Summary
Amid player counts dropping dramatically, it doesn’t seem as ifHelldivers 2is going anywhere soon. The IP has hardly reached its prime and, despite its skyrocketed popularity possibly plummeting back out of orbit, there’s a lot to love aboutHelldivers 2in its current state. It’s only a matter of time beforeHelldivers 2reveals what Meridia’s black hole is all about, for instance, and itsViper Commandos Premium Warbonddemonstrates how content-rich future battle passes could be.
That’s not to sayHelldivers 2’s balancing or mission variety has already been perfected, though, and much could be done to make moment-to-moment gameplay more fulfilling. Beginning with Arrowhead’s approach to major and personal orders in particular,Helldivers 2’s personal orders are recycled, generic, and have yet to be iterated on refreshingly. Epic sector-faring quests can belong to major orders that are intended to pool the entire playerbase together, but that doesn’t mean personal orders can be brushed under a rug and left as bland, repetitive checklists because they only concern individual players.
Helldivers 2’s Personal Orders are Presently Regurgitated
Mostpersonal orders inHelldivers 2task players with either killing a certain number of a particular enemy type or killing any enemy a particular number of times with a specific stratagem and it’s these same orders that reappear ad nauseam along with having to extract successfully from three missions.
It’s a shame becauseHelldivers 2itself isn’t tremendously repetitive with a diverse slate of missions and objectives players can work toward and on different planets with their own biomes and strategies. Like howDead by Daylighthas the unending delight of RNG within its asymmetrical parameters,Helldivers 2is always exciting due to random enemy spawns and squadmates’ unprecedented behaviors.
Still, personal orders have been regurgitated from a shortlist that doesn’t even scratch the surface ofwhatHelldivers 2’s gameplay has to offer regarding tense and hilarious teamworkas well as other bombastic water-cooler actions players can perform. If personal orders encouraged players to break out of their comfort zone to try a different primary weapon, for example, or get a specific kind of kill such as sniping a shrieker with a throwing knife, they could be as exhilarating as they are rewarding.
Helldivers 2: Escalation of Freedom Needs to Be a Boon for Personal Orders
Thankfully,a huge new content update has arrived inHelldivers 2and with it a bunch of surprises were teased. Something like a refurbished personal order system may not be the most outwardly exciting surprise Arrowhead could drop, but it would certainly be one that would enrich moment-to-moment gameplay down the line.
Indeed, major orders tend to sway most players in their favor and have Helldivers actively participating in the planets they task them with liberating, and yet personal orders are a nice way for a handful of medals to be earned by engaging with ordinary gameplay. That core premise shouldn’t be upended, though making personal orders more specific or intensive could be precisely what some players need to spice up their endeavors and not have each mission feel arbitrarily repetitive.
Some players have also already hit the level cap of 150 and unlocked everything possible inHelldivers 2, and to come back each day to play more only to find the same identical personal orders is a shame. Premium Warbonds have made up most of the new content inHelldivers 2before Escalation of Freedom and there is still quite a bit of work to be done concerning the game’s more mundane gameplay loops.
