There’s a special kind of chaos in “Helldivers 2” — one that feels oddly familiar to anyone ever sent on out with an incomplete op order, a busted radio, and a vague promise of support. Arrowhead Studios didn’t just make a solid third-person shooter. They accidentally made a spiritual sequel to every field op that became a mess of confusion, enthusiastic but ineffective leadership, and duct-taped equipment held together by nicotine-fueled belligerence and the sincere belief that fake motivation is better than no motivation.
Helldivers 2 is a third-person co-op shooter from Arrowhead Studios, where you and three friends bring “managed democracy” to hostile alien worlds. Released in February 2024 for PlayStation 5 and PC with full crossplay, the game drops you into chaotic missions against giant bugs (Terminids), killer robots (Automatons), and mind-controlling invaders (Illuminate), with vague objectives, limited gear, and plenty of opportunities to accidentally wipe out your own squad.
While civilians are out here learning to dodge bugs and decipher puzzle-like stratagems in the heat of digital battle, military veterans are watching this game unfold with a mix of laughter and gallows humor, and group chat screenshots that often begin with: “Tell me this doesn’t feel exactly like that time in [insert country here].”
When a teammate abruptly abandons the rest of the squad to run to the other side of the map to recover their secondary weapon because they don’t want to wait 2 minutes to call it back down, it can conjure up memories of seeing a squadmate frantically sprint back to the hooch or chowhall to grab their weapon, desperate to recover it before someone else finds it and the “fun and games” start in earnest.
“Helldivers 2” doesn’t just gamify the military — it nails its absurdity. And that’s why many current and former service members love it.
A game that gets the joke
“Helldivers 2” is satire, yes. But for veterans, it hits a little different. The concept of being dropped into a risky or unexpected situation with vague orders and little support isn’t just a game mechanic — it’s a Tuesday in uniform.
You don’t even need to squint to see the exaggerated parallels between the wars waged by Super Earth — the name of Earth’s government in the game’s lore — and the early days of the Global War on Terrorism.
And that’s the trick: “Helldivers 2” works because it doesn’t glamorize war. It pokes fun at it. It doesn’t try to make players feel like elite operators. It makes you feel like a cog in a machine that only half works and is pointed in the wrong direction.
Unlike some other mil-sims, such as “Tarkov” and “PUBG: Battlegrounds,” which require planning to win and often have one player assume the role of squad leader, “Helldivers 2” is pure democratic bedlam. There’s no formal command structure: just four players, a set of objectives, and a lot of hope. Leadership tends to default to whoever’s the loudest — or the least wrong.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Whether it was a convoy through questionable terrain or a live-fire range run by the one E-6 who always lost his weapon card, there’s a shared memory among veterans of doing something critical while barely holding the plan together. That improvisation — the ability to adapt when everything goes sideways — is exactly what “Helldivers 2” demands.
“I love that it’s basically ‘Starship Troopers’ online,” Navy veteran Joseph Schrank said. “It’s not time-consuming and tedious (like ‘Tarkov’) and doesn’t take itself seriously. My buddies and I can basically do all the stupid stuff we want and still play.”
That’s the other major appeal: the game’s loose, casual format makes it easy to pick up and play with friends, especially those who may now be scattered across time zones, duty stations, or retirement destinations. The humor and chaos become a bonding tool — and a nostalgic one.
“The best part isn’t even the gameplay—it’s getting the chance to hang out with friends you haven’t seen in years,” said Army veteran Jason Rodriguez. “The last time I had this much fun with these guys, we were in the barracks.”
A game that rewards recklessness — and camaraderie
Every mission in “Helldivers 2” feels like the op order was written by someone who got halfway through the planning process and then went on leave. Objectives are handed down in broad strokes — “destroy the fuel silos,” and “upload the data” — with little explanation on where to go, what to use, or how many enemies you’ll face.
The result? Missions that start like briefings end like a live-action improv skit, complete with the wrong stratagems, last-second reinserts, and a lot of yelling. Someone always brings the wrong loadout. Someone always forgets to call for extraction. And someone always drops a resupply pod directly onto the person who was actually trying to complete the objective.
Veterans often joke about “big Army energy” or “green suit solutions” when a mission goes sideways due to poor comms or missing gear. “Helldivers 2” leans into that exact flavor of chaos. You’re under-equipped, under-informed, and totally on your own out there, with only your teammates and whatever nonsense you packed to try and make it through.
There’s a deep, unexpected beauty in how “Helldivers 2” allows players to fail spectacularly, laugh, and try again. You can win a mission with flawless coordination — or survive it because one guy tripped and accidentally triggered an orbital strike at just the right time. Both feel equally valid.
The game rewards improvisation, not perfection. It’s more about the experience than the outcome. That resonates with veterans who’ve spent years adapting to situations where the plan only lasts until first contact.
And sometimes, that lack of rigidity makes it appealing.
“From a vet perspective, it’s basically super patriotic to a fault,” Schrank said. “Which enhances the humor when we knowingly commit tongue-in-cheek war crimes against robots and bugs in the name of democracy.”
He added: “Long story short, it’s a very camp military satire game that rewards playing recklessly.”
But it also rewards cooperation, even when no one’s really in charge. And that’s where the game sneaks in some of its best moments. Players covering each other’s six. Reviving each other mid-sprint. Calling in reinforcements and timing the extracts just right. It taps into that same sense of unit cohesion — of shared chaos — that many veterans look back on as the glue of their military experience.
A field op reunion in digital form
Ultimately, “Helldivers 2” succeeds not just because it’s fun but because it gets something right that most military games miss entirely: the in-between. The waiting. The screwups. The dark humor. The realization that success often comes despite the plan, not because of it.
For veterans, that makes it more than a game. It’s a digital deployment with old friends, complete with inside jokes, minor disasters, and just enough structure to keep it from collapsing completely. It’s a chance to relive the camaraderie, the chaos, and yes, the confusion — without any paperwork, formations, or command climate surveys.
And somehow, all that comes packaged in a campy sci-fi shooter where you drop into warzones via orbital cannon to bring democracy to giant insects.
Go figure.
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