Helldivers 2 dev outlines when first update in its 60-day plan lands and what’s changing

Arrowhead Game Studios has posted an update explaining a little about what will be in the next major Helldivers 2 update as part of its 60-day plan after its first big expansion. For many fans, this update is a make-or-break moment for their future time with the game.

In a Steam announcement, the developer explains how this next update will rework armor penetration, anti-tank weapons, and enemy armor and health values. It’ll also make almost all enemies more rewarding to kill instead of feeling like bullet sponges, improve weapons across the board, and bring the focus back the focus on player fantasy — feeling powerful despite the fragile bodies we control on the battlefield.

Will it be enough?

Perhaps the best part about this news post is that it confirms that the initial update, which forms part of Arrowhead Game Studios’ plan to bring Helldivers 2 back in line with what players felt was a fun experience, arrives on September 17, 2024.

This means that by mid-September, the game should be facing the right direction for the developer to take it forward and restore the sense of fun and overall experience that fans enjoyed prior to the Escalation of Freedom update. We’ll know more once this update has landed, partly because the developer needs more time to craft the following update and also because it’ll want to see what fan feedback is for the next update.

This is the first update that I’ve seen Arrowhead Game Studios mention beta testing its updates. The developer explained, “We have conducted closed beta tests for the last two weekends. We’re starting small to ensure everything runs smoothly before expanding. They have been a testbed for the program and we intend to expand it in the future and invite a wider variety of testers to playtest our upcoming updates.”

This is a great step in the right direction for me. Beta playtests always reveal how an update will actually feel for players when those testing it are outside of the main development team. The fan base will immediately jump on this update and test out every weapon to see what’s been nerfed and what feels bad. If enemies are too tough, it’s going to be a problem, so that, and the massive weapon nerfs, need to be rectified as a minimum.

I have kept playing Helldivers 2 since launch despite the weapon nerfs and updates that made enemies a lot less fun to fight. However, I’d love to see the game return to form and make its core player base happy enough to stick around for what the Second Galactic War has in store for the future.