It’s an exciting time to be a Helldiver, with Arrowhead recently adding city maps, a scout vehicle and a third enemy faction to the game. At first it seemed like the story of the Illuminate returning to the Milky Way would be one and done, told over the course of a weekend. The Illuminate arrived immediately after an announcement at The Game Awards and struck the planet Calypso, and Helldivers narrowly defended Calypso with only moments to spare. Now the dastardly space squids have set their sights on another target: the black hole where Meridia was located.
This requires a little bit of explanation. The first two enemy factions of the game are the Terminids and the Automatons. The Terminids in particular have proven to be a popular enemy; even if Major Orders of Super Earth order players to fight robots, some of the players remain in Terminid space to live out their lives Spaceship Troopers fantasies. A while ago, the Terminid threat responded to this attention with a series of rapid, powerful evolutions. And Super Earth information revealed that one world in particular, Meridia, was a supercolony.
Arrowhead hosted a fun, limited-time event where players had to pump Meridia full of Dark Fluid and hold back the forces of the Supercolony to complete this daring gamble. It worked, turning Meridia into a black hole. There’s the old trope of Chekhov’s Gun: if you show a gun in the first act, it better fire before the end of the play. It seems that Helldivers are now encountering Arrowhead’s Black Hole – if you open a weird hole in space, it will attract the attention of some sinister squids.
Now, unlike their fellow enemy factions, the Illuminati have not claimed a permanent portion of space. Instead, they launch a hit-and-run attack on Super Earth worlds, starting with Calypso and continuing east. At first I didn’t notice much about that pattern… and then fans noticed strange things about Meridia. The black hole is now purpler, brighter, and appears to be sucking in debris at an alarming rate.
So far, Helldivers have defended Terminid territory from the Illuminate – which is a strange position to be in after months of crushing insects – and beat back the squids. As of the end of Operation Squid Game, which ended around 4:30 PM ET on Friday, the Illuminates have disappeared from the map again. But I don’t think this unfolding story is quite over yet. It seems clear that there are some holes in Illuminate’s roster, and I expect they’ll soon be filled with some new terrifying bio-organic horrors. At least now, players can purchase the vehicle as a Stratagem and hit the road at any time. You must count your blessings as you engage in a three-front intergalactic war for democracy.