Thanks to Helldivers 2, role-playing has never been easier for ordinary people

Just last week, I was doing the usual: hell diving with friends. Fight against robots and help the war effort. We’re a bunch of dorks. It’s not surprising, we’ve been doing this for years. To my surprise, other players of Helldiver 2 – who are, as far as I can tell, completely normal people – were willing to take on the role of the Joker.

I can smell an RPG fan in the wind half a mile away, and in my 20s I attended a ceremony with strangers (and a few bottles of WKD) behind a CEX that allowed me to Do this with unlimited range of the internet.

There are a lot of them in Helldiver 2 as well. This is new territory for future wizards, warlocks, wendigos and werewolves. I guarantee you this. Helldivers 2 will usher in a new wave of RPG players, people who will eventually buy Lancer or the DnD 5th edition manual. This is a good thing.

Now, this is not a binary thing. Role playing in Helldivers 2 can take many forms. Saluting at the start of a mission is the most common form of this stupidity. A way to greet new players joining the lobby. But every once in a while, I hear democratic calls coming from the PS5 microphone, or calls to retreat echoed by the PC giants. It turns out that Hellraiser 2 is an excellent gateway drug to becoming addicted to. If you’re not too embarrassed, try it. Tell your teammates that for the sake of justice in voice comms, you need to collect rare samples. You’ll either be greeted with equal parts heroic devotion, cringe-worthy silence, or be encouraged to sleep with someone (anyone) immediately. There are few other results.

This is a revelation. Anyone who tried to get a Dungeons & Dragons game online a few years ago will know how powerful popular media can be in encouraging new players to try such a thing. Stranger Things gave a huge boost to people’s confidence in hopping on Discord and acting like gnome bards.

Helldivers 2 isn’t a direct path to a three-hour YouTube playlist of medieval taverns on the kitchen table, but it’s a portal nonetheless. The jump from the unique Starship Troopers vibe and third-person action shooting to an RPG is still tricky.but there is a way yes Be there and be willing to be exploited. After a few nights of voice comms with Helldiver 2, I was convinced I could get these goons to sound off and pretend to be grizzled veterans in no time.

That’s largely thanks to Arrowhead, who managed to weaponize his Helldivers universe in a masterful way. Of course, clear credit goes to the writers, but I have to point out the voice team as well.The soundtrack to victory is only Cheesy enough, but played straightforwardly so that the game can hit the strides of comedy and somehow come back to sincerity. You play as a space soldier, and Helldivers 2 lets you revel in the experience.

Now, if you could pull yourself away from the galactic front lines and look online, you would see numerous examples of people proudly proclaiming their love for Super-Earths and their hatred of the enemies of democracy. Social media is often an illusion – many people will tweet about a big game but never actually act on it. But things are different in Helldiver 2!

People were having their own propaganda shows, they were making posters to help the war effort. This is the wealth of shared community spirit. Of course, a lot of it is done by hobbyists who have always done this kind of thing – but we’re seeing it explode outward to crazy levels. Like Good Morning Vietnam Fans in GTA Online.

If you’re reading this and did attend the cheeky “For Democracy” in a moment of solitude, or found yourself sucked into an edited montage of grueling battles, I have some shocking news: you’re a character actor. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. Your future will vary from attending weekly Pathfinder sessions with the lads, to shooting nerf arrows at people at the bi-monthly LARP while wearing a £1,500 bespoke outfit. This is the path you are on now.