The year 2024 has seen strong co-op shooters with Helldivers 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. But which of the two games is better? MeinMMO editor Dariusz has played both titles and draws a conclusion.
Both Helldivers 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 are really good co-op shooters that you can have a lot of fun with. If you have the financial means to play both titles, you can do so without much consideration. If you enjoy this kind of game, you will have fun both as a servant of the Emperor and as a loyal fighter of Über-Earth.
However, if you can only play one of the two games, I want to give you a few points to help you decide which game is better for you. At the end, there will be a short conclusion about which of the two games is, in my opinion, the better co-op shooter.
Helldivers 2 has less content but more variation
If we compare the playable content of the two co-op shooters, it seems that Warhammer clearly has the upper hand at first glance. Space Marine 2 comes with a campaign that is really well executed. The story of Lieutenant Titus is visually and atmospherically impressive, and it is cinematically remarkable. In addition, there are 6 linear co-op missions with different difficulty levels and 3 PvP game modes.
Helldivers 2 is set up more slenderly. There is no cohesive story campaign that follows a real protagonist. Instead, we experience the story of the ongoing galactic war solely through the news from Über-Earth and the general orders. There is also no PvP. Nevertheless, Helldivers 2 offers more as a co-op shooter. You will probably only play through the campaign of Space Marine 2 once. After that, the focus is on the co-op missions. However, since there are only 6 of them, it can quickly become repetitive – even if you play on high difficulty levels.
Helldivers 2 has more variation and thus becomes less repetitive quickly. There are now 7 missions that appear independently of the faction. Additionally, there are 17 more missions that can only be played against robots or only against bugs. However, since these missions do not differ much from each other and you have to destroy reproduction facilities (nests or factories) for both factions, the comparison of the missions can be seen as a draw – with a slight tendency towards Helldivers.
The tendency towards Helldivers 2 lies in the fact that individual rounds can play out differently despite the same missions. This is partly due to the 2 enemy types, the robots and the bugs. Depending on which enemy you are playing against, the gameplay changes significantly. You have to adjust your approach and possibly equip different weapons and equipment.
The selection of weapons in Helldivers 2 is also noticeably larger and will continue to grow with each war bond. Furthermore, you are completely free in the use of equipment, while Space Marine 2 binds you to predefined classes that can only be chosen once per squad.
Helldivers is a true shooter, but Warhammer has the chainsword
In Helldivers 2, the focus is much stronger on the shooter gameplay. You have countless firearms available, which you can supplement with support weapons and tactical equipment. Upon arriving on a planet, it’s all about: My rifle and me.
In Helldivers, you also know very well that you are useless without your rifle. As soon as you run out of ammo, death awaits you. Therefore, weapons with unlimited shot count are particularly popular in Helldivers 2. With bare fists, the Tyranids will tear you apart mercilessly.
In Space Marine 2, gunplay is significantly less important. When you run out of ammo, you can still slaughter bugs with your chainsword. Additionally, you must also use your melee weapons to parry attacks. Of course, the melta gun is currently determining the meta and shows that Space Marine 2 is still a shooter, but the importance of firearms and good aim is significantly lower compared to Helldivers 2.
However, it should be noted: Both in Helldivers 2 and in Space Marine 2, you can expect a real challenge at the highest difficulty levels, for which you need a lot of skill and ideally a good team.
Availability and Requirements
This is a clear victory for Warhammer. You can play Space Marine 2 on the common platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC – for the latter, however, the Epic Games Store opens at the start of each game, even if you bought the game on Steam.
Helldivers 2 is only playable on PS5 and Steam. Additionally, you need a PlayStation account to play, which caused intense criticism a few months ago. The particularly critical aspect here is that PlayStation services are unavailable in some countries. Therefore, these players cannot play Helldivers 2 because they cannot create a PlayStation account.
Summary of Differences
Helldivers 2 and Space Marine 2 differ in many aspects. Before we get to my conclusion about which shooter is more fun for bug-slaying, I will summarize the various differences between the games and present them in a table.
| Helldivers 2 | Space Marine 2 |
| Has no classic campaign | Good but linear campaign with about 12 hours of gameplay |
| Available on PS5 and Steam | Available on all major platforms (PS5, Xbox Series, PC) |
| Has no PvP | Has PvP, but you don’t have to play it |
| Large selection of weapons and equipment that are very freely combinable | Fixed classes with predetermined loadouts |
| Unique humor | Appropriate implementation of the dark setting of Warhammer 40,000 |
| 7 missions for both enemy types, 17 faction-dependent missions either for bugs or robots | 6 linear co-op missions |
| Gameplay focus on the use of firearms and tactical equipment | Stronger focus on melee weapons |
| Purchase price: €39.99 | Purchase price: €59.99 |
| Requires PlayStation account (on Steam) | Can be played without an extra account with developers or publishers |
Conclusion: Where is bug-slaying more fun?
That depends entirely on what kind of game you are looking for. Personally, I see this as a comparison of co-op shooters and believe that Helldivers 2 is the better representative. Since there are more weapons and the gameplay focus is more on gunplay, I had more fun fighting insect swarms there and felt more at home as a shooter player.
On the other hand, Space Marine 2 feels like the more complete game. Although you only have 6 linear co-op missions and 6 different classes, you do have a full campaign with well-staged cutscenes and even PvP. If you place a lot of value on presentation, you might enjoy fighting bugs in Space Marine 2 more.
Which of the two games has higher replayability is much harder to assess. I find Helldivers 2 less repetitive – also because activated friendly fire leads to constant nonsense that friend groups can laugh about. MyMMO colleague Benedict Grothaus, however, felt in Helldivers 2 that he was only repeating a handful of missions in different variations. He found the gameplay very monotonous, which was further exacerbated by the absence of any storytelling within the missions.
If you want to know more about the lore of Warhammer 40,000 and Space Marine 2, Benedict is the right contact person. Here he explains, for example, what the “Deathwatch” is: Warhammer 40,000: Everyone has respect for the “Deathwatch” in Space Marine 2 – and there’s a good reason for that
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