For Democracy!

Attention all Super Citizens. This is an unofficial broadcast from the Ministry of Truth. Inattention is considered treason and will result in peaceful termination of your lack of democratic values.

The above is not a perfect recreation of the threat from the opening screen of Helldivers II's welcome cinematic. But today, I don't necessarily want to focus on the beautiful satire of fascism and propaganda that the game is, everyone should already be perfectly aware of that. In fact, it's a solid percentage of the appeal.

Rather, I want to talk about the absolute masterclass in story creation that Arrowhead Studios is presenting to the world for free. Not that the game is free, last I heard it cost around $40USD, but that's not my business. Story telling lessons come free from a community and game like Helldivers II.

Allow me to explain.

Helldivers II is an extraction shooter. For those of you who don't know what that means, the gameplay surrounds you and your squad trying to complete an objective and get out. In Helldivers, you climb into your OSHA safe drop pod and plumet out of orbit at Mach fuck to land feet first on the heads of Liberty's enemies.

Readers who are familiar with the Halo franchise or classic science fiction will recognize the DNA of the ODST and Starship Troopers all over this game. More so the latter than the former, given the game's focus on satire is more inspired by the Starship Troopers film than the book.

What really gets my writer's brain attached to this game in concept, quite apart from my inner 12 -year-old gleefully shooting robots with orbital canons, is the fluid and collective story of the game.

Explained in four words and thus saving you the bother of reading further, there is no plot. And if that attracts your attention, then Super Earth welcomes your support. Liberty speed your steps Helldivers.

I was first exposed to Helldivers the same way I think many people are. I saw an ad or two but ignored it as I have trained to ignore 90%+ of all ads I see.

However, a few things stood out to me in particular. Firstly, was the beautiful game design. Secondly, friendly fire. Thirdly, as I once heard from a youtuber, "do you want to fight waves of evil clankers and disgusting bugs?" "Yeah, that sounds fun, I guess." "For Democracy!" "Let's fuckin' go." And fourthly, there was the Fall of Malevelon Creek.

Persons who are not familiar with Helldivers II will not understand the important of Malevelon Creek. And part of that is the nature of the story. As I said, there is no plot. But there is a story, and at the pinnacle of Arrowhead's evil plans for their players, sit the game master. A man whose very name strikes fear into the hearts of hardened Divers. Jole.

Using another brief explanation, Jole is the game master of Helldivers II. Anyone who had ever consumed Dungeons and Dragons or any TTRPG before will know what a game master is. For the rest, their one telling the story and arranging the encounters.

How, though, can Jole be the equivalent to a Dungeon Master with millions of players around the world? How is it possible to arrange such a massive narrative? I don't know and they're not trying to.

Instead, allow me to explain the tragedy of Malevelon Creek.

To anyone who has consumed science fiction before, the event itself is nothing novel. A desperate and ultimately doomed planetary defense that would go screaming straight into the history books is any such narrative's bread and butter. We all Remember Reach, and Cadia Stands.

Arrowhead, however, did not scrip the global community event that was the Fall of Malevelon Creek. It was an unknown world in the backwater of the galactic war back before things got really serious. It was no-one's priority and it stood every chance of falling without a whisper.

Running through the community, tendrils of rumour spread. Calls for help screamed into an empty, and uncaring void. Except, the void answered. Millions of Helldivers poured onto the Creek. A dense jungle with fog almost too thick to see through, so thoroughly infested with the automaton enemy that the very air seemed to crawl with laser fire.

Billions of bots died on the Creek. For days of real time and weeks of game time, the call went out, rising in glory as more Divers answered the call. Without being a canon event in anyone's story board, the cries for aid from the Creek were answered, and their names carved on Super Earth's Wall of Martyrs. Martyrs because we did not win.

Millions dead. Billions of bots turned to screaming heaps of scrap metal and bolts. Swaths of jungle leveled by orbital bombardments to make androids dream of electric napalm.

Neither the Lord of Creation Jole himself, nor the creative team at Arrowhead, nor any of the community planned this. It evolved naturally and that is the core of Helldivers's incredible story telling. No one can ever relive the Fall of Malevelon Creek, because it's over. The war has moved on.

When the Illuminate invaded our sacred home of Super Earth itself and we fought them with massive artillery pieces buried under playgrounds, we felt like we could lose. Because we had lost the creek. Because the developers, when we failed a Major Order (entire player base chases one objective) they took the cool weapons that would have been ours and gave it to the enemy. This game is alive.

The Battle for Super Earth is over. Malevalon Creek has fallen, been retaken, and fallen again. The bugs destroyed a planet leaving behind a blackhole and Mars was eliminated by the illuminate. The clankers shatter our beloved Managed Democracy under the wheels of their socialist war machines.

And tomorrow the war front will look different. New enemy types are released as the war drags on and they're able to develop new technology. Exciting weapon drops are hidden behind Major orders that we run every chance of failing. And when we fail, Jole de-buffs us.

Personally, what makes this game fascinating from its story telling perspective is just that. The fluidity and impermanence of the story. I recognize some of it for what it is, FOMO from start to finish. But there is a definite creative vision in allowing the fanbase to choose the story. In trusting the audience to do what was right.

That faith has already paid off. In the game we Helldivers were given a choice. We could either get a cool new toy in game, or complete a different Major Order and donate thousands to children's hospital. The hospital was chosen, and it became an in-game event.

Some space ships in the game also have, decorating their spartan and military interior, the picture the hospital's patients drew in thanks. And the developers kept their word, to the best of my knowledge they did not give us that item. And if they did they made us wait.

Helldivers has lore. It has canon events. And many of the most important ones to Helldivers II is simply that the community is telling the story together. General Brasch is not a psyop and the Truth Enforcers will be coming around to 're-educate' you soon.

Without that community choice as a central driver in the narrative, despite its clean and extremely fun gameplay, I don't think this game would be anywhere near as popular as it is.

Halo Veterans are welcome. We've been waiting a long time for your reinforcements.