A new Helldivers 2 Major Order has upped the ante in the ongoing fight against the Automatons, sending players straight back to Malevelon Creek in a push to destroy a major bot factory. But this order has come amidst a suspiciously quiet moment on the western war front, and I'm more convinced than ever that we're just in the eye of the storm.
The Automatons currently have just one sector left in the western theater, and players are currently dominating it too. There is no way on this Earth – this Super Earth – that Game Master Joel is going to let this operation go off without a hitch. For starters, let's look at the conclusion from the previous Major Order. A new in-game notice reads:
"OP Swift Disassembly, Phase 1 - Completed.
"The Automaton Comms Array on Troost has been decommissioned. Strangely, it appears to have been broadcasting outside the Galactic Frontier. Analysts are working to determine more.
"However, we did discover a Transmission containing blueprints for a new Automaton type: aerial gunships. With this advance warning, our hardworking factory laborers have been instructed to accelerate production of our most effective anti-air weaponry."
A separate message seems to indicate that this accelerated anti-air weaponry is indeed a reference to the newly released heavy machine gun and Quasar Cannon, with the latter being especially potent against bot dropships. But that's not the important part here.
The bots were broadcasting a message, seemingly tied to the prophesied "Reclamation," to an external sector? That is to say, an area of space that isn't on the current Galactic War map? And we intercepted blueprints for a new type of bot? That ain't good, folks. For once I wish the call was coming from inside the house.
This is a little more interpretive on my part, but I'm also not sure it's a coincidence that Arrowhead has called us back to Malevelon Creek right now, either. The devs were talking up the Creek before the latest Major Order even dropped, and given its reputation, it would be a great staging ground for a significant narrative beat in the Automaton war – like, say, a sudden influx of bots packing new toys of their own.
After weeks of bug-stomping, the pendulum has clearly swung back to the bots for the coming days. "The time has come to rid ourselves of the Automaton irritant once and for all," my ship's co-pilot tells me as I log in today. Bold words, soldier, but I have a feeling we should all expect the unexpected right now.
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