Helldivers 2: A Deep Dive Into Game Design Excellence

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• Allow Cross-Platform Multiplayer Play
• Listen to Community Members
• Have A Strong Social Media Presence
• Offer Community Challenges
• Have a Free Progression System
• Balance Gameplay Mechanics

Key Takeaways

• Cross-platform play and free progression without making in-game purchases mandatory are key to player satisfaction.
• Communication and community challenges create player engagement and loyalty, impacting decisions like weapon balancing.
• Maintaining an active, engaging social media presence increases player engagement and community interaction.

Multiplayer online gaming across platforms is all the rage. Helldivers 2, a game by Arrowhead Game Studios, exploded in popularity on PC and PS5 consoles in 2024. How can a future multiplayer game replicate Arrowhead’s success? Here are some key things I’ve noticed as a player that contribute to the game’s success.

1 Allow Cross-Platform Multiplayer Play

Helldivers 2 is a third-person shooter live service game where players become Helldivers fighting for Super Earth. Players join teammates in missions on different planets across the universe to eradicate Terminids (bug-like alien life forms) and Automatons (robots). Helldivers harvest valuable resources from planets that are home to Terminids and Automatons.

Gamers can play Helldivers 2 on the PlayStation 5 and PC. One of the keys to a successful multiplayer game is ensuring that even if your friend has a PC, but you only have a PlayStation, you’ll still be able to join each other in the interplanetary fight for democracy in Helldivers 2.

Cross-platform multiplayer features allow people to play games with friends who may use different platforms and maintain social connections while increasing the overall player pool. It’s one of the reasonsplatform-exclusive games are becoming a thing of the past .

2 Listen to Community Members

Months after launch, Sony announced that PC players would have to link a PlayStation Network (PSN) account to their Steam account to continue playing Helldivers 2 with multiplayer functionality. This created an uproar across the Helldivers 2 player base, which caused Sony to backtrack on its decision only two days later.

This outcry resulted in more than 150,000 negative reviews on theHelldivers 2 Steam page (with some reviews reversed after the policy change). Despite Sony backtracking on this decision, Helldivers 2 is still currently delisted in countries that do not have access to PSN accounts.

The game was faced with alienating a large portion of its player base, but its willingness to reverse its decision got it back on track.

3 Have A Strong Social Media Presence

The Helldivers 2 social media pages post frequent game updates, challenges, and memes that earn impressive engagement. For instance, theHelldivers 2 Instagram page boasts over 100,000 followers.

Helldivers 2 also has aDiscord server with almost 1 million members, where players receive updates from the game’s developers. During the Sony PSN linking debacle, development leads updated the game’s player base amid ongoing negotiations with Sony.

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4 Offer Community Challenges

Helldivers 2 also succeeded in creating a sense of community through weekly challenges known as Major Orders. One recent Major Order required the game’s player base to kill 2 million Terminids to receive in-game currency called medals.

The game’s developers put out new Major Orders every week to engage the community. The community is not guaranteed to pass each Major Order, making it a challenge for the entire player base. Each mission in Helldivers 2 that a player participates in adds to the progress of the Major Order, making the success of the mission entirely based on community progress.

5 Have a Free Progression System

There are multiple forms of in-game currency in Helldivers 2 which players can find in missions for free. If a player is looking to fast-track unlocking items available in Warbonds (battle passes), weapons, and other cosmetics, there are paid options, as well. Importantly, a player does not have to pay to advance in the game.

Players can find Super Credits, which unlock new monthly Warbonds and cosmetics, across missions at random points on the map. Super Credits are also available for purchase in the game store. Medals can be obtained by completing Major Orders or finding stashes during missions. You can also earn medals by completing missions. The higher the difficulty level of the mission, the more medals players unlock upon completion.

There are also samples scattered across each mission depending on the difficulty level. Players can trade in these samples to upgrade their ships and stratagems, which are mission call-ins and weapons, such as airstrikes and turrets. Finally, requisition slips pop up, which players earn by completing missions or locating points of interest on the map, which unlock new stratagems.

There are plenty of otherlive service games that are not pay-to-win , as well, including Fortnite and Smite.

6 Balance Gameplay Mechanics

With new weapons, armor, and emotes dropping monthly, game developers watch to see if these newer weapons are over- or under-powered based on gameplay and community feedback.

For example, the SG-225 Breaker shotgun got “nerfed”, meaning the game developers reduced its overall power by reducing its ammo capacity and increasing its recoil to balance the game and encourage using other weapons.

Balancing game mechanics helps keep the experience varied and allows people to use different combinations of guns and other strategies to succeed in the game.

The success of Helldivers 2 offers insight into the future of successful online multiplayer games that span console, PC, and mobile gaming. Listening and communicating with the player base, having free progression mechanics, and allowing cross-platform play are some important qualities that turned Helldivers 2 into a global sensation.

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