18 Easter Eggs Only True Fans Noticed In Helldivers 2
Arrowhead Game Studios' smash hit "Helldivers 2" has taken the gaming world by storm, spawning no shortage of memes, online discussion, and even small smidges of controversy. More players flocked to the game than even the most optimistic devs and execs at Arrowhead could have predicted. It surprised the team to such an extent it they did not have adequate server capacity for the rush of new players. This got so bad the company's CEO suggested people should temporarily stop buying "Helldivers 2" until the issues could be resolved. Since then, people have continued exploring every nook and cranny of the game — and they've found more than their fair share of interesting things.
For some, this means pushing the limits of what can be done in the game or trying their hardest to liberate planets for Super Earth and deliver democracy. For others, this has meant combing through every corner to find hidden bits of lore, jokes left behind by the designers, or references to other media franchises. Here are some of the most interesting easter eggs and small details discovered in "Helldivers 2" so far.
Starship Troopers is everywhere
You do not even need to have played the game to guess that "Helldivers 2" takes heavy inspiration from the 1997 cult classic film "Starship Troopers." If you have even a passing familiarity with the movie — and you've watch a few TikToks or YouTube videos about the game — it will be abundantly clear that the setting and tone of much of the game's lore takes more than a little bit from the Paul Verhoeven film and the book that inspired it.
Parallels can be drawn between a variety of things in "Helldivers" and "Starship Troopers." The most obvious example is the propaganda in the game, which takes the same absurdist and over the top tone and rhetoric as that in "Starship Troopers." The societies of both the film and game are divided into tiers of citizenship, and the primary way one moves up in the world is by serving in the military. Both versions of Earth are also hyper-capitalist fascistic societies at war with a race of intelligent swarming insects. These societies are also both designed as parodies of both fascist and capitalist ideologies. The weapons and armor in "Helldivers 2" also bear a striking similarity to those seen in Starship Troopers.
Lastly, the most direct reference to "Starship Troopers" can be found on the galaxy map in "Helldivers 2," which features a world called Klen Dahth II. This is a clear reference to the name of the homeworld of the bugs in "Starship Troopers," Klendathu.
@merkywaterz625 Cool easter egg in #helldivers2 #ps5 #starshiptroopers #democracy
Warhammer 40K is another satirical inspiration
"Starship Troopers" isn't the only satirical franchise from which "Helldivers 2" draws inspiration. It also shows clear parallels to "Warhammer 40K," the tabletop, video game, and possibly soon-to-be TV show, which features a hyper-militarized fascistic society and satirizes just about every trope to ever exist in science fiction, both past and present.
The contributions of "Warhammer 40K" to the "Helldivers 2" universe have much more to do with the visual aesthetics of the universe rather than in the lore of the game itself, though. The most obvious reference is the name of the faction of bug enemies that players face off against. They are called the Terminids, which obviously sounds like the Tyranids from "Warhammer 40K." These creatures are similar to the Terminids in their insectoid design and their swarming, hive-mind-like nature, and even some of their coloration.
Another more subtle reference some players may have missed comes in the form of one of the armor sets in "Helldivers 2." The DP-40 Hero of the Federation armor seems to take inspiration from not one, but two different military units in "Warhammer 40K." The proportions and shape language bear striking similarities to the "40K" universe's Imperial Guard, while the skull with wings logo in the center of the chest piece is pretty much a one-for-one ripoff of the Guard's logo. The armor's color scheme brings to mind arguably "40K's" most famous unit, the Space Marines, with its deep blue and accents of gold.
The Pyramids are for sale
Would it really be a work satirizing the absurdities of runaway capitalism if it didn't have some insane marketing for bonkers products well beyond the boundaries of even our most free-market, laissez-faire societies? Well, it's subtle and often hidden, but "Helldivers 2" has this as well.
Throughout the game, players can find posters, billboards, and various other forms of visual advertising. They're usually half-destroyed or torn into pieces, but if one looks closely, they might discover something kind of odd. The Great Pyramids — yes, those pyramids; the famous ones, in Egypt — are for sale. Not only are they for sale, but they've been converted into luxury apartments. In a truly capitalist society with no limits or regulations, nothing is sacred, not even the greatest and most historically important works of human civilization. The universe of "Helldivers 2" makes this abundantly clear; players just need to look a little bit below the surface.
There are terms of service for enlistment in the Helldivers
Speaking of things that might be indicative of a runaway capitalist hellscape: There are absurd and exploitative terms of service that no one actually bothers to read in "Helldivers 2." These can be found at the end of the brief tutorial training mission the player undertakes on Mars before being sent off to the front lines.
Peel off to the right before picking up your Helldiver's Cape and you will see a black wall covered in text. If one looks closely, you can see these are the official terms of one's enlistment in the Helldivers. Some of the more absurd elements include a "martyrdom" payment as compensation for immediate family members if a Helldiver is killed in combat and the fact that reading the contract both counts as agreeing to it and violating it at the same time. Sedition or treason, including treasonous thoughts, is of course also strictly prohibited, as it is in all places under Super Earth's watchful stewardship.
Another feared faction might be returning
Ask anyone who played the first "Helldivers" what they think of the current enemy factions in "Helldivers 2" and there's a good chance they'll say something like "just wait until the Illuminate show up" or "this is nothing compared to the Illuminate." The Illuminate were widely considered to be the most difficult and threatening faction in the original game, and there's reason to think they might be coming to "Helldivers 2" as well.
The main piece of evidence comes from one of the game's many in-game news segments that can play on a big overhead screen on a player's ship while they are waiting to start a new mission. On the bottom underneath the main story, a scrolling bottom line of other stories can be seen. One of them says that sightings of the Illuminate of been dismissed as the work of dissidents. Whether this story is actually true or misleading propaganda from Super Earth, designed to try and avoid creating panic, is anyone's guess. There has been little other information about or references to the Illuminate in the second game, outside of some random dialogue about the universe's history that players may overhear. Oh, and the mysterious snipers that Arrowhead's CEO says not to worry about.
A Rickroll hidden in the game files
It has become clear that the team behind "Helldivers 2" — with some notable exceptions that led to apologies — have quite a good sense of humor, at least based on what they have said and posted around the internet. It should not be a surprise that some of their humor made it into the game, nor what form that humor takes in some cases.
One great example of this is hidden in the game's files. While trying to fix a bug, a streamer named Redeagleeyes was going through the installation files for "Helldivers 2" when he found a link to a mysterious YouTube video. Eagle-eyed viewers of the stream and those who have seen the clip since my have recognized the link before the streamer even clicked on it. When Redeagleeyes copied and pasted the link into his browser, he was greeted by a drum intro that everyone who has spent any time on the internet has heard countless times. It was the start of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," perhaps the most famous song and meme on the internet. That's right; "Helldivers 2" has a Rickroll baked into the game's code.
@thegamerwebsite Helldivers 2 has a familiar easter egg hidden in the code 🕺 #helldivers2 #gamingtok #gamingontiktok
♬ 1 second count / when button pressed / time signal 03(1107043) – QUESS
Even Helldivers like snowball fights
"Helldivers 2" is a game filled with extreme amounts of blood, gore, violence, and extremely dark satire. That being said, the experience is also specifically designed to be funny. Players can ragdoll hilariously when thrown by explosions, get hit with friendly fire in seemingly absurd and impossible ways, and be swarmed by so many enemies at once that the only thing they can do is laugh.
"Helldivers 2" is not without scripted moments of levity, either. On colder planets, namely Vandalon IV, it is possible for the players to do something outright innocent and pure: have a snowball fight. The sky may be filled with Super Destroyers raining terror from above, and there might be 10 squads of automatons just behind you over that hill, but darn it if there is not ample time to stop for a childhood joy shared the world over — at least in places where it snows.
The most famous Mass Effect meme
"Mass Effect" is a franchise beloved by millions of players the world over. It has spawned tons of memes, quotable moments, and fan theories, as well as easter eggs of its own that took years to find. One quote (and the resulting memes) arguably stands far above the rest for those who have played "Mass Effect," however: "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel." It appears the developers of "Helldivers 2" are also fans of this memorable line.
Head into the in-game shop and you might just catch a reference to the popular trilogy in "Helldivers 2." While browsing, players can see fake customer reviews of the armor that is for sale in the store at that given moment. One of these reads as follows, "I'm [redacted] and this is my favorite product in the acquisition center." Any "Mass Effect" fans playing the game who are fortunate enough to spot the easter egg will surely get a smile and maybe even a laugh out of it. After all, it is the most memed moment in the franchise's history.
Taken with Democratic Detonation
This one is technically from the game's marketing, but it's so much fun that we'll make an exception. Helldivers, much like your favorite action movie heroes, love their weapons. That's presumably why "Helldivers 2" decided to celebrate the launch of the explosive "Democratic Detonation" Warbond by re-enacting one of the most meme-able moments in action: The "Taken 3" fence jump. At one point in the movie, Liam Neeson hops a fence during an on-foot pursuit and the film inexplicably cuts over a dozen times in less than ten seconds. The result is a hilariously incomprehensible mess of grunting, hopping, and flipping. It's meant to look cool, but it ends up being basically everything you don't want your action movie to look like, especially if you want folks to be able to follow what's happening on screen.
The "Helldivers 2" version is just as frantic and oddly pathetic, as the armored warrior takes a pretty nasty tumble while escaping from an aggressive bug. It's an extremely deep cut reference, but connoisseurs of bad 2000s action definitely saw and appreciated Arrowhead's commitment to the bit. At least this Helldiver got to pose with an explosion behind him after all that fence-climbing, so it's not quite as awkward as the original clip. Take that, Liam Neeson!
Explosive firepower is Taken to a new level with three times the democracy and three times the detonation.
The latest Warbond, Democratic Detonation, is available now! pic.twitter.com/3m1d4mm5jn
— HELLDIVERS™ 2 (@helldivers2) April 11, 2024
Sneaking new enemy types into the game
Normally the introduction of a new enemy type into a game is a cause for fanfare, especially if those enemies are large and unique and meant to be difficult to deal with. "Helldivers 2" has not done that. In fact, they've gone in quite the opposite direction on multiple occasions.
The first major example of this came with Shriekers, the flying Terminids. A few weeks after the game's launch, players started reporting sightings of strange flying bugs they had never seen before, and some even posted videos and screenshots. Speculation raged for days about what the bugs were and if they were even real, or if perhaps the screenshots were doctored. Both in-game and out-of-game posts by the developers claimed the bugs were not real and in fact, dissident propaganda. Shortly after this, however, the flying bugs were confirmed. After this, clearing their nests was made into a mission sub-objective that players could complete during their main missions on the Terminid front.
A similar process played out with the factory striders on the Automaton front. These massive bot-producing enemies suddenly appeared without warning, and it took days before their presence was officially confirmed by Arrowhead. A new mission type was introduced that involved destroying these Striders. In both cases, these major enemies were initially treated like a small detail in a vast game, rather than the big reveal they actually were.
Shovels and forklifts
A long-running meme in the "Helldivers" community involves the presence of shovels and forklifts throughout the game, with players jokingly attaching great significance to their presence in the game and even pretending to worship them. Arrowhead Game Studios even made a satirical video about them as a sort of acknowledgment of the meme.
The developers went a step further within "Helldivers 2" itself, though. A memorial statue can be found at the end of the tutorial mission on Mars. In front of the statue is a shovel, stabbed facing straight up into the dirt. Elsewhere you can find evidence that a gravedigger on one of the game's planets appears to have beaten a Stalker to death with nothing but a shovel, then sadly succumbed to his wounds. That's right; a Stalker, one of the game's most notoriously difficult enemies, can be killed with a gardening too. All hail the shovel, the most powerful weapon in the "Helldivers" universe!
@_natiscool Helldiver's Hidden Shovel | helldivers2 lore shorts
♬ original sound – natiscool – natiscool
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1 out of 10 doctors say chest wounds aren't fatal
Surely a bullet directly to the chest is fatal if left untreated, right? It's the same for a slash across the torso from a Terminid too, surely? Well, not according to some medical authorities in the "Helldivers" universe. There are a lot of weird and funny tips and facts on the loading screens for "Helldivers 2," but perhaps the most inexplicable of those claims that 1 in 10 doctors say an untreated chest wound will not cause you to bleed out. At least, it's inexplicable on the surface.
There are actually a couple of armor sets in "Helldivers 2," such as the DP-40 Hero of the Federation set, which give you a 50% chance of surviving any fatal damage you take. This 50% chance can theoretically repeat infinitely, meaning you can be blown up and shot and rag-dolled in numerous absurd ways and you might survive.Therefore, it can be inferred that these doctors are not lying, but have actually treated Helldivers who survived battle by wearing this kind of armor.
Okay so this is one hell of a hidden joke in Helldivers 2 but one tool tip says roughly "9 out of 10 doctors say you die of a bleeding chest" so who is the 10th doctor that denies that?
Well there is an armor that PREVENTS chest wound bleeing so I guess they met THOSE Helldivers pic.twitter.com/FeDN85Eaja
— Witchy Okaa-san (@Nyalruko) February 19, 2024
Hidden stats
The stats for "Helldivers 2" weapons — as seen on the armory screen — are not very detailed and are often just contextless numbers. The only way to truly find out how good a weapon can be is to try it yourself, or at least ask some veteran players. As it turns out, this is by design, as most weapon stats are hidden from the player.
Balance patches are coming, but as Johan Pilestedt, the CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, explained on X (formerly Twitter), "the four weapon stats we're shown in-game are among 50 other 'hidden' stats." This is done in an attempt to encourage players to try different weapons and just use the ones they enjoy the most. It seems as though the developers do not want to encourage a particular "meta," as we've seen in a lot of multiplayer and competitive games. Instead, Arrowhead wants players enjoy the game the way they want to, rather than force everyone into the same handful of boxes. This has been a consistent theme from the developers at Arrowhead, who seem very clear in the intent to make "Helldivers 2" more about fun and less about succeeding in missions or racking up the highest kill counts.
Eagle One has a hitbox
For Helldivers, Eagle One is a near-constant presence, the delivery mechanism for some of the most commonly used and loved stratagems. Not only that, but their voice is perhaps the most distinctive in the game. "Helldivers 2" players have come to know and love Eagle One as much as their squadmates on the ground. However, what very few players have discovered for themselves is the fact that Eagle One is actually not just an empty texture in the sky. It has a hitbox.
As demonstrated in a video posted to the "Helldivers" subreddit by u/Apocryphea, if a player can get high enough in the air, at exactly the right moment, Eagle One will plow right through their dead (or soon-to-be dead) body and throw them even further. The devs likely wouldn't have gone through the trouble of giving the Eagle fighter a hitbox without good reason. Maybe a future mission will charge Helldivers with protecting Eagle One, lest they be shot down.
Medals and references to the original game
Warbonds are a crucial part of "Helldivers 2," allowing players to unlock new weapons and armor and give gamers something to progress towards beyond various upgrades to their Super Destroyers and stratagems, which many players max out fairly early in their playthrough. Given their importance, it shouldn't be surprising that the devs at Arrowhead hid a reference in one of them.
In the free warbond that every player gets access to upon purchasing the game, it takes 2,015 medals to complete the warbond and purchase every piece of armor, every weapon, and every emote. Long-time "Helldivers" fans may recognize 2015 as the year the original "Helldivers" game was released. This small nod to the more niche game that gave rise to a wildly popular sequel might be missed by a lot of newer fans.
[embed=https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ca9zpc/i_just_noticed_that_this_is_an_easter_egg_to_when/?embed_host_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zleague.gg%2Ftheportal%2Funcovering-easter-eggs-helldivers-fans-discuss-a-surprising-discovery%2F
Containers full of bugs in the tutorial
The tutorial might be spot with the most easter eggs in "Helldivers 2." Yet another one can be found by players after they go through an extremely complicated series of steps. By spamming dive to move up hills, calling down stratagems to destroy fences, and glitching through invisible barriers, players can find something kind of concerning.
In this off-the-beaten-path corner of the map, which we're clearly not supposed to see, players can find crates full of Terminids. The obvious explanation is that these captive specimens are being kept to be used as cannon fodder in the brief tutorial, which every Helldiver must complete at the start of the game. There is, however, a more sinister reason. A commonly held theory among "Helldivers 2" players is that the bugs are not an invading force, but something released by Super Earth as a means of conquering new planets. This would then give High Command an excuse to expand and colonize further and further into the galaxy, all supposedly in the name of wiping out the Terminids. Perhaps that is where these bugs are headed, and not to the tutorial area.
@abeetheartist1 This is WILD‼️💀 #helldivers2 #fyp
♬ Spooky, quiet, scary atmosphere piano songs – Skittlegirl Sound
Not all Helldivers pass their training
The crates full of bugs aren't the final easter egg to be found on Mars. The tutorial area seems extremely simple to experienced players, something that should be nearly impossible to fail. This is, in fact, a clever bit of world-building on the part of the developers: It shows how Helldivers are really just expendable canon fodder, given the bare minimum of training needed to become bodies to be thrown at the front of Super Earth's wars. However, somehow, someway, some people still manage to fail their basic Helldiver training.
Just off the side of the map, a dead Helldiver can be found half-buried in the Martian sand. Next to them is a flamethrower, and the corpse itself appears to have been badly burned. It's pretty easy to put two and two together and figure out what happened. This recruit managed to burn himself to death using the flamethrower. Then again, maybe that's not so inexplicable — after all, every player has probably done that to themselves at least once. Maybe that's why we don't get access to the flamethrower ourselves during the tutorial.
Bad reviews are treasonous
In the world of "Helldivers," the bar for treason is extremely low. It's not just about protesting or fighting against Super Earth directly, nor is it about working with dissident elements. Anything from failing to stand for the national anthem to even thinking seditious thoughts can be considered treason in that world. Perhaps the most ridiculous example is that bad reviews of Super Earth products are considered particularly treasonous. Imagine being thrown in jail for your angry review of something you bought off Amazon! Apparently, this can happen in "Helldivers."
In the in-game shop, players can see a variety of reviews for the products on offer. These reviews are almost exclusively good, but every so often, a player might find a one-star review. They won't be able to see what it said though, or why the reviewer disliked the product. All they'll be able to see is that the negative customer's account is "under review for treason." "Helldivers is a capitalist dystopia indeed.
@whitebeanz Democracy? #helldivers2 #helldivers #eastereggs #clue #game #gamermoment