Helldivers 2's runaway popularity last year was, in part, due to just how focused it felt—while other games might bombard you from orbit with a silo of microtransactions, features, menus, and stats, Helldivers 2 basically said, "Hey, do you like shooting bugs? You wanna scrap some robots? Here's a bunch of guns to do just that. Here's a game that's very good at it. Go hog wild."
That's not to say it doesn't have secondary systems, mind. There's still an unlock system and microtransactional Warbonds for $10 a pop (or a dozen plus hours grinding currency) but it is, overall, a videogame that knows what it's about. Johan Pilestedt, CCO of Arrowhead Games—and formerly its CEO, before stepping down so he could get his mitts more on the creative process—had some similar thoughts at GDC, during a talk about the game's success.
