One of the heads of Helldivers 2 revealed in an interview that they are considering co-op missions for 8 players in the future. Customizable mechs and vehicles are also on the wish list.
What is this interview about? In a “democratic conversation,” as the video on the official YouTube channel of Helldivers 2 is called, the chief creative officer (CCO) Johan Pilestedt answers questions from the community.
The development team at Arrowhead itself sees Helldivers 2 “as a platform to grow – perhaps even into a sequel.” The first question is therefore about features that could define such a possible sequel – whatever that looks like in the end.
Here you can see a trailer for “Into the Unjust,” the latest expansion for Helldivers 2:
Missions for 8 players, larger maps, and customizable mechs
What does the developer say about future features? Pilestedt says the community already has a very good sense of where Helldivers 2 should go. The 8-player missions requested by fans would be such a feature that would fit the “sequel-esque” approach of the developers.
Pilestedt also mentions in this context larger open-world maps where two Helldiver teams could encounter each other. Together they would then be able to face greater challenges.
Another feature the developers are considering is operations that affect other teams. “Anything that really accentuates the galactic war and the scale of the conflict, that the players are in,” says Pilestedt.
He himself would love to make mechs and vehicles customizable – for example, by attaching different weapon arms to his mech. Upgrades have also been discussed within the team. However, since there are already different mechs in the game in the form of stratagems, a workable design solution would first need to be found for this.
You can watch the entire conversation here:
What are the developers currently working on? The team’s focus is currently on stabilizing the game. They are facing a high “Technical Debt” that needs to be resolved before huge new features come.
““We’ve had a bit too many updates gone out, where we were so excited about delivering new content and new experiences to players, that we haven’t been diligent enough to ensure that the stability and quality of the release is good enough,” Pilestedt explains.
According to Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani, the technology of the game leading to problems over time is also due to the game’s origin story. Helldivers 2 was originally conceived very differently. You can find out about the original idea for the now-popular shooter in this article: Head of Helldivers 2 reveals: The game was originally supposed to come out four years earlier and be free to play
