While it had an explosive launch earlier this year and took the gaming industry by storm with hundreds of thousands of players for many months, the popularity of Helldivers 2 eventually tapered off as is often the case with new games (though make no mistake, it's always maintained a healthy, consistent player base). Thanks to the surprise release of the co-op shooter's long-awaited Illuminate faction at The Game Awards, though, it's skyrocketed back into the limelight — and there are numbers to back that up.
According to data from SteamDB, Helldivers 2 soared from its typical evening average of ~20,000 concurrent players up to a peak of 137,735 on Thursday night, with 129,905 currently fighting on the Galactic War's front lines as I write this. On top of that, it's once again taken the first-place position on Steam's official Top Sellers chart, even managing to surpass current juggernauts like Marvel Rivals and Path of Exile 2.
Perhaps what's most impressive, though, is that over one million of Liberty's finest soldiers have deployed across PC and PS5 since the Illuminate began their surprise invasion of Calypso. That news came from a recent social media post from Arrowhead Game Studios' CCO Johan Pilestedt: "Super stoked to see that more than a million Helldivers have made planetfall in the last 24 hours!"
Clearly, the arrival of the Illuminate and their hordes of zombified squid-like soldiers has motivated Helldivers to return to the game en masse, spurred on by a monumental Major Order to repel the faction's invasion of Calypso in two days' time. It's also driven many newcomers to pick up the game and give it a shot, with a cool 20% off discount on Steam making it more affordable to buy than usual.
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There are a few other reasons to boot up Helldivers again that aren't strictly related to the Illuminate, also. For one thing, Calypso is the game's first urban planet, which means its battlefields primarily consist of utilitarian colony cities rather than the natural types of terrain that players have been fighting on since launch. Taking Helldivers 2's various weapons, stratagems, and other sandbox elements into urban warfare forces you to rethink the way you use them, making for an interesting gameplay experience. There are also new Fast Recon Vehicles that you can occasionally find in the streets, which are effectively Halo Warthogs; their high speed allows for some unique transportation playmaking, and their less-than-ideal handling can lead to some pretty hilarious hijinks. They're not a stratagem yet, but we know they'll be unlocked as one after we finish a Major Order (perhaps this one).
Developer Arrowhead also paired the Omens of Tyranny update with the release of the new Urban Legends Premium Warbond, which has some pretty awesome stuff in it. On top of a pair of new armor sets with a perk that gives you improved reload speed and ammo carrying capacity, there's also the CQC-19 Stun Lance melee weapon, a Reinhardt-style defensive barrier stratagem that you can hold up while teammates shoot through it, a flamethrower turret, and an anti-tank emplacement you can set up, among other things. There's even a new booster that effectively transforms Resupply pods into machine gun sentries, making them safer to grab ammo from in the middle of combat.
Overall, it's a great time to be a Helldivers fan, and this update caps off what has undeniably been an incredible first year for live-service co-op game. I'm excited to see how Arrowhead continues to build on the Illuminate over time — honestly, it's already a blast to fight against right out of the gate — and I'm sure there are plenty of new tools of destruction and cosmetics coming in the future, too. Whatever's on the way next, my friends and I will be there, ready to defend Super Earth and Lady Liberty from any and all undemocratic threats.
I'm still sad that Helldivers 2 didn't get a nomination for Game of the Year at The Game Awards; if you ask me, it deserved one way more than Black Myth: Wukong or Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (a DLC). Still, I was happy that it took home Best Multiplayer and Best Ongoing Game, which are both awards it was fully deserving of.
