Helldivers 2 players rallied to build a space superweapon and destroy a planet
After a long campaign, Super Earth destroyed Penta with the Star of Peace
Helldivers 2 depicts a future of eternal warfare on three fronts, pitting Super Earth against the robotic Automatons, the insectoid Terminids, and the mysterious Illuminate. It’s a satirical setting where the Helldivers are depicted as zealots, fighting for an empire that upholds child slavery, the kidnapping and execution of dissidents, and a strict policy of xenocide. If the tone wasn’t so tongue-in-cheek, and the gameplay wasn’t so fun, it’d probably be a pretty depressing game.
Luckily, both of these things are true, and so I feel comfortable in celebrating the fact that we just destroyed a whole-ass planet with a superweapon called the Star of Peace.
The story of Helldivers 2 is told through Major Orders from Super Earth high command, and the narrative branches depending on whether players succeed or fail. Many live service games evolve over time with balance changes or new features, but Arrowhead cleverly combines those updates with lore drops to create the sense of a real, living history. (A history that we’re documenting at Rogue in our History of Helldivers series, if you’re curious.) Since the game’s launch, players worked tirelessly to build a giant space structure called the Democracy Space Station.
Some players found the DSS a little underwhelming, especially when it was first constructed, as it had the nasty habit of friendly firing upon an entire squad with a nefariously placed orbital bombardment. That was eventually fixed, and the DSS was patched into being a fairly useful tool in the war. The DSS blocks invasions, gives free Eagle strikes, and offers a few more battlefield benefits. However, recent Major Orders focused on improving the DSS’s firepower. It is now the Star of Peace, equipped with a planet destroying laser.
That’s not hyperbole — the Star of Peace just fired on the planet of Penta, destroying it and leaving a black hole in its place. Long-time Helldivers might be a little bit worried upon hearing that, considering the last time there was a black hole on the map was Meridia. And that turned out to be a worm hole that gobbled up several planets and led to the invasion of Super Earth itself. But don’t worry! The mission text assures us that this is a conventional black hole that definitely won’t come back to haunt us later.
Now, a skeptic might say that Super Earth experts originally deemed Meridia to be a normal and harmless black hole. They might even say that the mission text lies to us regularly, contradicting previous entries if it makes for a better narrative. To that, I say: Nah, it’s probably fine. I’m sure that this black hole is actually a normal black hole this time, and it won’t lead to any Illuminate shenanigans. Yes, Super Earth is responsible for Meridia, and the Gloom, and the Automatons’ aggression, and the Illuminate’s campaign of revenge. But this time it’s probably okay. Don’t worry about it!
