My teammate calls for reinforcements, and my hellpod drops from the sky. On its way, it crashes through a towering, long-legged enemy, smashing them to pieces. It's the kind of moment that makes Helldivers 2 what it is, but this time, when I step from my pod – guns blazing with the kind of arrogance that befits only these most serendipitous of kills – it's not into some blasted wasteland besieged by bugs or bots. Now I'm fighting in the dense streets of a colony city against mind-controlled human shells. The Illuminates are back, and the galactic war is expanding into its third – and possibly most dangerous – front.
Mysteriously absent from the first year of the war, the Illuminates were the third enemy faction in the original Helldivers. A squid-like, mind-controlling force, their return in the sequel has been long-rumored, whispered about by veteran players and used within Helldivers canon to scare unruly children straight. Now, they're officially back, with a Vanguard force using guerilla tactics to gain a foothold in parts of Super Earth space that were supposed to be safe.
