Since developer Arrowhead Game Studios shadow dropped the Illuminate faction in its popular Windows PC and PS5 co-op shooter Helldivers 2 in December, it's been something of a game of cat and mouse between the squid-like aliens and Lady Liberty's finest troops. The Illuminate surprise attack one of Super Earth's colonies and transform democratic citizens into shambling Voteless zombies to refill its ranks, only to retreat and crop up elsewhere once the cavalry arrives to drive them away. Soon, however, it looks like the alien menace will kick off a larger, more nefarious plan.
On Monday, players were suddenly introduced to a new readout on their ship's Galactic Map: a Spacetime Fluctuation Indicator that's "surveying unexplained spacetime fluctuations." Nothing about its ultimate purpose is explained by the graph itself, but reading the latest intel report from Super Earth High Command in the dispatch menu reveals it's a tool meant to track Illuminate activity.
