The cooperative shooter Helldivers 2 delights many fans with cinematic experiences battling hordes of enemies. However, the success recipe of the shooter originated years before its development.
How successful is Helldivers 2? Helldivers 2 remains one of the most popular shooters on Steam more than a year after its release. At peak times, over 75,000 players log in simultaneously on Steam (via SteamDB).
For Arrowhead Game Studios, Helldivers 2 represents a major breakthrough and the biggest success to date. However, the foundation for this success and the chaotic, unpredictable moments of gameplay was laid much earlier. It all began with a flying rock.
The newest faction in Helldivers 2 has transformed the game:
What’s the deal with the rock? Johan Pilestedt, CCO and former CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, was responsible for the development of Helldivers 2 for many years. However, before his team even thought about Helldivers, they were working on Magicka, a cooperative spell adventure where players could experiment with different elements and spells.
As he recounts at the Game Developers Conference, he talked during the development of Magicka with Chief Technology Officer Anton Stenmark about physics interactions in the game. During this conversation, Pilestedt expressed an idea:
If I shoot a large rock at an enemy and it doesn’t kill them, we need to do something with the rock; we can’t just make it disappear. Can we bounce it off into the air or something?
Stenmark was skeptical and replied: “It’s just a single physical projectile that lands somewhere and never hits anything.” But Pilestedt didn’t back down: “But maybe in one out of 100 million. That’s okay.” So Stenmark implemented the idea.
During an internal playtest, a tester then fired a rock at an enemy. The rock bounced off, flew through the air, and landed right on the player’s head, who was frantically trying to run away. The impact crushed him in a “blood cascade.”
At that moment, Pilestedt knew: “This works. I believe we will be rich one day.” However, that moment was not only amusing; it fundamentally changed the studio’s philosophy. Pilestedt convinced the team that an “It could happen” approach to game design can have an incredibly strong effect.
How has this affected Helldivers 2? This design philosophy can be seen everywhere in Helldivers 2 today. Every airstrike, every grenade, and every enemy missile can trigger something completely unexpected, leading to chaotic, fun, or memorable moments.
In Helldivers 2, the robots are considered by many players to be the least favorite enemies in the game. However, the developers are not impressed and still ensure in the latest update, a buff for the faction: One of the nastiest robots from Helldivers 2 receives an upgrade, now becoming a nightmare for every democrat
