Another game I really liked at first and want to be able to keep liking, that had so much potential and filled me with hope on where or what it could accomplish, where factors in and out of the game are attempting to ruin it for me.
This isn't my traditional style of review so I wouldn't expect it to be without structural flaws. Although I have chosen to downvote the game after all this time, it won't matter to the game's rating. As this was a gift from a friend, and gifted items on Steam do not contribute to a game's global rating irregardless of whether you vote positive or negative. Making it completely useless on that front, but who cares what I think anyways aside from maybe a handful of folks who'll relate.
Originally, besides the crap Sony pulled around the game's launch, I was pleasantly surprised with what was on offer. The chaotic combat and randomized encounters of missions made the game seem like you were playing a bloody sci-fi action flick with much fun to be had. Sure, I had some gripes, like the Charger being way too frequent at the time, and progression showing some red flags.. but no worries. These would either be expanded upon or resolved with future updates. Or so I'd hoped. I legitimately was enjoying the game a lot and was excited to see what the galactic war would shape into overtime. Unfortunately, this game is not solo-friendly (More on this later), so my only option was to play with a friend of mine which was both great & preferable. But this also meant if my partner wasn't available, I couldn't play.
Now after a couple years, I've grown to struggle with many aspects of Helldivers 2, and these issues are magnified by issues outside the game that aren't inherently Arrowhead's fault, but still effect my ability to enjoy the game which might apply to some others as well.
One of the biggest issues I've witnessed over the game's lifespan is Arrowheads desire to continuously fight against the community on things, and shoot themselves in the foot over and over. The game's rating fluctuates nonstop. One update it'll soar to highly positive, the next, drop to mixed. This is because so many features, mechanics, and fan feedback, gets either ignored or reverted the second anyone starts having fun. Nerfing new strategies that players discover (That don't fundamentally break the experience), reworking weaponry or damage types just before releasing an entire war bond dedicated to them so make everything weaker. Buffing or creating crazy sponge-like enemies or increasing the spawn rates. Releasing more and more new war bonds, locking content behind pass or paywalls that they said they'd never do, while also never improving the super credits grind to make unlocking these smoother or more enjoyable.
On the topic of "Super Credits", it's the game's premium currency that is used to purchase shop armors & weapons, but also primarily new war bonds. Which serve as the game's main form of progression to unlock new things. I love grinding in games, as long as the act of doing so is enjoyable in the first place. Unfortunately, super credits are horrible in Helldivers 2. Missions, if they even appear, devolve entirely into "Clear the square map and run back and forth like a grid to hopefully find super credits that amount to pennies worth". And the actual act of locating and collecting them just isn't fun to begin with. I accidentally "soft-locked" myself early on, by spending some of the credits on some armor from the shop's rotation, and now I'm forever stuck in a loop of never having enough credits for a new warbond until I've wasted so much time running around losing interest in what I'm playing, over and over, just to make incredibly small amounts of SC until maybe I can afford one war bond, of which never seem to go down in price, even the oldest ones. This loop is NOT enjoyable for me, someone who's usually addicted to grinding in games. They later added leveling for your primary guns (But not all of them, and not secondaries), to give you new attachments and paints. The cosmetics are so limited, but at least this was a move in the right direction for fitting your Helldiver in a way that best fits your playstyle. It needs massive additions to improve upon though.
Not to mention, everything's capped for some bizarre reason. The rare resources, medals (Which you actually spend in the war bonds), requisition slips, all of it is capped. You can only collect or hold onto so much at a time. If I'm maxed on medals, but can't buy a new war bond yet, I'm literally wasting rewards on new missions. I don't understand how every contemporary Co-Op horde or mission shooter doesn't do this.
Another of my biggest issues kind of loops back around to what I mentioned earlier. This game lacks any solo-friendly gameplay. Now that is how the game was designed, sure. You can technically launch missions solo, but it isn't balanced for it in the slightest. Some folks are able to solo the hardest difficulties, but this requires specific playstyles, gear, and sweaty gameplay, removing the freedoms that come from experimenting with what the game gives you. Again, contemporary games are designed for Co-Op, but also allow solo play in all aspects of the game. Lacking that, is a huge killer for a game for me. Regardless, as long as I have someone I know to play with, I can try to manage.. until I don't have that option. Even then, the game is always balanced for full squads, so you're still at a disadvantage.
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The worst part about this for me is the fact that content is difficulty locked. You'll never get to see 90% of the enemies or encounters because they won't show up outside of the highest possible difficulties. Why again, can contemporary games allow all enemy or mission content to be playable but simply rebalance it for each respective difficulty.
And no, I'm so far past the era of playing with randoms. There's great people out there that just want to have fun, but I'm so sick of games forcing me to put up with bad apple after bad apple. "Just kick, just host your own, just join another group" etc. etc. It's exhausting to waste more time with that stuff. Join a group, sorry, you can't use those weapons or stratagems, it's an endless loop of balls. That's why both refined and balanced Co-Op & Solo play is so important.
I believe for content, they don't rely on FOMO, but it still exists for some armors that I know of. However, the galactic war is ever evolving and if you aren't present to play while those events are happening, you'll miss out entirely. Making the need for co-op partners who're active even more important to stay invested for some people. Thankfully the new mission types or planets get added to the pool of procedural generation after an order completes. I believe, anyways.
This was a rant style review rather than my more structured ones, because I'm so sick of putting up with stuff these days, and I've become so deadened to so much. I can't take losing another game I liked or wanted to keep liking. I don't like saying "Never", so anything's possible, but at the moment, I'm just too exhausted.
