In Helldivers 2 you fight against the same foes since release: bugs, robots, robots, bugs. Players have been wishing for a new faction to join the galactic war for months. Now the developers have given such an obvious hint about potentially upcoming adversaries with a new update that players are skeptical if Arrowhead is just trolling.
What is this suggestion? Helldivers 2 received a small update on November 22 that suggests the possible arrival of the Illuminates – this was an enemy faction in Helldivers 1.
While there are no official patch notes regarding the contents of the update or actually playable new content, the update history of the game contains numerous files labeled “gameplay_illuminates”. This update history is accessible on the website SteamDB.
Here you can see a screenshot of the update history:
In recent months there have already been various hints that many players interpreted as signs for the return of the Illuminates, including unexplained blue lasers.
The update history is so far the clearest hint about the arrival of the Illuminates – or the developers are just trolling, as some players suspect.
What do the players say? A Helldivers player posted a screenshot of the update history on Reddit. Within a day, this post gathered over 300 comments, some of which are skeptical.
The poster himself writes in a comment: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they are just trolling us. Still, I found it worth sharing.’ Other players joke that the next patch notes might read something like ‘We updated the lighting engine. The terrain should now be lit much more realistically (engl.: illuminated).’
A user writes: ‘I would expect them to troll us. I would also expect that they accidentally leaked it. So 50/50?’
What are the Illuminates? The Illuminates (englisch: Illuminates) are an alien civilization that appeared in Helldivers 1 and fought against Over-Earth. For months, players have suspected that this is the next, therefore third enemy faction of Helldivers 2.
There are different types of Illuminates that possess different characteristics on the battlefield. In Helldivers 1, for example, there were the Tripods, which are three-legged machines that attack using electricity. Another Illuminate unit was the Observer, which disguised itself as tadpole-like patrols roaming the terrain and sounding the alarm when they see a Helldiver. You can read more about the Illuminates here: In Helldivers 2, everyone is waiting for the Illuminates – This is what we know about the nasty aliens
