Why Helldivers 2 is so successful:

[ImMobile]

I was talking with a buddy at work about this game and how it seems to tackle and simultaneously highlight the issues with modern gaming we face today:

#1 Teamwork:
Helldivers handles the issue with people wanting to play together but actually NOT wanting to play together perfectly. It does this by implementing support from teammates in the simplest form: Reinforcement. In most games where teamwork is essential to survival, each person has a role. Recon, Frontline, Tank, Healing, Medic whatever etc etc.. the problem is that when one person is horrible at their role or just wants to Rambo everything it makes the game unplayable. Reinforcement in Helldivers is the answer. The worst possible way a teammate can screw up is dying or killing another teammate. Reinforcing is essentially a full heal perfectly timed to reverse the catastrophic event that someone dies and you get a TON of them. There's no real need for a healer or medic to constantly top people off or buff others. Teammates can " play together" simply by throwing reinforcement markers the entire game. In a LOT of games you'll notice this is the ONLY teamplay going on. The rest of the game could easily be done individually or solo. Being able to stim eachother is cool, but Reinforcement is the real teamplay driving this game. It's noob friendly, no-risk insane reward teamplay.
So iin this Helldivers really nails giving the feeling of teamplay even when your teammates could care less weather you were in the game or not.

#2 The game is not serious but creates serious situations:
Let's face it. You're shooting bugs in space. And robots in space. On a planet, but it's still robots and bugs in space. However the game engine, sound effects, visuals, and screen shake create a near perfect feeling of being under attack or under pressure. This in combination with having a "teammate" (see above) around cures the loneliness most gamers face when going online without friends. This in combination with the teamwork issue being tackled by reinforcement is why this game has jumped to and held the #1 slot for so long. Your average gamer wants to experience fun, adventure, fear, panic, accomplishment all together with others to relish in their success, BUT the don't REALLY want to deal with other people. This game puts you in those situations with other people constantly. The small act of taking out an enemy that is shooting at one of your team mates FEELS extremely significant regardless of the fact that they were probably going to outrun it anyway.
The duality of creating serious "feeling" situations while simultaneously not being so serious is pretty hard to do. In fact I don't think I've seen another game do it so well. Couple that with a teamplay mechanic that my dog could do and you're got a winner.

Hopefully more game companies will realize we actually want to but also DON'T want to play with each other and come up with more systems to address this.

[Grim@FU_BARRACUDA]

In my opinion it is a mix of 2 psychological aspects. One thing is the influence of paid inluencers wich have contracts with publishers and the other thing is simply the blind need for kills or git gud. What i want to say with the latter i explain now ...

When you start to play such a game, you want to be good and you want to prove it to others. When you git gud, you start to want to be better then others (kills etc.). We know this is kinda driven by our egos and we also know that our ego makes us often blind for anything else but our own advantage. This is why so many overlook bad game design and bugs and what not in such games. They just want to keep going and going for the dopamine. If you put the dopamine of such people at risk, they see you as an enemy and hunt you down. The latter was just a bit overdramatic for the laughs ok!?

But yeah thats pretty much it i think, sounds not very sexy ha? :-/

[Raging ♥♥♥♥]

Free market doesnt always make sense.

[[₵Ð₲] Amon Gus]

"Why Helldivers 2 is so successful" Wow, we've got a commercial genius here...

Dear ImMobile, would it be so easy, this info would be valued billions

THERE IS NO RECEIPE

[Tsuru55]

Simple

In a putrid world
a half-dirt potato is like a heavenly food

HD2 is mega infinished beta
Devs now are lazy
Bad communication (ceo doesnt count or in fact could ask to buff weapons)

Big lack of content vs HELLDIVER 1

WEAKSPOTS ARE FAKE (Helldiver1 was normal) re-inventing the wheel of gaming for XXyears
ENDGAME CONTENT (planets) NOT FINISHED
Dripfeed content (gave 1 mech of 2)
Crash (a lot)

Dont allow modding (modders could solve all troubles in just 2-3 days)



But despite all that, ITS A GREAT GAME
bc people compare it to ♥♥♥♥♥♥ games like Diablo4, Payday3 fiasco, Day before, etc
But if you compare to old good games, it suck, and the flaws are obvious and dumb.

[Grim@FU_BARRACUDA]

Originally posted by Tsuru55:

Simple

In a putrid world
a half-dirt potato is like a heavenly food

HD2 is mega infinished beta
Devs now are lazy
Bad communication (ceo doesnt count or in fact could ask to buff weapons)

Big lack of content vs HELLDIVER 1

WEAKSPOTS ARE FAKE (Helldiver1 was normal) re-inventing the wheel of gaming for XXyears
ENDGAME CONTENT (planets) NOT FINISHED
Dripfeed content (gave 1 mech of 2)
Crash (a lot)

Dont allow modding (modders could solve all troubles in just 2-3 days)

"In a putrid world
a half-dirt potato is like a heavenly food"

Very good and thanks ;-)

[BigCheese]

Catchphrases and hype.

[ThotsBContagious]

Originally posted by LaserDog?:

Originally posted by Tsuru55:

Simple

"In a putrid world
a half-dirt potato is like a heavenly food"

Very good and thanks ;-)

Could say that for a lot of things not just games. See it a lot with shows/movies.

[Grim@FU_BARRACUDA]

Originally posted by ThotsBContagious:

Originally posted by LaserDog?:

Very good and thanks ;-)

Could say that for a lot of things not just games.

Yeah true ;-)

[Redeyeflight]

Originally posted by ImMobile:

I was talking with a buddy at work about this game and how it seems to tackle and simultaneously highlight the issues with modern gaming we face today:

#1 Teamwork:
Helldivers handles the issue with people wanting to play together but actually NOT wanting to play together perfectly. It does this by implementing support from teammates in the simplest form: Reinforcement. In most games where teamwork is essential to survival, each person has a role. Recon, Frontline, Tank, Healing, Medic whatever etc etc.. the problem is that when one person is horrible at their role or just wants to Rambo everything it makes the game unplayable. Reinforcement in Helldivers is the answer. The worst possible way a teammate can screw up is dying or killing another teammate. Reinforcing is essentially a full heal perfectly timed to reverse the catastrophic event that someone dies and you get a TON of them. There's no real need for a healer or medic to constantly top people off or buff others. Teammates can " play together" simply by throwing reinforcement markers the entire game. In a LOT of games you'll notice this is the ONLY teamplay going on. The rest of the game could easily be done individually or solo. Being able to stim eachother is cool, but Reinforcement is the real teamplay driving this game. It's noob friendly, no-risk insane reward teamplay.
So iin this Helldivers really nails giving the feeling of teamplay even when your teammates could care less weather you were in the game or not.

#2 The game is not serious but creates serious situations:
Let's face it. You're shooting bugs in space. And robots in space. On a planet, but it's still robots and bugs in space. However the game engine, sound effects, visuals, and screen shake create a near perfect feeling of being under attack or under pressure. This in combination with having a "teammate" (see above) around cures the loneliness most gamers face when going online without friends. This in combination with the teamwork issue being tackled by reinforcement is why this game has jumped to and held the #1 slot for so long. Your average gamer wants to experience fun, adventure, fear, panic, accomplishment all together with others to relish in their success, BUT the don't REALLY want to deal with other people. This game puts you in those situations with other people constantly. The small act of taking out an enemy that is shooting at one of your team mates FEELS extremely significant regardless of the fact that they were probably going to outrun it anyway.
The duality of creating serious "feeling" situations while simultaneously not being so serious is pretty hard to do. In fact I don't think I've seen another game do it so well. Couple that with a teamplay mechanic that my dog could do and you're got a winner.

Hopefully more game companies will realize we actually want to but also DON'T want to play with each other and come up with more systems to address this.

Wow, that's a lot of text. I would read it but I already know the actual answer.

1. Music
2. Art Direction
3. Visual Composition (Direction).

That's it. Those three components brought people in, and those three components are why people are still playing.

They caught lightning in a bottle with this game.
It had nothing to do with game play or tech.
The game is successful because of the above in spite of a horrible game system and tech that crumbles when you sneeze.

[MikeisaGoob]

Hype and tribalistic hivemind mentality like always

[Grim@FU_BARRACUDA]

Originally posted by MikeisaGoob:

Hype and tribalistic hivemind mentality like always

Yeah i was just thinking it, that "hype" alone would have been the perfect answer xD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQaVIoEjOM

There you go ;-)