Helldivers 2’s Machinery of Oppression update is tasking Super Earth’s finest with conquering the “dark heart of socialism” and so far, things are not going well.
The second phase of the invasion of the Automaton homeworld of Cyberstan tasks Helldivers with slaying 700 million Automaton forces in the next day or so in order to clear the way for a full-scale invasion. That part is going well enough, with players as of writing having already defeated well over 270 million Automatons.
It’s the other part of the operation that is looking dicey. As part of the invasion, the entire Helldivers 2 community collectively has 200 million lives in order to conquer Cyberstan. Just a few hours after the update went live, the community has already lost more than half of that number, with around 94 million lives remaining currently.
As detailed in a blog post from developer Arrowhead Studios, the invasion of Cyberstan is a “great risk” and “every death will be counted.” If the reinforcement counter should reach zero, the battle will be lost.
“Helldivers, we cannot lose to this renewed Cyborg threat,” the blog reads. “Your objectives must be completed while ensuring maximal lifespans for all divers. Stim your squadmates, bring defensive stratagems, and survive as you fight your way across Cyberstan, destroying the factory cities together!”
What, exactly, is making this invasion so difficult? The Automatons have deployed new enemies that may be familiar to those who played the first Helldivers–the Cyborgs. These new enemies, like the heavily armored Agitator and the propaganda-spewing Vox Engine (which also spews rockets and lasers), look to be giving the Helldivers a run for their money as they drop into heavily fortified Automaton factory cities.
Thankfully, Helldivers do have some new toys to help deal with the Automaton menace with the release of the recent Siege Breakers Warbond. The DLC added multiple new weapons, including a laser shotgun, explosive demolition hammer, and a massive expendable anti-tank launcher capable of wiping out entire enemy bases.
The march on Cyberstan began not long after Super Earth deployed its new super weapon, the Star of Peace. After players voted on which planet the Death Star-esque weapon would destroy, the plans to it were (allegedly) stolen by the Automatons. To prevent the socialist-loving bots from building their own world-destroying weapon, the fascistic Super Earth has tasked the Helldivers with ending the Automaton threat once and for all.
It’s just the latest chapter in the ongoing Helldivers 2 saga, one that last year saw players conquering the bug-infested homeworld of the Terminids in order to claim its precious resources (and having to battle its massive Hive Lords along the way).
Outside the game’s narrative, Arrowhead has been hard at work on optimizing Helldivers 2, with the studio prioritizing more frequent patches to address critical bugs and an effort to reduce the game’s massive file size on PC.