Helldivers 2’s ‘biggest update yet’ revealed ahead of August release

Arrowhead Game Studios has announced that Helldivers 2’s “biggest update yet” will be released next month.

Titled Escalation of Freedom, it promises larger enemy outposts, new bots, returning bugs, fresh mission objectives and a new difficulty level: Combat Rating 10.

Key creatives from Arrowhead discuss the update and showcase the new features in the announcement trailer below.

Ahead of its release on August 6, the update is also detailed in a PlayStation Blog post by Arrowhead social media and community manager Katherine Baskin.

“CR 10: Super Helldive is our most challenging, most relentless dive difficulty level yet, and we hope that this is going to give players the intensity they’re looking for on the battlefield. And with a great challenge comes greater rewards,” Baskin said.

“But a new difficulty level isn’t the only thing the community wanted. We’ve also heard your desire for mission variation, which is why we’re bringing you new mission objectives and bigger enemy outposts for both bots and bugs that offer brand new Super Sample rewards. These outposts will be heavily fortified, and require players to coordinate and strategize in order to take them out.

“And if you’re new to Helldivers 2, you don’t have to worry about missing out on all the fun until you unlock Super Helldive, because many of our new mission objectives will be playable on other difficulty levels.”

Sony said in May that Helldivers 2 had become PlayStation’s fastest-selling game launch ever, with sales “far exceeding expectations” at 12 million copies sold across PC and PS5 in its first 12 weeks.

That saw the live service game beat the 11 million copies sold in 10 weeks achieved by God of War Ragnarök last year, according to the platform holder.