You can strategize with your team and build your load-outs collaboratively to prepare for the challenge ahead.

- Coordination and strategy: The game is made for co-op and synergizing with your squad is important, and it feels good when you successfully equip needed items based on the mission Negatives:

As you complete missions, collect loot from points of interest on the galaxy's battlefields, and earn XP, you'll level up and get various currencies that allow you to unlock new weapons and armor pieces.

The game improved on a lot of things that I personally had gripes with the previous game. There are some crashes here and there regarding the in-game Armory and some concerns with the anti-cheat that the game uses, but if you look past those cons, I don’t think there’s too many negatives to write about.

Team up with friends to fight aliens across PC and PS5. Hordes are attacking, and humanity needs defenders. This third-person shooter appears to evolve the formula of the original arcade-like experience, and crossplay ensures players can stay together.

The game has what is called a "Premium Warbond," which works just like regular Warbonds (see the above section for details on those). That means you'll be using the medals you earn from orders and missions to unlock the items on it, but to access the Premium Warbond in the first place, you'll need to buy it for 1,000 Super Credits.

There's also a setting to adjust the level of image sharpening. At zero sharpening in performance mode Helldivers 2 looks soft and indistinct, while stepping up to the max sharpening level increases clarity at the cost of additional artifacting. Quality mode exhibits the same difference, although given its higher resolution, the effect is a bit more subtle. Helldivers' performance mode runs smoothly. We're mostly at 60fps in typical play, with a very smooth readout, especially when combined with the game's motion blur. The game can suffer from extended dips into the 50s though, typically during larger firefights. In my gameplay the worst I saw was about 50fps, so the game does manage to stay pretty close to 60fps more generally, although it can spend a long time hovering in the 50s in extended firefights. The quality mode also manages a tight lock on its 30fps frame-rate target, but it clearly has issues with bouts of inconsistent frame-pacing.

Most live service games have a paid Battle Pass for players to progress through by leveling up or spending a currency, with each tier of the pass giving you a reward when reached. Helldivers 2 has a paid Battle Pass, too, though it works differently than most.

With no story mode or alternate game modes, I’m curious how much there will be for players to do beyond grinding the same missions ad nauseum, especially with no clear Helldivers 2 Gameplay content roadmap laid out as of yet. That said, with only two enemy factions at the moment, it seems likely the third one from the original Helldivers could be added into the mix at some point, which could easily keep the good times rolling.

Helldivers are the first line of defense, so the fate of civilization rests on your shoulders. You will need to utilize your environments and your weaponry within the game to dispose of the aliens coming to cause chaos on your planet in waves alongside your companions in what could become one of the best co-op games, but that doesn’t mean the challenge won’t put you and your comrade's skills to the ultimate test of survival.

Although you can take on missions alone, it’s better with three other players – this is very much a co-op experience. Everyone gets a set of primary and secondary weapons – which means shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles and pistols – as well as grenades. During combat however you can also call in Strategems, special weapons and items ranging from orbital missile strikes to defensive shields and automated machine gun turrets.

Helldivers 2 was first announced in May as a sequel to top-down shooter Helldivers, and is planned for release on PS5 and PC.

It is a bit on the difficult side if you’re not playing with at least a friend, but I highly recommend a full group of 4 for the best experience. There are a good few types of missions, and some of them are very challenging as a solo player. If you don’t mind a good challenge, however, or have friends you can party up with, Helldivers 2 is a fantastic time and I sincerely believe you will enjoy yourself.

Something that's important to note, though, is that only the amount of mobs is affected by this scaling. The types of units that spawn are still the same, as that's dictated by the difficulty you choose to play on.