I didn’t realize how much live services had changed my gaming experience until I actually sat down with Helldivers 2. I was struck when I noticed that neither the standard assault rifle nor the SMG had a progress bar attached. Without this weapon, how could I show off my dedication to my weapon of choice? Wait a minute, when did I become so dependent on shiny lights and check marks?
On paper, Helldivers 2 is everything I’ve expected from a multiplayer shooter for years! It has removed all the unnecessary BS you see spread in live service games these days. No needy progress trackers, no lengthy grind to unlock all the weapons and gear I want. No tinkering – thank goodness. There are battle passes, but they don’t expire. Helldivers 2 has no artificial FOMO, which is ironic considering literally thousands of people suffer from old-fashioned organic FOMO thanks to oversaturated servers.
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Sure, you can log in every day and complete a daily task, but all you get is a good chunk of XP and some money you can earn through regular gameplay. It’s like someone dug Helldivers 2 out of a 2010 time capsule, but without the boring brown and gray color scheme that brings. Compare that to another game I play every day: Honkai Star Rail. Look, I’m as big a fan of anime slots as the next guy, and Star Rail is one of the best. But now that the current story content is done, I’ll be logging into Star Rail to finish up the dailies, use my resources, and replenish a battle pass. On the other hand, I’m stuck in the Helldivers 2 queue every time because Super Earth needs me to fight Automatons, you know?
Of course I want to get the most out of the battle passes, who doesn’t? But I can do this on my own schedule, and with little urgency. I have a job now, I can’t fly defense missions all day, even if the people of Super Earth need me to. Knowing that Helldivers 2 is waiting for me after work, without a blackjack of lost progress and inefficiency to hit me over the head with, is great. It, like Tekken 8, makes me want to play because it doesn’t punish me for not playing. Our relationship is not toxic, and just like any real relationship, that’s great news.
Helldivers 2, surrounded by other games with more vicious (yet completely normalized) retention practices, can only be characterized as a cold Asahi on a hot day. The approach Arrowhead has taken to monetization makes the game something of a test. It’s already brought in the players, but will it retain them like other games with special retention-oriented features? It takes an honest approach to monetization, but can its quality and admirable ethos bring in the big bucks?
I think it’s safe to say we all hope so. It would probably be good for the industry as a whole if one of the biggest games of the year could achieve so much without partaking in the more heinous practices we’ve all become accustomed to. It opens up so many possibilities, provided the right lessons are learned. Sony is probably damn proud of its live service game publishing at this point, as it can now consider Helldivers 2 a major success story.
I hope this, and the wider industry, takes away the fact that sometimes you don’t have to brandish shiny lights, explosive level-up animations and FOMO to get people invested in a game. So, if you find yourself bogged down by the weight of the typical live service approach, try Helldivers 2.
Who am I kidding? You probably already are.