Much to my delight, this particular Warbond is actually cutting down on the number of shooty things within it, with only two guns being added. For some, this may be a bummer – but hear me out. Each past Warbond has delivered nearly half a dozen guns, and routinely only two of them have really stood out – so by cutting down the number of deathdealers, Arrowhead can likely focus on making sure those toys are properly effective. But don’t worry – you still get another kill-a-majig besides the guns. Let’s take a look!
- AR-23A Liberator Carbine
Another variant of the true classic, with a bit higher recoil, but faster handling that feels perfect for spraying and praying up close. Something a little more intimate for when you are weaving in and out of tree lines. - SG-22 Bushwhacker
A triple-barrel, sawed-off shotgun with two different firing modes, including one that fires all three barrels at once. That is a distinctly powerful package of boom – and it goes in your secondary slot. Imagine whipping out your side-arm to blast THREE shotgun shells into a threat. Oof. - Throwing Knife
You read that right. In this deeply unsettling future of heavy munitions and expertly crafted killing implements, the simple pleasure of throwing a sharpened hunk of metal is still very much alive. While I can’t imagine that these are going to take down your larger threats, the novelty of dispatching an unaware Automaton with a quiet shunk will never cease to be fun.
There is also another booster for your team-helping needs, in the form of:
- Experimental Infusion
Gives your stims the added bonus of boosting your movement speed and reducing the damage you take for a short time.
Forgive me for sounding ignorant, but I was under the impression that your stims already did that. Is this a boost to those already amazing effects? The ‘Experimental’ descriptor is a little concerning, but I like the idea of being more effective at wading through a sea of baddies at extract.
The Warbond also brings a groovy set of jungle-camo themed customisations to the table, with this being the first time we have seen vehicle-based changes. With a new UI in-game you can actually choose the appearance of your vehicle based options, including your shuttle, exosuit and even your hellpod. This paves the way for more customisation down the line, making every Helldiver just that little bit more unique.
The release is also heralded by a little more detail on how Arrowhead is approaching their release schedule moving forward – with the vast majority of the community begging for a little more time to be taken with their implementations, it’s great to see such a player-driven commitment:
Based on player input, we’re changing our approach to Warbonds moving forward in a couple of ways. Firstly, we’re slowing down the pace at which we release Warbonds to give us a little bit more time to polish these designs before they’re released. We don’t want to rush anything out of the oven before it’s fully baked.
Given the efforts to make Helldivers 2 feel like a worthwhile live service game, the shift in strategy to do “better updates, less often” seems to be a good one. And it isn’t at risk of alienating players with endless waiting, considering their initial release schedule was somewhere in the realm of blisteringly fast. Slowing down their cadence even a little puts the release schedule at a pace that still eclipses many other games.
Overall, it looks to be a great bit of content – but it still needs to stick the landing. The last Warbond was a bit of a letdown, served as a one-two punch to the jaw for players alongside a very lacklustre balance update that gutted a few community favourite weapons. Given that Arrowhead has now long been advertising that they are “still cooking” with a new patch, players are awaiting the future of the game with baited breath.
I am keen to see it all work out, because Helldivers 2 is a solid game backed by a great team. That, and I really want to rock the Predator handshake emote with my mates.
The Viper Commandos Warbond releases June 14.