivate new players. For each Final Fantasy XIV And No man’s sky-Type turnaround, there are half a dozen games like this anthem that cracking and burning without ever getting a second shot. Even if a game isn’t broken when you start it Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the number of ongoing updates and new content drops required to keep it alive can mean studios are constantly playing catch-up. Making that necessary commitment was at least part of the reason Naughty Dog seemingly gave up The Last of Us online.
Arrowhead seems to have been prepared for this Helldivers 2, which is taking off on PS5 and PC despite overloaded servers and some annoying errors. “Our old roadmap is very outdated compared to what we want to do now,” said Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt tweeted in February, when the game exceeded the studio’s wildest expectations. The team has intentionally not revealed its full plans for the game for the first year. So who knows whether it will develop rapidly. But at some point the developers have to sleep, right?