The past five months have been a rollercoaster for Helldivers 2 and the devs at Arrowhead Game Studios. The game saw a massive rise in player count and then a major crash. There have also been many events such as the destruction of a planet via a black hole and real-life events like the banning of many countries by Sony. The biggest event for Helldivers 2, however, has yet to come. What is this event? Well, it is the Escalation of Freedom expansion and it is coming to Helldivers 2 in August.
Arrowhead released a trailer for the Escalation of Freedom expansion for Helldivers 2 earlier today and it shows some promising changes coming to the game. First off, the team stated that the expansion will bring new enemies, new objectives, new mission types, and even a new difficulty level. Let’s break down everything shown in the trailer.
New enemies
As far as new enemies go, the team stated that the Impaler is making a comeback from the first Helldivers. Next up is the Spore Charger which has fog traveling around it. Finally, there is also a new, deadlier brood commander. Don’t just think the bugs are getting new foes, the Automatons are also getting reinforcements. This comes in the form of a larger tank that can shoot a barrage of rockets down on you and your allies.
A new difficulty
Arrowhead is going beyond difficulty 9 and adding difficulty 10. This difficulty will see an increase in the number of enemies that spawn. Difficulty 9 is hard enough and the team stated that there is a good jump in difficulty when you go to 10. Keep this in mind before jumping into the fray.
New outposts
New outposts for both the bugs and bots will prove to be a difficult challenge for players. These massive fortresses are like the standard outposts but much much bigger. You could possibly get overwhelmed while trying to navigate these areas. The team was sure to add that there would be great rewards waiting for you if you managed to destroy them.
New biomes
A new version of the swamp environment is much darker and more full of underbrush, giving you a greater chance to hide amongst the environment but also making it more difficult to see your foes. Along with this, some changes are being made to the acid storm weather effect. When an acid storm happens, both enemies and Helldivers will have their armor decreased. This means that you will be able to deal more damage but you will also take more damage.
New objectives
There are new objectives coming with one of them being larva extraction. This objective requires you to pick up larva backpacks and carry them to extraction. The team stated that you need to be careful because the backpack will be crying a lot, attracting enemies to your location.
Even more to come
The team hinted at the story developing even more as the Terminid migration patterns are changing and the Automatons are creating bigger and worse war machines. Of course, that is not everything. The team made sure to add that not everything coming in the expansion was shown in the trailer which means there is a chance that another enemy faction could be appearing. Of course, we mean the Illuminate. We will have to see where things go when the Escalation of Freedom expansion for Helldivers 2 releases on August 6, 2024.
