Some Helldivers 2 Players Suspect the Hand of Joel in Their Dramatic 11th-Hour Victory

Helldivers 2 players are celebrating a dramatic 11th-hour victory that saw hundreds of thousands of the digital soldiers unite to defend 10 worlds from the undemocratic grip of advancing bug-like Terminids, and soulless Automatons. However, some members of the community have found themselves wondering whether Arrowhead’s game master Joel may have stacked the odds in their favor to stave off defeat.

Developer Arrowhead Studios’ smash multiplayer hit Helldivers 2 tasks four player squads of democratically enthused players to embark on PvE missions to wipe out enemies and complete objectives. Doing so directly contributes to a collective effort to liberate or defend a mass of disparate worlds arrayed around a galactic map, which has Super Earth at its center. The ebb and flow of this galactic war is dictated by an Arrowhead Studios employee known simply as Joel who, in the guise of Super Earth, hands out overarching missions called “major orders” that the players must work together to achieve, or suffer the consequences.

Now, the Helldivers community is good at a lot of things: killing bugs, slaying bots, theorizing about hitherto unannounced enemies, the list goes on. But coordination? Well, that’s proving to be something of a problem for the playerbase, despite the efforts of a dedicated group of players who have done their level best to strategize and direct the flow of frothing democracy in a meaningful way.

As such, when Super Earth command handed down a Major Order on April 19 to defend a spread of 10 planets from an overwhelming invasion, things didn’t get off to a hugely positive start. As time dragged on, the mission looked increasingly likely to fail, thanks in small part to the fact that one of the endangered worlds just so happened to be the aptly named Hellmire, where sudden immolation is an ever present threat.

Smash cut forward to April 25, and the Helldivers are jubilantly celebrating a down-to-the-wire victory that had seemingly stalled the advance of Super Earth’s enemies in the face of almost certain defeat. Some put credit for the unlikely win on the shoulders of players in Italy, Australia, and New Zealand, which happened to have public holidays while the major order was active, allowing those community members to sink more time into the game.

However, as spotted by PC Gamer, a handful of dissidents have come to suspect that a higher power may have given the Helldivers a helping hand in their victory. “I’m not going to lie, from one side I’m damn happy we got it, but from the other it feels a bit frustrating to get it on what largely was a last gasp gimme from Joel,” wrote Redditor Spitfiresiemion. “Especially as we likely would’ve done it without any hijinks if we haven’t lost 2 planets by about 40-50 minutes each early on.”

MAJOR ORDER: Helldivers, it’s time to choose between liberating Choohe or Penta. Depending on your choice, you will receive either the MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines or the RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher.

(And you’ll save the citizens. Don’t forget the citizens.) pic.twitter.com/YXSlgTiRuv

— HELLDIVERS™ 2 (@helldivers2) April 26, 2024

Some went so far as to accuse Joel of dramatically decreasing the defense HP of some planets, such as Fori Prime on the eastern bug front. “I feel like they never should have directly told us that they manipulate it,” replied user CarterAUS_. “Happy to have won, though I can’t help but feel that we were largely helped along.”

Of course, this is all simply conjecture, with there being no actual solid proof that Joel had leant on the scales of democracy to hand the Helldivers an unfair win. Thankfully, Arrowhead has since seen fit to issue a new major order to its idling playerbase, thus giving the justice-loving armada little time to dwell on such treasonous thoughts. For this latest mission, players have been directed to the automaton-infested Northwestern Lacaille Sector of the galaxy map and given two planetary targets to liberate, each of which is tied to a brand new stratagem.

The twist here is that only the first liberated planet will yield a reward, and so players must now choose whether to free Choohe in order to unlock MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines, or Penta in order to gain access to RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launchers. For more Helldivers 2 news, read up on how the community obliterated over 2 billion bugs in less than one day, or check out our handy guide detailing how to take down those troublesome Factory Striders.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer