[NEWS] Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 Blog Post/brief interview

[BlackjackGT]

Most folks haven't noticed the blog post Helldivers 2 announcement on Arrowhead's website on May 24. Although it doesn't answer any questions that the trailer and Steam store page description leave hanging (where are the other alien factions? What about exosuits and vehicles? etc. etc.), it does note HD2 has been in development for 8 years.

Helldivers 2 Coming in 2023

https://www.arrowheadgamestudios.com/2023/05/helldivers-2-coming-in-2023/
I'm pasting in the entire text:

Arrowhead Game Studios is proud to finally announce our latest game, Helldivers 2, which will be available later this year on Playstation 5 and PC! Our trailer debuted on May 24th, 2023 at Sony’s State of Play event.

Helldivers 2 is a long labor of love from our studio and we can’t wait to share it with our community.

True to both our studio and to the Helldivers legacy, this will be a heart-pounding, high-intensity, friendly-fire-enabled feast of cooperative destruction! Players will again assume the role of galactic peacekeepers and soldiers on behalf of Super Earth, but with some serious upgrades.

Developing Helldivers 2 has been a long journey from the beginning of its development to this announcement. Our Lead Producer, Alex Bolle, sat down to talk a little about that journey, which he called “Pretty Herculean!”

Alex started as a Narrative and V.O. Producer before moving into his Lead role on the Helldivers 2. Even though he wasn’t there for all 8 years of the development cycle, he’s been leading our teams in creating the best possible experience. His major focus has been balancing what players want with what the game needs: “For me the biggest challenge has been keeping a balance between iterating to answer our most important user feedback [from internal research group testing] while fixing the most critical bugs.”

We’re fixing some bugs, but we’re leaving some other “bugs” in: the Terminid faction will be returning to threaten the freedom of Super Earth. These are Terminids like you’ve never seen them: up close and personal. And to fight them, we’ve designed some of our biggest, most destructive weapons yet. Players will have state-of-the-art weaponry and access to stratagems that call down airstrikes, turrets, mines, and more to hold off the alien scourge.

Our goal was to bring the engaging and tense combat from Helldivers into Helldivers 2 and make it even bigger. Alex adds, “Every time we had to make a design decision, the fun and tension were key.” Combining our love of intense action with a new third-person perspective has made the most exciting gameplay we’ve ever built.

“Pilen [our CEO Johan Pilestedt] always talks about the ‘tingle in the butt’ that you should feel while playing: being on the edge of failing an operation, but bursting into laughter because a Warrior sent your friend flying away in a silly ragdoll move. That’s the feel we want to get.”

We’re excited to share more in the coming days. Alex already has some advice for those new to the Helldivers brand of chaos: “Reload your weapons! No, seriously, you don’t want to get stuck between 20 bugs with an empty mag.” Helldivers 2 is dropping later this year on Playstation 5 and PC. Prepare to spread peace and liberty with extreme prejudice!

[Ludewich]

Sounds great, thanks for sharing! I hope they also came up with great ideas how to keep the squad together, i.e. some awareness of where your teammaters are, what they do and how you should act in order to benefit. This is one of the strengths of Helldivers 1... and might prove to be much more difficult in 3rd person.

[BlackjackGT]

Oh yeah, that's one of my first questions for sure, as far as the switch in view. :)