Surprise surprise, Helldivers 2 players did not, in fact, beat the Automatons once and for all. After a lengthy campaign that involved the loss, and subsequent reclamation, of Malevelon Creek—or “Robot Vietnam”—a recent push from Arrowhead Games Studios called Operation Swift Disassembly tasked players with annihilating the robot threat for good. Over the weekend, the community made one last, seemingly impossible push for a handful of planets , and somehow players managed to liberate each and every one of them. Super Earth even held a celebratory parade and briefly moved on to corralling the bug-like Terminids on the other side of the galaxy. For a moment, the galactic war looked like it might be winding down.
Of course, no Helldivers 2 player bought that shit for a second, and now we know that we were right to cast doubt. Overnight, Arrowhead showed their true hand and unleashed the full force of the Automaton army, which has now invaded the galaxy and is spreading quickly. At this point, a third enemy faction showing up would actually be a welcome break from this onslaught. Buckle up folks, we’re in for a long one.
Beginning with the Valdis sector, a fleet of Automaton ships “arrived from FTL jump” and quickly overtook every planet in the cluster. Soon after, the robots broke through into the neighbouring Lacaille and Hydra sectors, where Helldivers are currently being deployed to hold the defensive line. If you hover over a number of the planets in those sectors, a countdown ending in approximately 22 hours is visible above them alongside a simple order: Defend.
It is clear now (you’re not slick, Joel) that Operation Swift Disassembly was yet another ruse from the studio to make Helldivers 2 players believe that the war was nearing its conclusion. Then, just as most of us woke up today—boom—an invasion. It reeks of how Arrowhead convinced players to “contain” the bug-like Terminids only to make them grow stronger, and then repeated the tactic with the Automatons. We’ve dealt the robots a few supposed killing blows over the last few weeks, just to have them keep blowing up in our faces. Now we’re paying the consequence for Super Earth’s hubris…
The new major order from Super Earth is a simple one: successfully defend at least five planets being besieged by the Automatons over the next three days or so. The high-priority targets (the ones with countdowns over them) are Chort Bay and Lesath in the Lacaille sector, and Menkent in the Hydra sector. If players can manage to hold the robots off there, they can cut off the path the robots are currently carving towards Super Earth, and likely move onto liberating Penta and Choohe, which are also in the Lacaille sector.
The immediacy with which the situation in Helldivers 2 has gone from bad to worse suggests that this is a major order we stand to lose, which might actually be a refreshing change from all the “wins” we’ve taken recently. Some of Helldivers 2’s beats have begun to feel a little predictable, and while they’re still fun, I do welcome a change of pace and a nakedly honest loss if that’s in the cards. Considering it’s the middle of the week and the Automatons seem like they’re on a warpath, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one go pear-shaped in the next few days and that, my friends, is an exciting prospect.
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