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Her return was long considered an open secret in the community. Now it's finally official: The alien species called Illuminate is keeping up with the updateOmens of Tyranny
Enter the galactic campaign of.
Even before the reveal, we took on the new faction as the top secret vanguard of the Super-Earth. And after just two hours it is clear to us: Helldivers 2 will change fundamentally!
New threat, new tactics
The Illuminate opens alongside bots and bugsa third theater of warin the galactic south of the star map and threaten to advance from there to the center.
As with the other alien races, we park our destroyer in the orbit of a corresponding planet and from there jump into battle against the "Squids", as the Illuminati are derogatorily called by the forces of the Super-Earth.
Who are the Illuminati?
The alien species was already an enemy faction in the first Helldivers and is reminiscent of a mixture of the Protoss from StarCraft or the T'au from Warhammer 40K. They are technologically significantly superior to humans and use high-tech equipment such as energy shields. Their giant three-legged walkers resemble the Tripods from War of the Worlds or the Striders from Half-Life 2.
Once we arrive on the battlefield, we quickly realize that we need completely new tactics to combat this new threat!
Because the Illuminati aren't just hounding usHordes of zombie space colonistson the neck, who were turned into mindless cannon fodder through mind control, but also elite troops who were almost impossible to crack.
Check out our bitter fight for survival here:
What makes the Illuminate so badass?
In short: The Illuminati have really heated us up! Even on medium difficulty level 5, which isn't much of a problem for more experienced Helldivers, we were fighting desperate rearguard action faster than we could say "managed democracy."
Many of the new enemies (and their vehicles)have powerful energy shields, which we cannot easily penetrate with most conventional weapons. Only through heavy orbital weapons such as railguns or lasers (or through long, continuous fire from some hand weapons) do the defensive measures fail - but only for a short time!
If we don't take advantage of the gap in time and immediately blow up the weakened enemies, the shield pops up again and we're back to square one. This costs valuable ammunition and time!
This puts a much stronger focus on teamwork and the combination of different strategies and makes going it alone more difficult than against bots and bugs.
The following new archetypes particularly caused us problems:
- Watcher:These quick-witted beasts are the flying eyes of the Illuminate - when they spot us, they call for reinforcements and also annoy us with electric shocks.
- Harvester:Although slow, these tripods fire a devastating beam of energy from their eyes and have powerful shields.
- Illuminate ships:These stationary UFOs constantly spit out hordes of zombies and their extra thick shields can withstand even multiple spear hits.
- Cognitive Disruptor:The radiation from this nasty obelisk messes with our HUD and changes the stratagem codes. Annoying and dangerous!
We're (finally) going into town
The new aliens force even well-established teams to rethink. The colony cities that we find on many of the planets threatened by the Illuminate provide a completely new feeling. Mikael Eriksson, game director of Helldivers 2, explains to us:
For the first time, there are real settlements that stand in stark contrast to the previous, more natural landscapes. Here we see how the settlers live in the colonies of the Super-Earth. And it adds a new dimension to the threat - after all, the Illuminati are turning the people there into zombies!
Of course, that also means: Finally there is urban warfare in Helldivers 2! The street fights between office buildings and parking lots create a whole new feeling and are also upliftingthe physical destructionto a whole new level.
When we take an Illuminate UFO out of the sky with a rocket launcher and when it crashes it spectacularly reduces an entire block of buildings to rubble, our jaws drop for a moment. All the effects bombast of Helldivers 2 reaches a whole new dimension in the colonies.
“Laughs per minute” as currency
Speaking of street fighting: Of course there is also new equipment to deal with the new alien threat. The matching Warbond “Urban Legends,” for example, contains an anti-tank gun and an electric shock baton as a melee weapon.
We can also call the M-102 Recon Vehicle onto the battlefield, the first new ground vehicle since the 'Mechs. The buggy offers space for an entire squad and a gunner position on the MG. It's fully staffedreal battlefield feelingon!
None of the new tools in the arsenal feel overpowering straight away. On the contrary: the Jeep is only lightly armored and tends to quickly lose a tire under fire - and then the already demanding controls quickly become extremely tricky.
»New elements should not just be powerful. They should be challenging, raise the skill level and open up new approaches," explains Mikael Eriksson. »We measurethe laughs per minute, this is an important metric for us. If everyone just plays calmly and concentrates, we haven’t done our job properly.”
With Omens of Tyranny, Helldivers 2 remains true to its principle that not everything has to be perfectly balanced, like in a competitive PvP shooter. Instead, it's about fulfilling a "power fantasy" inspired by role models such as Starship Troopers, Alien or Star Wars.
