Helldivers 2 fans recently saw great success in the galactic war, seemingly achieving victory over the Robotic Automatons. However, the Bots are not gone after all, with developer Arrowhead Game Studios announcing the start of a new Automaton offensive.
Helldivers 2’s Automatons launch a new offensive
Last week saw Helldivers 2 players descending upon the last Automaton-controlled worlds. With victory achieved, developer Arrowhead tweeted a “Mission Accomplished” poster showing a Helldiver raising the Super Earth flag over a pile of wrecked Bots. However, a follow-up tweet on April 9th reveals, “Somehow, the Automatons returned.”
“As suspected all along,” the post continues, “the previous Bot force was merely a vanguard. A massive fleet has now begun an assault of Cyberstan and the surrounding planets. Helldivers, hold back this unprovoked invasion. The fight continues!” It says this above a version of the Mission Accomplished poster with a grey “The fight continues!” sticker slapped over it.
In retrospect, this twist probably shouldn’t be too surprising. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time Super Earth’s propaganda department counted its chickens before they hatched. Last month, Arrowhead announced the new EXO-45 Patriot Exosuits with a tweeted poster. However, developers soon followed this up with an announcement that the planet manufacturing them was under attack. Players had to liberate Tien Kwan to unlock the EXO-45s.
The Misson Accomplished poster may also have contained a bit of foreshadowing. Helldivers is a series that has never been particularly subtle in its satire. While the Star Wars joke is obvious, the premature declaration of “mission accomplished” is also highly reminiscent of George Bush’s infamous Iraq War speech. Over 20 years later, it’s still a go-to example of declaring victory too early. It would not at all be surprising if Arrowhead did this on purpose.
