Game Director Mikael Eriksson just admitted something most developers would never say out loud: Helldivers 2 doesn’t design its Warbonds around making you more powerful. Instead, Arrowhead cares way more about letting you cosplay your favorite action movie hero while spreading managed democracy across the galaxy:
What we try to do with Warbonds is we try to sell a fantasy. You know, you get to feel like, this type of person when you play, right? We’re not thinking about a power fantasy or ‘Oh, this weapon will be much better than every weapon that you tested before.’ That’s not the primary thing that we think about.
This philosophy makes way more sense when you remember how often the community freaks out over weapon buffs and nerfs. If balance came first, every new Warbond would need to justify its existence by outperforming everything before it. Instead, you get flamethrowers because flamethrowers are cool, not because bugs needed another counter.
Helldivers 2 Warbond Philosophy: Movie Tropes Over Meta Dominance
Eriksson doubled down on this approach by explaining how Arrowhead actually starts designing each battle pass:
First, we start with ‘What’s the fantasy?’ You know, what sort of movie trope are we trying to sell, for example. Or other type of trope are we selling—and I really enjoy that.
Take Viper Commandos, for example—probably the most obvious love letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando
This design philosophy explains why some Warbonds feel stronger than others despite not being intended that way. Polar Patriots leaned into Arctic ops fantasy with the AR-61 Tenderizer assault rifle, while Chemical Agents went full NBC warfare nightmare fuel. Each serves a specific roleplay identity first, practical application second.
The approach also sidesteps the power creep problem plaguing most live service games. Players don’t feel forced to buy every single release; they can grab what speaks to their personal Super Earth soldier fantasy and ignore the rest without “falling behind.“
How Arrowhead Lives Through the Meme Cycles
With community patience at historic lows thanks to persistent performance issues from the Into the Unjust update, Eriksson acknowledged the emotional rollercoaster that not only players, but also developers, experience from time to time:
I would want to say first that—thanks for the patience as we go through these ‘we’re so back, it’s so over’ moments. Sometimes it’s tough to live through that meme, but it’s clear that we sometimes mess up. I think this is part of making a live service game.
That candor does hit different when we’re currently sitting through one of those “it’s so over” phases. Steam reviews recently tanked back to Mixed status after months of stability issues, crashes, and audio bugs, making the game borderline unplayable for some Helldivers.
I really do think that we’re developing this game together with the community and I really appreciate all the feedback that we get. It’s super useful to us and we read it all—sometimes at our detriment but most often it’s very positive.
Reading everything might explain why Arrowhead seems perpetually caught between community demands and their own vision. One week, players beg for enemy nerfs, the next, they’re complaining that those same nerfs made the game too easy. Trying to please everyone usually ends up pleasing nobody.
It’s a very positive experience, I think, to interact with the community and I’m looking forward to interacting with the community more—as I’m sure we will do.
Whether that optimism survives the next performance patch remains to be seen. Liberty Day approaches on October 26, historically bringing free content and goodwill. Maybe that’ll swing the pendulum back to “we’re so back” territory. Or maybe it’ll just give players more stuff that crashes their game!
Does prioritizing fantasy over balance actually work long-term, or does it just delay inevitable power creep? Will the community’s patience last until Arrowhead fixes the technical debt, or is another review bomb brewing? Let us know in the comments below!
