It's been well over a month since Helldivers 2 — the award-winning 2024 Windows PC and PS5 co-op shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios — has gotten a major update, leading many to wonder when the next patch is expected to come. Luckily, the developers have put out a statement to assuage player concerns, confirming that a new battle pass-like Warbond is coming in May and that there's something else big in the works, too.
"We know it’s been a while since our last update, fear not—we are cooking!" wrote Arrowhead on social media. "You may have noticed that the gap between our major updates and Warbond releases is a little longer this time. But we’re happy to say we’ll be announcing our next Warbond on May 8, and there will be more exciting news to come not long after."
"We won’t stand on ceremony too much in revealing what that Warbond might be, but you’ll hear more from us soon," continued the studio. "Until then: stand up straight, polish those boots and keep that uniform in tip-top condition, Helldivers. You’ll be needing them for the fight to come."
The post came alongside a screenshot of a Super Earth flag like the one you have to carry in the Helldivers 2 tutorial. Some think this might be a tease of a new stratagem coming in the upcoming Warbond that lets you carry and/or plant flags to give you and your teammates buffs, but that's ultimately just speculation.
Another thing to note is that this announcement was made just before an official victory over the Illuminate — Helldivers 2's third enemy faction that was introduced in December last year — was declared in-game, as the completion of a recent Major Order saw players finally stop the Meridian Singularity black hole that's been hurtling towards Super Earth since February. As a result of this, the Illuminate have actually been wiped off the Galactic War map completely, and Super Earth High Command suggests we'll never see the squids in our galaxy again.
...Of course, nobody actually believes that. In fact, this period of "we did it, the Illuminate are gone for good!" celebration only reaffirms my belief that hidden messages found in March were foreshadowing a large and committed invasion of Super Earth and her colonies instead of the sporadic hit-and-run attacks the aliens have done thus far.
In previous articles, I've written my prediction that the Meridian black hole is ultimately what the Illuminate will invade through, and that the enemy set it on a destructive path through several human-controlled worlds to both soften us up and move its proverbial beachhead as close to Super Earth as possible. And now, in the wake of the Illuminate's "defeat," I'm getting the sinking feeling that I was absolutely right.
Aside from the fact that removing a faction after introducing it just a few months ago would be quite disappointing, a big reason why I'm confident the squids will be back in full force is because this has actually happened for. Longtime Helldivers 2 players will recall that the Automatons were thought to be eliminated for good last April, only for the mechanized menace to deploy a colossal counter-attack invasion fleet that saw the introduction of new hostile units like factory striders and gunships.
Frankly, I would be shocked if something similar doesn't occur here, especially since the Illuminate only field five different enemy types (Voteless, Overseers, Elevated Overseers, Harvesters, and Watcher drones) right now. Many have been hoping to see the faction expanded with more units to fight, and if you ask me, there's no better time for that then the start of a proper large-scale assault by the squids.
Ultimately, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough, as I don't expect we'll have to wait long to see what happens next after the new Warbond is revealed on May 8. Until then, all we can do is continue the ongoing campaigns against the Automatons and the Terminids; when the Illuminate inevitably shows itself again, the last thing we'd want is for the bots and bugs to be on our doorstep, too.
Helldivers 2 stands tall as one of the best PC games and best PS5 games to play if you're into co-op shooters, intense sci-fi action, goofy physics antics, and goofy satirical writing. It's typically $40, though you can often get it for less if you shop around for discounts. Right now, the best one is CDKeys' sale that shaves almost $10 off the price, allowing you to get the bombastic title for just over $30.
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