Helldivers 2's Illuminate are once again up to some sneaky bullshit

In Helldivers 2, the players are up against three factions: the Terminids, an endless swarm of constantly evolving bugs; the Automatons, a legion of socialist robots who grind humans up for their war machine; and the Illuminate, a War of the Worlds-style take on the alien invasion trope. The Illuminate are certainly a threat – they are the only enemy to ever step foot on Super Earth – but they haven't had the same roster variety as their bug and bot colleagues.

It looks like things are changing, however, with new in-game events. Helldivers were dispatched to Seasse, a world within the Omega Sector. There, we ran into some new enemies. The Obtruders are swarms of aggressive Watchers, tiny drones that shoot arc lightning and flood Helldiver's vision with purple and blue lights. There are also two larger exosuits: the Veracitor, which loves to punch and grab targets, and the Gatekeeper. These crab-like mechs are a vicious threat, but it's pretty clear that there's more to come.

Upon loading into my Super Destroyer, I was greeted with some dire news. It appears that the Illuminate have cloaked Seasse under an inscrutable Void. Seasse had been home to an Exospire that was creating terrifying and dangerous Exostorms, and it seems that these spires are capable of blocking Super Earth access to entire sectors at a time.

The new Major Order is sending us to two more Illuminate worlds: Hort and Rirga Bay. The Illuminate are raising a new Exospire on Hort, which would engulf that planet under the Void as well. Rirga Bay, on the other hand, is being invaded by swarms of the Voteless – corrupted humans twisted by the Illuminate's mysterious biotechnology.

All of this seems to be building up to some sort of reveal, and Arrowhead have been dropping hints about some kind of "Cult of the Orb" putting up unauthorized posters. As usual, Super Earth was pretty bad at predicting incoming threats; High Command called the entire thing a hoax and "empty noise" eight days before Seasse would end up being engulfed by the Void.

This next Major Order is set to last for the next week, but it'll be interesting to see what surprises we unearth in our battles on Hort and Rirga Bay. The Illuminate have pulled the wool over our eyes before, and there are clearly more reveals to come. If you dabble in the datamining communities around Helldivers, you may have been spoiled on the surprise.