As a Helldiver, you and up to three other players will squad up for missions that task you with landing on hostile planets in drop pods, completing various objectives in the surrounding area, and then calling in a gunship to extract you before you're overwhelmed by enemy forces. You can respawn if you die, but revives are limited, though the game is

- Battlepass structure. All primary weapons are gated behind either the free or premium version, with the premium version having the best weapons.

We can actually blow away individual bits off each enemy, taking off limbs with small arms fire - or obliterating them with artillery fire. I loved the physics here - especially in aggregate, when the frame is just filled with physicalised objects, particles, and disintegrating enemies. Buildings can be destroyed in dramatic fashion when hit by airstrikes or blown up with a well-placed grenade, and the terrain deforms too under the barrage. Helldivers 2 is a unique and visually interesting console title, so how do the performance and quality modes stack up? The most obvious split comes down to resolution. The performance mode runs at 1080p, while the quality mode steps up to approximately 1728p. Both modes counted at those figures in every shot I tested, so there are no signs of dynamic resolution as far as I can tell. In stationary shots, the difference between the two is obvious.

While there’s a bigger focus on battle passes this time around, it does help the player a ton to give them objectives to strive for instead of just aiming to buy stronger equipment and weaponry. Helldivers 2 Visuals

, but multiple Arrowhead developers have confirmed on the official Helldivers 2 Discord server that one is being worked on, and that it will be revealed once the studio deploys improvements and fixes for Helldivers 2 bugs and launch issues.

The same could happen with Arrowhead's co-op shooter at some point down the line, giving folks invested in Microsoft's wider gaming ecosystem an opportunity to play Helldivers 2 without buying it directly.

There's also a setting to adjust the level of image sharpening. At zero sharpening in performance mode Helldivers 2 looks soft and indistinct, while stepping up to the max sharpening level increases clarity at the cost of additional artifacting. Quality mode exhibits the same difference, although given its higher resolution, the effect is a bit more subtle. Helldivers' performance mode runs smoothly. We're mostly at 60fps in typical play, with a very smooth readout, especially when combined with the game's motion blur. The game can suffer from extended dips into the 50s though, typically during larger firefights. In my gameplay the worst I saw was about 50fps, so the game does manage to stay pretty close to 60fps more generally, although it can spend a long time hovering in the 50s in extended firefights. The quality mode also manages a tight lock on its 30fps frame-rate target, but it clearly has issues with bouts of inconsistent frame-pacing.

Best answer: There's been no concrete confirmation of this, but Helldivers 2 does seem to raise or lower enemy density depending on how many players there are in your squad.

Your progress contributes to the overall war effort, and brings you closer to liberating that sector of the galaxy.

Image: Arrowhead Game Studios Players start out as lowly soldiers tasked with defending Super Earth from a galaxy of bugs (which actually means going to other planets and killing them, pelo matter where they live). You have your own ship, which serves as your home base and allows you (and your squad of up to three friends) to launch missions to new planets, customize your loadout, and choose recognizable freedom-saving weapons like orbital drone strikes and chemical weapons, called Stratagems.

Jetpacks may seem unnecessary at first, but they can be particularly useful on snowy maps. Just remember you can't go prone with a jetpack on.

Live service games have become increasingly common in the last several years, and are categorized by consistent post-launch updates, evolving gameplay scenarios, and some form of long-form monetization like microtransaction currencies you can buy with real money to then spend on exclusive items.

Loot fallen teammates. When you die, you'll drop certain things like Weapons and samples. As soon as someone dies, pick up any samples they drop, so they don't go missing.

Just to be clear, I’m not a fan of most live-service games. However, the implementation Helldivers 2 Gameplay of the live-service model just fits the game so well. It uses a pseudo battle pass system for unlocking different weapons, armor, and emotes, with the added bonus of you choosing which items to get.