Years of videogames operating like shopping malls made me assume that Helldivers 2's day-one monetization would be the same old story: battle passes, boosters, and cosmetics that cost as much as the game itself. It does give that impression at first—Helldivers 2 has two battle passes out the gate, a rotating cosmetics shop, and actual weapons and armor you can only get by buying the premium $10 pass.
On paper, that's standard or even slightly outside of what most of us would deem acceptable upselling. But 20 hours in, Helldivers 2's monetization isn't bothering me. It's actually pretty reasonable, and as far as $40 games with microtransactions go… dare I say refreshing?
