Helldivers 2 drops enormous free update, available to play now

Man, the new stuff just does not stop coming today huh? I’ve got a million games to play, and yet Arrowhead is making a strong case for me to jump into Helldivers 2 again with this fancy-looking update.

As revealed last night at The Game Awards, and then a little while after in another trailer, and now again for a third time on the official PlayStation Blog… Helldivers 2 is back with a new, free update titled “Omens of Tyranny”.

There was at least one new gun in the trailer I didn’t recognise so I assume there’s a bunch of new weapons and armour in the update, but the real meat of Omens of Tyranny is in its newly introduced faction; the Illuminate.

Well, I say “new” but, the Illuminate are only new to Helldivers 2, as they were one of the three factions you’d have to repel in the original Helldivers.

Some of Helldivers 2’s in-game lore did imply that the Illuminante had been permanently wiped out in between the games, so how have they returned? Well, the press release wasn’t particularly helpful in explaining that.

ICYMI: Naughty Dog unveiled a new IP at last night's event.

“At the end of the First Galactic War, the Helldivers worked together to eradicate the Illuminate. We believed we were successful, and for nearly 100 years, we have lived in relative peace, holding the Terminid and Automaton threats at bay,” states the perfectly overdramatic post on the PlayStation Blog.

“But now the Illuminate have emerged seemingly out of nowhere. Even though we don’t know the true origin of the invasion, we have no choice now but to suppress three factions in the Galactic War.”

That’s giving me some real “somehow Palpatine returned” vibes.

Although I can’t confirm any new weapons or armour, I can confirm one exciting new addition; they’ve added a cool jeep for you and all your mates to ride around in.

The “Fast Recon Vehicle” is just a car basically, but it’s got a turret and four spots for all your buddies to sit in so it gets an A+ from me.

Apparently the vehicle will “appear in the colonies” during certain missions, but it also sounds like you’ll be able to unlock one of your own as a stratagem you can deploy in battle.

If you think this all sounds super fun and you cannot wait to try it out, well then I hope you’re sitting down for this next bit– because the Omens of Tyranny update is already live.