Helldivers 2 player calls the game “a breath of fresh air” in a sea of games designed to take your money from you

There has been a lot of negativity surrounding Helldivers 2 in recent weeks, some of it very much deserved, such as how both Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony have handled the PSN controversy, while some of it is unjust. However, despite what is currently on in terms of broken mechanics, lack of content, and a still unresolved PSN issue, Arrowhead Game Studios managed to create a game that for a short time became part of pop culture in a way rarely seen since Fortnite, and I think that deserves some credit.

U/Useful-Fish-3932 took to Reddit to praise Helldivers 2, which makes for a welcomed change as there has been a lot of negativity surrounding the game in recent weeks. In the post, they call Arrowhead Game Studios a “breath of fresh air in a sea of devs who only view the game as a money-making product,” while also noting that “no dev is going to get balancing/patching right every single time but to sit there and say that they ruined the game is absurd.”

“People are complaining that the game is stale/boring/unfun when it is just strictly not the case. I understand that a game being “fun” is subjective and people can have their opinions but the more time passes the more I see people complaining about having to rotate their builds from patch to patch. Or that the game is dying because of XYZ nerfs/patches. The Devs are pushing out great content every Warbond (even the worst Warbond is still niche and has fun stuff in it) and consistently updating bugs and issues that are brought up by the community.”

One aspect that Arrowhead Game Studios deserves a lot of praise for is its monetization practices. The Reddit user praised the developers for this saying “People are tired of microtransactions that provide one piece of content while HD2 is giving you dozens of pieces per Warbond that you don’t have to buy with real-world money.” Warbonds and outfits in the in-game store are there to generate much-needed revenue for the company, but they are not predatory or designed to hold anything back from you. Like Fortnite, if you don’t want to spend money you don’t have to. Fortnite’s Battle Pass contains enough V-Bucks to unlock the next Battle Pass, with 550 extra, which could be used to buy an emote from the Item Shop, or saved to eventually be able to buy a skin. This means for one initial payment of approximately $10 to buy a Battle Pass, you never have to open your wallet again and can acquire thousands of cosmetics over the lifespan of the game.

Helldivers 2 is similar in that each Warbond contains 100 Super Credits per page, but then you can also find them in missions. I have found on Automaton planets, playing on Trivial difficulty I regularly find 30-50 Super Credits per mission. It seems that more are on the lower difficulties, presumably to give new players access to their first Warbond to get them in the ecosystem. So, if you don’t mind grinding and don’t want to open your wallet, complete some easy Trivial missions next time you’re short of Super Credits.

I cover Helldivers 2 a lot, but, I don’t spend money on it. Over the month between Warbonds, I just farm free Super Credits and so far it has been working. I think this is a great practice for monetization and both games are a prime example of live service done correctly. The option is there to purchase items, and if you want to support the developers then you can. But, if you can’t afford to you’re not locked out of anything as you will eventually be able to earn every Warbond in the game.