Line #193 VideoGame/Helldivers


1	[[quoteright:737:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2024_04_04_at_12_59_32_rt4cgqszdcj7afazaqxd0lfunbwxweg7png_webp_image_1024_1024_pixels_scaled_72.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:737:Join the fight, spread democracy!]]
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4	-> ''"Super Earth - Our home. Prosperity, liberty and democracy - Our way of life. But it doesn't come free: it is every man, woman and child's duty to protect our home, our culture, and our families. Why not make the most important decision of your life; make the safety of your family a personal responsibility, and prove that you have the strength and courage to be free? Join the HELLDIVERS! Travel the galaxy, visit the capitals, meet unusual people and represent the federation. Secure the resources we need to preserve our way of life and create a future for Super Earth. Spread managed democracy throughout the galaxy. Become more than you are. Become a Hero. Become... a Legend!"''
5	--> --'''Broadcast Narrator''', opening cinematic
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7	'''[[AC:Attention Citizens. Please observe the following PATRIOTIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:]]''' [[labelnote:*]] [[AC:Any deviation of attention or attempts to exit the page without fully reviewing the contents will be considered treason. Treason is punishable by death.]] [[/labelnote]]
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9	[[AC:The following page and its contents have been decreed "MANDATORY" reading by the Ministry of Truth. Please read the page and listed trope examples in its entirety for the betterment of DEMOCRACY and LIBERTY! For the Glory of SUPER EARTH!]]
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11	''Helldivers'' is a top down shooter game developed by Creator/ArrowheadGameStudios, the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Magicka}}''. In ''Helldivers'', the players need to learn to coordinate their actions during chaotic combat game play, to succeed in combat and to avoid friendly fire casualties.
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13	The dystopian universe of ''Helldivers'' has mankind ruled by a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_democracy managed democracy]] where the outcome of elections are more predictable. The improved democracy has become more than a way of electing a government, it has become a creed which the brainwashed inhabitants fight for - without fully acknowledging what it means. In the year 2084, the capital of this new society, Super Earth, is beset on all sides by the Bugs, Cyborgs and the Illuminates, three hostile enemy races that, according to the government, need to be exterminated if humanity's "peaceful" democracy could ever hope to prosper.
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15	The Helldivers, a galactic combat unit, must fight three different enemy species to ensure the survival of Super Earth. The gameplay takes place on one of several procedurally-generated open missions where players must accomplish a series of objectives. Before missions the players select from a wide variety of weapons, perks and stratagems to accomplish their objectives. The game's most unique feature is, much like ''Magicka'', the fact that friendly fire cannot be turned off, meaning it's incredibly easy to die by your own teammate's hands if you fail to cooperate with them. The game also has a macrogame known as the "War Front", where all players cooperate to assist with the eradication of the three alien species, in doing so obtaining powerful bonuses and rewards. The game was released for the Platform/{{PlayStation 3}}, Platform/{{PlayStation 4}} and Platform/{{PlayStation Vita}}. A version for Microsoft Windows was released via Steam on December 7, 2015.
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17	A sequel, ''VideoGame/HelldiversII'', which shifts the perspective from top-down to [[AlwaysOverTheShoulder over-the-shoulder]], was announced at Sony's "[=PlayStation=] Presents" showcase on May 26, 2023, and released in February 2024.
18	----
19	!!Our utopian nation at Super Earth provides samples of:[[note]]Reading all these tropes is mandatory. Failure to do so will be considered treason. Treason is punishable by death.[[/note]]
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21	* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Basically everything in the base game can be unlocked by Level 25, "Grand Lord". The game's progression goes all the way up to level ''50'', "Admiral of Super Earth". Given that the EXP required continues to increase exponentially after the already reasonably long journey to Grand Lord, it will take literal ''millions'' of EXP for you to make it to the maximum possible level.
22	* AchievementSystem: Both the Steam and Playstation versions have achievements. These include basic progression, such as completing a mission, reaching levels, as well as ones for things such as having your 4-man team in a vehicle at the same time on a Friday.
23	* AlcubierreDrive: According to the player’s ship announcement system, all space vessels utilize this as their method of FTL travel.
24	* AmmunitionBackpack:
25	** The RL-112 Recoilless Rifle and the MLS-4X 'Commando' are shoulder fired launchers that come with an ammunition backpack that is required to reload them, which takes a while... unless the backpack is carried by somebody other than the shooter, who can reload the weapon ''much'' faster than the user would.
26	** Honorable mention to the Resupply Pack, which is a backpack holding ammunition for use by the wearer's teammates. This allows your squad to resupply on the go without having to wait to call down more ammo.
27	* AndYourRewardIsClothes: When your Helldiver reaches certain levels, they are rewarded with different outfits, including, helmets and capes. You can also earn three different specialty capes, one for each opposing race by completing a level 12 (Helldive) planet. Outfits are no longer directly rewarded from levels in the sequel though.
28	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
29	** Should the last player alive die before they can throw their reinforcement stratagem, it will still activate and allow all of the dead players (including the one who was about to throw the beacon) to come back. Only counts if the last player has the reinforcement stratagem beacon in their hand when they die, though.
30	** If you're crazy/stupid enough to try and complete a Retaliation mission all by yourself[[note]]''Don't do this. Seriously. It will not end well''[[/note]], each time you die will be accompanied by a Shredder missile launching at your position to kill all the enemies in the area and give you a second to recuperate as you respawn.
31	* ArmorIsUseless: Your armour/helmet choices are purely cosmetic; only by taking the Heavy Armour perk do you actually get increased survivability.
32	* AscendedMeme: ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' had a [[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2015/03/30/what-lies-beneath comic]] about the extraction shuttle pilot, which they named "Frank", and his complete indifference about crushing Helldivers with his ship. In the next update, Arrowhead added an achievement "Make Frank Crush a Tank", which was earned by having the extraction shuttle land on top of a Bug tank. Sadly no longer possible in the sequel; the dropship will lift up again if something too large/durable would block its landing.
33	* ATeamFiring: Shooting your weapon without holding the Aim button will cause the bullets to spray all over the place and likely completely miss the intented target unless it's a large group. Try not to do this, as every bullet counts.
34	* AttackItsWeakpoint: In general, shooting enemies in the rear/backside will deal more damage due to the weaker armor rating.
35	* AwesomeButImpractical: Some of the stratagems, while looking great on paper, don't actually work all that well in practice.
36	** The Tesla Tower appears to be a neat area denial asset and can kill most enemies that get near it rather quickly. However, its main issue that it's very difficult to tell what exactly its effective range is, meaning that it's just as likely to zap an unsuspecting Helldiver as it would an enemy.
37	** The "Shredder" Missile Strike. is it awesome as all hell to straight-up hit your enemies with a ''[[NukeEm miniature nuke]]'' that flattens everything in the area? Hell yes. Does that also mean that you can't use it while staying in the location that it's being dropped at the risk of your squad being wiped? Also yes[[note]]Though it does see some legitimate use as a [[NotCompletelyUseless much quicker and easier alternative to a Hellbomb]][[/note]].
38	* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The M5 APC and its more heavily armed sibling, the M5-32 HAV. They're decked out with enough weaponry to make short work of enemy hordes as well as speedily get you across the map to the next objective. Of course, the downside is that it concentrates your entire squad into a single destructible vehicle, so if the driver accidentally goes careening off a cliff or a heavy enemy unit destroys it you run the risk of failing the mission instantly with no chance to reinforce.
39	* BadassCape: Every Helldiver sports one; completing the Training course is how you earn the right to wear yours. You can unlock further, even more Badass Capes by levelling up, completing specific challenges, or simply by buying them.
40	* TheBattlestar: Helldiver Super Destroyers are armed with a fearsome array of orbit-to-ground artillery, but also have small hangars that let them carry a complement of Pelican transport shuttles and Eagle fighter-bombers for added versatility. That said, the actual scale of the ship is quite small, especially compared to other sci-fi ships that would be called a Super Destroyer. It's overall configuration appears to be specialized for providing Close-Orbit-Support for Helldiver infantry, rather than the more general "do everything" role this trope typically entails.
41	* BayonetYa: One of the upgrades for the various assault rifles is a bayonet. This includes the Suppressor, which is otherwise deadly to the user if fired at point blank.
42	* BeamSpam:
43	** The LAS-13 "Trident" is essentially a laser shotgun, shooting multiple beams in an arc. Its upgrade lets it fire even more beams. Having more than one squad member with this weapon can easily lead to a screen covered in beams.
44	** The Sickle, a cousin of the aformentioned Trident, also does this, but rapid-fire like the Automatons. It fires pulses of laser that result in much higher damage than it's less spam-y cousin, the "Scythe", but also both more heating and actual recoil due to the gyroscope spinning inside the barrel shroud.
45	* {{BFG}}:
46	** The LAS-98 Laser Cannon is a gigantic, bulky laser weapon which fires a continuous beam that can effortlessly mulch large groups of medium-armored enemies, and doesn't require ammo so long as you keep it from {{Overheating}}.
47	** The AC-22 "Dum-Dum" Autocannon is a 20mm gun so big you have to mount it on your ''shoulder'' while standing completely still in order to even aim and fire it, and its armory description mentions that it's normally intended to be mounted on an APC or other vehicle. It cuts through medium-armored enemies like a knife through butter, and also happens to be one of the precious few non-AT weapons capable of doing discernable damage to Enemy Masters.
48	* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: The Helldivers are working for a government that brainwashes their citizens to have them fight for a cause they do not fully understand.
49	* BigBulkyBomb: The NUX-223, better known as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Hellbomb]], is a massive explosive device that is supplied to Helldivers for destroying clusters of objectives quickly. Once it's armed, you'd better ''run'' to get out of the blast radius, as everything inside it is getting vaporized. The primary reason it has little viability as an actual combat tool is that it takes forever to call down and has the durability of wet tissue paper, meaning it's pitifully easy for it to get destroyed before it can go off.
50	* BlackComedy: ''Helldivers'' gets a lot of mileage out of the fact players get to have a first-hand experience of precisely what happens when a fascist nation engages in the most inefficient and repressive method of waging war, culminating in it sending an army of brainwashed, poorly trained manchildren into battle. The result is a game built around creating naturally occurring trainwrecks, where friendly fire is a way of life, clumsy, panic-induced mistakes are commonplace, and every stupid death only laughably highlights what Super Earth really is like, despite the bald-faced lies that everything is going fine.
51	* BoringButPractical:
52	** The game gives you more than a dozen perks to customize your character with. The most practical, given how helpful it is in avoiding friendly fire incidents, is the LaserSight you start out with - enough so that it's become a default feature for most primary weapons in the sequel.
53	** The RL-112 Recoilless Rifle. Sure, it's nothing fancy like some of the DLC AT weapons, but it's still a big-ass reusable bazooka that can OneHitKill any HeavilyArmoredMook it needs to, and sometimes that's all that's required.
54	** On the enemy side, At difficulties 13+, enemy scouts become much harder to take out. The bugs get an [[EliteMook evolved Stalker,]] with the ability to [[HealingFactor regenerate health]], [[VisibleInvisibility cloak themselves]] and raise the alarm. The Illuminates get Obsidian Observers, which can [[InterfaceScrew reverse your controls]] upon revealing themselves and also have the ability to cloak themselves. Meanwhile, the cyborgs equip their scouts with... a simple metal shield. This simple shield makes the cyborg elite scouts MUCH harder to kill than the other two elite scouts due to requiring anti tank weapons or flanking.
55	** Smoke grenades and smoke stratagems. They can prevent the enemy from sounding the alarm while Helldivers are inside or behind a smoke cloud, and stop enemy ranged attacks from firing if the smoke cloud blocks line of sight.
56	** The basic Air Strike and Orbital Precision Strike. You can quickly access the former and begin with the latter, and simply put they're just ''really'' good at killing anything and everything they hit. Sure there are ''flashier'' Stratagems, but they alone can solve most problems a Helldiver will ever encounter, and the Air Strike in particular requires less precise placement and timing to do so.
57	* BossOnlyLevel: Masters are fought in their own unique levels similar to Retaliation missions with the single objective of killing them. You will find this is harder than it sounds.
58	* BossRemix: The three masters have distinct remixes of their faction's combat music, being even more intensive. A slightly slowed theme with increased percussion instruments marks the presence of a master.
59	* BottomlessMagazines: comes in two flavors, the lasers and arc throwers.
60	** Lasers have a heat sink and are subject to {{Overheating}}, but if you manage your heat level you never have to reload a laser weapon.
61	** Arc Throwers have truly unlimited ammo, the only limitation being the gun's fire rate.
62	* BugWar: One of the main enemy factions consists of hostile bugs, named the Terminids in ''II'', that are to be subdued in any way necessary, according to the government. Turns out they're a good source of oil, though...
63	* BullfightBoss: If you lack any anti-tank weapons, Bug Tanks can be defeated by baiting a charge out, then shooting at their unarmored rear. No such luck with the Behemoth though. Anti-Tank weapons or stratagems are mandatory to take them down.
64	* CallARabbitASmeerp: A played with example. What most people would call "ordnance" or "supply drops" are called "stratagems" in game. This is most likely supposed to be joke on using buzzwords in place of descriptive names to sound cooler.
65	* CapitalismIsBad: Or rather, "Corporatism is bad", combining it with the games' anti-Fascist satire. Along with '''LIBERTY!''' and '''DEMOCRACY!''', Super Earth's propaganda machine loves to constantly extoll the virtues of capitalism to its citizens and military alike, encouraging them to buy new gear and supplies to keep their war effort going, as well as advertising various corporations which apparently manufacture the products. All of this would play the trope straight due to Super Earth not being as heroic as they made out to be...except that most of those corporations are pretty much ''run'' by the Super Earth government, which micromanages every other aspect of its citizens' lives as well, including some rather...shady practices such as "donations" from citizens which are implied to not be as voluntary as they sound, and investigating citizens for treason for so much as ''leaving a negative review'' on a product sold by a government-run corporation. All in all, while the "capitalism" Super Earth practices is indeed not at all good, at the same time, it's barely a free market economy to begin with, being a Corporatist command economy masquerading as pseudo-capitalism which more resembles the economy of something like UsefulNotes/FascistItaly or UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan.
66	* CarFu: Many of the game's vehicles are equipped with powerful weaponry, but can also just be used to mundanely bowl over smaller enemy units and transform them into roadkill.
67	* ClaimingViaFlag: The "Capture Area" mission objective is represented by your squad raising a Super Earth flag in a location while defending the area from enemies.
68	* CloseRangeCombatant: Most of the enemies you face, actually. The Bugs are particularly prominent, with their only ranged unit using long, burrowing tentacles to attack you, but the other races aren't much better - most of the Illuminates' combat forces are armed with energy staves, energy blades or short-ranged lightning tasers, while the Cyborgs prominently arm their forces with wicked blades alongside slow-firing firearms.
69	* CollateralDamage: Your weapons and stratagems are indiscriminate, so not only are your enemies vulnerable, but so are your allies, your escorts, and even ''yourself''! This doesn't just apply to direct fire and explosions - anyone standing at the wrong angle behind a Helldiver with a recoilless rifle will find that this is not a game where the MissingBackblast trope is in effect.
70	* ConceptsAreCheap: Enforced as part of the series' fascist propaganda theme. Join the Helldivers and save Super Earth! Fight for freedom and democracy all across the stars!... whatever that means.
71	* CoolBike: The MC-109 "Hammer" Motorcycle is an extremely fast ride outfitted with a sidecar equipped with a light machine gun, making it great for zipping across the map with a buddy and indispensable if you're playing a private two-player game.
72	* CoolChair: Illuminate Illusionists sit on a floating chair that comes with an integrated shield. Council Members get an even more grandiose chair, which looks more like a throne.
73	* CrapsackWorld:
74	** The Helldivers, presented in-universe as the [[EliteArmy elite forces of humanity]], are really just a bunch of fresh recruits who receive five whole minutes of training before being shipped off into a hellish ForeverWar. They're given unlimited access to heavy ordnance and are killed in friendly fire incidents as often as they're killed by the enemy. And when they're inevitably KIA, they're immediately replaced by ''another'' fresh recruit. The standard Super Earth Armed Forces don't seem to have it much better; we only ever see the aftermath of their engagements, and there are always more dead [=SEAF=] personnel than bugs or 'borgs.
75	** It's implied many things we wouldn't consider more than minor luxuries are very expensive and unavailable to most Super Earth citizens. One woman remarks that she hopes that by the time she retires she'll raise her rank enough be able to afford a goldfish or "even a hamster," for her kids, assuming she even gets permission to have any children.
76	** One crewmember will note that she's never actually been to Super Earth herself but hears that it's even more spectacular in-person. Meaning she's serving (and dying, potentially) for something she herself will likely never even benefit from.
77	** Another will note that she overheard some talk in the barracks and reported said talk. The results? Those individuals were marked as dissidents and sent to freedom camps. And for the reporting, she gains Citizenship points, enough so to earn an extra doctor's visit during the year.
78	* CreatorProvincialism: According to the lore, the nation that first set out to found Super Earth was apparently Sweden, and this is reflected in the Super Earth flag. In addition, when Stockholm became a MegaCity, it was the only one to not get a [[AirstripOne number designation,]] instead being called "Prosperity City." Three guesses as to where Arrowhead Studios is located.
79	* CycleOfHurting: How Patrols work. Getting caught by a PatrollingMook will sound the alarm and summon a whole buttload of enemies onto your position, but it will ''also'' continue to summon {{Patrolling Mook}}s who will continue to sound the alarm, prolonging the alarm timer and preventing you from stopping the spawning of more difficult enemies. For this reason, it's very important to ''keep moving'' and not stay in one place for too long unless absolutely necessary so that the alarm timer can wear off.
80	* DeadMansSwitch: An activated stratagem beacon will proc as soon as it hits the ground, even if the Helldiver in question doesn't actually live to throw it. While this can sometimes be exploited as part of a TakingYouWithMe gambit in some cases, it's more likely to cause an accidental fragging or a panicked scatter when someone gets killed by a random shot next to their squadmates just before they can toss their beacon at the intended target.
81	* DeathFromAbove: Anything that has the misfortune of standing under a Hellpod will suffer an instant death. ''[[CollateralDamage This includes you and your fellow Helldivers]]''.
82	* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Zig-zagged. Dying means that the Helldiver you were playing as is very definitely dead, but it only takes a three-second reinforce beacon from one of your squadmates for them to be [[WeHaveReserves replaced by another Helldiver]] and for you to be put back in action. The only way to completely lose a mission is to have everyone in your squad dead at the same time.
83	* DegradedBoss: Mid level missions (usually 5-9) have an assassinate mission, where your goal is to kill that faction's top level enemy. Top level missions (13, 14 and especially 15) has said enemies basically replace most of the regular spawns.
84	* {{Determinator}}: Some of the Bugs have a bleedout mechanic similar to Helldivers. However, once they enter this bleedout state, they will charge and attack much faster than before. Their body can even fight [[LosingYourHead with their head visibly destroyed and/or removed]] from their body! Regular warriors don't last long at all, but Brood Commanders can very easily kill an overconfident Helldiver in the short window they remain functional.
85	* DirtyCommies: The Cyborgs of Cyberstan are all communist. The Helldivers' goal is to teach them about managed democracy, by overwhelming force if needed.
86	* DisproportionateRetribution: A human terrorist sets off a bomb that kills eight civilians and claims it's on behalf of the Cyborgs. Super-Earth immediately declares war and mobilizes its entire military into subduing the Cyborg civilization.
87	* DoubleMeaningTitle: ''Helldivers'' refers to the titular Helldiver Corps, who are so called not only because they [[ItsRainingMen dive into hot enemy zones]] ("Hell") via DropPod, but because [[TakeCover diving out of the way of danger is a central game mechanic]].
88	* DrawAggro: The Distractor Beacon is a stratagem designed to draw enemies' attention away from you momentarily.
89	* DropInDropOutMultiplayer: Any player can drop into any active Public mission if there are less than four other players present. The host can decide in their options menu whether they want to set their missions to Public or Friends Only, which limits openings to players who have accepted friend requests unless and until a special SOS Beacon stratagem is deployed.
90	* DropPod: Used to drop ammo supplies, turrets, and exo suits, along with the soldiers. In-universe, they're called Hellpods.
91	* DropShip: Used to extract Helldivers at the end of missions.
92	* {{Dystopia}}: It becomes clear that the government has been brainwashing the citizens of Super Earth in order to fight for their own benefits.
93	* EagleLand: Flavor 3 wearing the mask of Flavor 1. The troops are sent to "spread democracy" by slaughtering the denizens of other planets with hot lead, launching missiles, and deploying oil wells one after another, all in the name of freedom. That being said, their society seems largely peaceful and prosperous despite the constant war, and they are arguably the lesser evil relative to the factions they're fighting against. Also see {{Satire}}.
94	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: For those introduced to the series via ''VideoGame/HelldiversII'', there are a couple noticeable differences from this game and its sequel:
95	** There is no [[ThePoliticalOfficer Democracy Officer]] aboard the Super Destroyer, their role basically being fulfilled by the Admiral. in fact, Democracy Officers as a concept don't appear to exist in Super Earth society.
96	** The memetic C-01 Permit that is required to be filled out and approved before engaging in any child-creating recreational activities is instead called the "C1-PERM".
97	** Since many planet names from ''Helldivers'' were reused for ''II'' despite planets and their names being procedurally generated, this can lead to some weird dissonance for those familiar with specific planets from ''II'', including things like forest and desert planets bearing the name "Marfark", when Marfark is conclusively an [[SlippySlideyIceWorld ice planet]] in the Andromeda sector in ''II'' that was the site of the legendary Battle of Marfark on April 16th of 2024.
98	** No actual in-game mention is made of the [[AppliedPhlebotinum E-710 substance that the Bugs produce upon death and is crucial to FTL travel]], when [[NoBloodForPhlebotinum the fact that their Terminid descendants produce the stuff]] is the main reason the Bugs were domesticated in the first place and one of the biggest satirical aspects of ''II''. The Bugs are instead presented as a more straightforward HordeOfAlienLocusts.
99	** While Hellbombs are just as fragile as they are in ''II'', they don't require an arrow-key code input to activate and can be armed with a single button press, making it much simpler to arm them and run away to cover.
100	* EmergentGameplay: Invoked by the developers. One of the ''Helldivers'' series' defining attributes is its Galactic Campaign system, which encourages but does not force players to complete specific objectives on specific planets for the chance to knock an enemy faction out of the war and eventually defeat all three, [[AndYourRewardIsClothes rewarding everyone who participated with unique cosmetics]]. This is intentionally done as a way of creating player-lead "stories" that drive the game's overall narrative.
101	* EarthShatteringKaboom: When a war is lost, a cutscene plays of the Helldiver fleet pulling away as Super-Earth explodes.
102	* EasierThanEasy: The "Easy" and "Very Easy" difficulties are actually the third and second lowest respectively; the easiest possible difficulty is called "A Dive In The Park". These missions can be completed in under three minutes without firing a shot in some cases.
103	* TheEmpire: What Super Earth is; however, it wants you to think that it's {{The Republic}}.
104	* EnemySummoner: Any Cyborg enemy with a Flare Gun in the first game can call in reinforcements if they manage to fire a signal flare off.
105	* EscortMission: Three of the possible objectives:
106	** "Escort Survivors" involves escorting a group of four survivors to a facility on the map (the objective is complete even if only one of them arrives). A player walks up to the them, and from them on the survivors will follow that player until they reach the objective, the players tell them to stop or they're all dead. The scrappiness of those missions is noted by the achievement unlocked for escorting the four survivors to the facility, named "Who likes escort missions anyway?"
107	** "Escort Resource Convoy" Protecting a train on a rail. The train will move forward as long as neither an enemy or a player touches it.
108	** Returning an object to the objective point. A player has to grab it and sees themselves incapable of running or using two-handed weapons (almost all of them).
109	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: In addition to the hordes upon hordes of baddies you'll be fending off, almost every single other game mechanic has the potential to kill you. Fat-finger disarming an explosive? Dead. Accidentally jump into a 50-foot pit? Dead. Exit an APC a little too quickly so that it does a little collision damage? Dead. Mistakenly call down a Stratagem ''on top of yourself''? Dead. And the less said about all the ways your [[SurroundedByIdiots idiot teammates can get you killed]], the better.
110	* EvilVsEvil: Just because Super Earth is TheEmpire does ''not'' mean their opponents are any better; lose the Galactic Campaign, and the victorious faction ''will'' destroy the planet out of spite.
111	** Super Earth is an authoritarian[[note]]where do you think the "managed" part comes into play?[[/note]], corporatist dystopia masquerading as a utopian democracy. Its citizens are at best brainwashed or amoral to immoral. They start wars for the sake of greater profit or power while using propaganda to demonize any enemy as a soulless, pitiless scum to be put down for the sake of democracy, freedom, and liberty… unfortunately they’re not entirely wrong. This is not a nice galaxy.
112	** Super Earth went to war against and slaughter the Bugs primarily because their corpses decay into a useful source of fuel. They are also a species of giant insects that will kill and devour anything that isn’t them and seem to be able to spread across the galaxy somehow. They are highly dangerous, aggressive, and ridiculously invasive. The relationship is like Weyland-Yutani from ''{{Franchise/Alien}}'' thinking Xenomorphs are worth exploiting on colonies and going about as well as you’d think.
113	** Cyborgs are a cyborg collective that Super Earth went to war with for seeing them as a threat to their empire and used a terrorist attack pretext ([[FalseFlagOperation that likely wasn’t done by the Cyborgs]]). They are also utterly ruthless, willing to carve up civilians to make them cyborgs, don’t care for the idea of prisoners, and blow up Earth if they win.
114	** The Illuminates are a highly advanced alien species that had, supposedly, great weapons of mass destruction that Super Earth wanted and, [[RunningGag sensing a pattern here]], used it as pretext for war. The Illuminates are intellectual-based SocialDarwinists that are all too happy to use those [=WMDs=] against Super Earth for doing this.
115	* FactionCalculus: Every enemy faction tends to have its own strengths and weaknesses in the field:
116	** The Cyborgs lean towards Balanced with a bit of Powerhouse. Their units are both tough and damaging in equal measure, and they have arguably the widest unit variety in the game, with equally good ranged and melee capabilities. They are also the only faction to field proper tanks, meaning that AT weapons are all but required to face them on directly. However, they are also on average the slowest faction, and their units tend to be large, cumbersome targets that fall easily to massed offensive stratagems. Automatons maintain this theming, though they have more ranged units.
117	** The Bugs lean towards powerhouse with a bit of spammer. They have the heaviest armor in the game on average, and their strategies almost entirely boil down towards overwhelming the helldivers with hordes of tough, fast heavy infantry backed up by the occasional giant bug that can soak up fire for it's smaller allies and crush the helldivers with a well-placed charge. To further cement this strategy, they are almost exclusively melee. They have a few invisible assassin-like units that can leap into the fray to try and pick off a lone helldiver, but outside of that they rely entirely on their speed and durability to rush the helldivers with few tricks. The Terminids continue this theme as well.
118	** The Illuminates are subversive with a bit of cannon. Their units stat-wise are some of the worst in the game, having little health and almost no heavy armor to speak of, and their weapons tend to either do little damage or are telegraphed well in advance. To make up for this, nearly all of their units have a special trick or ability to even the odds, ranging from debilitating debuffs that can slow you down or reverse your control scheme, high mobility via dashes or teleportation in a localized area, or frequent usage of invisibility. On top of this, their shields, while able to be broken by nearly any weapon, can easily block explosive or piercing weaponry in their tracks, making their crowds more durable than their stats would otherwise imply.
119	* FailedASpotCheck: When prone, Helldivers are much harder to notice by enemy scouts, requiring them to almost be ''touching the helldivers to notice them.''
120	* FalseUtopia: The government brainwashes the citizens of Super Earth by using "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_democracy managed democracy]]'' where the results of the elections are more predictable; citizens answer a series of questions at voting booths and the automated system picks the candidate/etc. that best reflects the citizen's answers. This has led to the government remaining in more-or-less full control while the citizens believe they are fighting for the freedom and safety of their nation.
121	* FlareGun: The Cyborg Squad Leader, Legionnaire's grenade launcher doubles as a flare gun that can call in additional reinforcements. The IFV has a dedicated flare gun on the left of its turret.
122	** Automaton light infantry have one integrated into their left hands. If they are allowed to fire off a signal flare, Automaton Dropships will begin closing in on the flare's general position to offload some reinforcements.
123	* ForeverWar: Zig-zagged. In terms of gameplay, the Galactic War is this, as no matter what the Helldivers accomplish it will always [[StatusQuoIsGod reset back to the way it was at the start]] after about a month. However, ''VideoGame/HelldiversII'' conclusively shows that the outcome of the war ''does'' canonically end with Super Earth re-enslaving the Cyborgs on Cyberstan, pushing the Bugs back to Kepler Prime and wiping the Illuminate from the galaxy, ending the war with a conclusive victory in their favor.
124	* FictionalHoliday: October 26th is "Liberty Day"; not coincidentally, this was when the original novel of ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' released in 1959. Out of universe, the developers marked this date by having giveaways and contests.
125	* FriendlyFireproof:
126	** Averted, friendly fire is always on and there is no way to disable the feature. This requires the players to carefully plan their actions during the games many chaotic combat sequences. Of special note is the fact that you can get squished by your [[TheCavalry reinforcements']] Drop Pods, and your [[GunshipRescue extraction]].
127	** This goes both ways, as enemies can damage each other with their attacks. Illuminate snipers think nothing of shooting their kin in the back, Behemoths won't hesitate to crush any smaller bugs that get in their way... and neither will [[SandWorm Hive Lords]]!
128	* GameplayGrading: Upon completing a mission, you'll receive a grade out of three stars. One star is granted for completing every mission objective, one star is granted for [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind all four Helldivers managing to extract]], and one star is granted for having a low number of total deaths (around 10 total, with EXP bonuses granted to Helldivers with less than 2). These stars end up determining how much Influence liberating the planet will generate, with a full three stars granting the full difficulty level of the planet's worth of Influence per mission and zero stars granting none.
129	* GeoEffects: Helldivers are slowed by water and snow, while enemies aren't. Equipping the All Terrain Boots perk prevents you form being slowed by water or snow.
130	* GlassCannon: Helldivers themselves can dish out a lot of firepower, both from their weapons and stratagem calldowns, but cannot take much damage in turn.
131	* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Super Earth is certainly invested in convincing their citizens that their wars against hostile alien forces are this, though if you take their propaganda at face-value, they're only defending humanity against enemies who hate freedom. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial They're certainly not xenophobes out to exploit or exterminate other races for personal benefit, no sir]].
132	* HarderThanHard: The Level 12 difficulty is called "[[TitleDrop Hell Dive]]", which might lead you to think that it's the highest difficulty. There are three higher difficulties above it, the highest of which, Level 15, is called "The Inner Circle of Hell". Playing on level 15 is a grueling and unrelenting experience, but clearing a Level 15 planet grants a ''[[DifficultButAwesome twenty thousand EXP bonus]]''.
133	* HeavilyArmoredMook: The Obelisk is a standout in the Illuminate forces for being the only enemy possessing enough armor to block bullets when encased in its shell. This armor is strong enough to block even the RL-112 Recoilless Rifle's shots.
134	* HerdHittingAttack: Most Offensive Stratagems are some form of this, their primary use being the rapid clearing of an area of a large group of enemies.
135	* HoldTheLine: Retaliatory Strikes have no objective other than "Survive". These missions take place in small arena like areas, where movement is heavily limited.
136	* HoldYourHippogriffs: Soldiers will often use the phrase "''Sweet Liberty!''" in the same vein as "Oh my God!" or similar blasphemes. They may also say things like "liberty-forsaken", "freedom-loving", and the like.
137	* HollywoodSilencer: The SMG-34 "Ninja" is a submachine gun equipped with a suppressor, which leads to its firing sound being of the incorrect "cat sneezing" variety despite being an automatic weapon.
138	* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: In addition to the "spray and pray", "scorched-earth" nature of most Stratagems which do not make a papable distinction between friend and foe, "trigger discipline" do not appear to be words in the Helldiver vocabulary, and many sources of teamkilling are likely to result from a careless Diver accidentally pumping their squadmate full of lead in a hot zone, or an inattentive Diver wandering into someone's firing line as they're laying down heavy fire.
139	* ImmuneToBullets: Armored enemies cannot be hurt with normal firearms (shown as a faint blue impact flash), and require anti-tank weaponry. This applies threefold to the three Master Assaults, who are outright immune to anything short of an R-112 round.
140	* InstakillMook: Several of the enemies in each faction are capable of one hit killing Helldivers. In particular...
141	** The Cyborg IFV's turret can gib Helldivers with a direct hit. If the helldivers try to abuse the IFV's blindspot, it is quite willing to attempt to crush them under its treads.
142	** The Illuminate Obelisk will instantly cleave any Helldiver caught in its wall when it fully materialzes.
143	** The Bug Tanks/Behemoths charge will crush any Helldiver in its way.
144	* InterfaceScrew: Some Illuminates can inflict this to you, inverting the controls for a short time. This includes stratagem input.
145	* ItsRainingMen: The Helldivers' M.O. is launching directly into battle using [[DropPod Hellpods, kicking ass and taking names]].
146	* IwoJimaPose: Parodied in the [[PropagandaPiece Helldiver recruitment video]], where several divers [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impale a bug]] with a flagpole bearing Super Earth flag and enthusiastically celebrate with a chest bump.
147	* KarmaMeter: An interestingly entirely player-led version. If you're exceptionally impressed with the work of a fellow Helldiver, you can Commend them in the squad menu, which will put them in Good Standing and only allow them to be matched up with other players in Good Standing. Similarly, if a player is being TheLoad, a {{Jerkass}} or a {{Troll}}, you can Report them to put them in Bad Standing, which only allows them to be matchmade with other players in Bad Standing (though it wears off over time and Commendations also speed up the wearing-off effect).
148	* KillItWithFire: The firebomb stratagem, the flamethrower, and one of the DLC exoskeletons. Fully upgrading the double-barreled shotgun also gives it incendiary ammunition. Cyborg Immolators happily use this against you - go prone to extinguish the flames.
149	* LandMineGoesClick: Not only can you deploy various land mines of your own, but there are intermittent mined areas you can find out during missions. If you step on a mine and hear an activation click, you have about half a second to dive out of the way before [[NotEnoughToBury your body evaporates into red mist]].
150	* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Illuminate Council Members have a reddish-brown skin tone, compared to the rest of their kin's purple skin tone. They also get an even [[CoolChair cooler chair]] than the Illusionists.
151	* LastChanceHitPoint: How the Displacer Field works. As long as the field is charged, any incoming attack that would instantly kill your Helldiver will instead cause them to be teleported to a few feet away and ([[FromBadToWorse hopefully]]) out of danger. You can effectively chain these displacements together by staying alive long enough for it to recharge that you become functionally unkillable as a result.
152	* LensmanArmsRace: Several Armory descriptions mention how Super Earth is slowly managing to reverse-engineer recovered Illuminate tech to use against them, most prominently with the Displacer Field.
153	* LoadingScreen: In-Game justification type. When loading a mission, the [[DropPod Hellpods]] are shown leaving the ship, and the loading time is presumably the time it takes to make planetfall. [[note]]"Did you know that tips are shown during loading screens?" [[/note]]
154	* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe:
155	** Cyborg Hulks have a massive slab of armor for a left arm, which can harmlessly deflect even anti-tank weapons. Thankfully, they can't shoot or move while holding the shield over their (relatively) unarmored front. Legionnaires also get a smaller shield. While it doesn't protect them from anti-tank weapons, it does make them immune to anything short of anti-tank weapons from the front.
156	** As of the "A New Hell" update, Cyborg Legionnaires. Essentially, they are Squadleader Soldiers carrying a smaller version of the Hulk's shield. They only appear on Level 13+ planets.
157	* MarathonLevel: Retaliatory Strikes can take upwards of 30 minutes despite their only objective being "Kill X number of enemies" due to just how ''many'' enemies you need to kill, and part of the mission type's challenge is the endurance and persistence required to carry your squad through an unrelenting half hour of non-stop combat.
158	* MiniMecha: Helldivers have three different flavors of single-use WalkingTank Stratagems to choose from when deploying[[note]]Two of these mechs are only available in paid DLC, the Pilot pack and Vehicles pack[[/note]]:
159	** The EXO-44 "Walker" mech is your basic vanilla mech equipped with [[GatlingGood a lightning-fast rotary gun]] and eight anti-tank missiles. It's good both for holding down a position or clearing a path, but it becomes pretty helpless when overwhelmed and its limited missiles means it can fall prey to armored enemies without backup.
160	** The EXO-48 "Obsidian" is a more dedicated anti-personnel mech equipped with dual infantry-shredding AP cannons. It's the perfect too for fighting crowds of squishy {{Mook}}s (and the Illuminates, who don't have any heavily armored enemies and whose shields evaporate instantly from AP fire), but its lack of AT capabilities makes its use limited on higher-level Bug and Cyborg missions due to the prolificity of armored enemies who can [[NoSell shrug off its cannon fire]].
161	** The EXO-51 "Lumberer" is a dual-purpose crowd-control and high-priority target eliminator mech outfitted with a heavy flamer and [[{{BFG}} an AT cannon which packs a punch]]. It can be a godsend when getting swarmed by armored enemies, but the [[VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck limited applicability of its flamethrower]] and low total ammo in its cannon means that it's weak to getting {{Zerg Rush}}ed and shouldn't be overrelied upon.
162	* MonsterCompendium: On the bridge, you can look at the Galactic Encyclopedia which gives information about any enemy you have encountered.
163	* MoreDakka:
164	** EVERY Helldiver weapon is incredibly damaging and most are rapid fire weapons. The game encourages "Conservation of fire" to preserve your VERY limited ammunition. However, most matches dissolve into panicked arcs of fire against huge swarms of enemies.
165	** The vehicles on the other hand are all about unloading a lot of fire down-range - all weapons are full auto.
166	** The Mech and Mini-gun turret in particular are this trope personified.
167	** [[EnergyWeapon Laser weaponry]] has unlimited ammunition and its rate of fire is constant. However, if you overheat it, you pull out the overloaded heatsink and slap in a fresh one.
168	* NecessaryDrawback: Just about everything.
169	** Laser weapons have functionally unlimited ammo as long as you don't overload the heat sink (once you do, you have to replace it, it won't cool down on its own anymore). But lasers are not as powerful as ballistic weapons: the constant output of lasers is balanced by the fact that they take longer to kill their targets.
170	** The various vehicles are all extremely powerful, but have limited ammo that you cannot reload; the EXO-44 Walker has a machine gun that's as powerful as the man-portable version you get at the start of the game and an 8-missile pod that is ''not'' anti-armor and runs dry very quickly, for example. You're also limited in the amount of times that you can call them in per mission, unlike other supply drops. [[FriendlyFireproof And they can and will hurt other players]] [[AvertedTrope just by touching them.]]
171	** The Anti-Armor weapons can take out heavily armored enemies in a single shot, but only ''have'' a single shot before they need to be reloaded. And reloading them takes either an inordinate amount of time (for a single user) or requires another person to work with you (which takes up their backpack slot and makes your powerful gun useless if they die).
172	** Turrets can provide excellent cover and don't require any input from you to do their dirty work. They also have infinite ammunition. [[FriendlyFireproof They also don't care if you happen to be standing between them and their target]] [[AvertedTrope and will gleefully gun you down if necessary.]]
173	** Deployable air support, such as strafing runs and bombing runs, inflict excellent damage on enemy troops. They also require you to call in the support (during which you are vulnerable), throw the support beacon (during which you are vulnerable), and take a few seconds to arrive (during which the enemy can and likely will move). [[FriendlyFireproof And of course, if you don't throw it far enough]], [[AvertedTrope you'll quickly find]] [[RunningGag that they do a lot of damage to]] ''[[RunningGag you]]'' [[RunningGag as well.]]
174	* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Averted by the extraction pilot. If a team member is dead and the rest of the squad is on board, it takes off. Can be played straight by the players, who may wait outside the extraction vehicle and call reinforcements (revive) of a downed member, hoping to get the highest score (and therefore more XP) from a level. However, if at least one squad member is on board and the timer runs out, the mission ends, leaving behind anyone outside the extraction.
175	* NoticeThis: Samples have a golden sheen around them to help them stand out from the environment and prevent them from blending in with the foliage.
176	* NotTheIntendedUse:
177	** While Defensive Stratagems and Reinforces are normally just meant to supply you with gear and revive your dead teammates respectively, the Hellpods they arrive in will OneHitKill anything they land on, meaning they can be used to take out {{Heavily Armored Mook}}s and other high-priority targets in a tight spot with a bit of finagling.
178	** [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier APCs]] are meant to be traversal vehicles, but since they're decked out with weaponry and can withstand a fair bit of punishment they can work just fine as wholly stationary armored turrets in certain situations. this goes double for the M5-32 HAV, since its main gun is an anti-tank turret with a fair bit of ammunition.
179	** Hellbombs are normally supposed to be used for destroying objectives, but often can just as easily be employed as a way to momentarily DrawAggro off of yourself or your teammates since enemies will always rush straight for a Hellbomb.
180	* OrbitalBombardment: An entire category of stratagems involves using the orbital cannon on your super destroyer. In addition, when summoned for reinforcement, Hellpods can be steered into enemies; landing on top of an Automaton Foundary or a Bile Titan is a good way to do a lot of damage to it, potentially instantly obliterating it.
181	* OhCrap: Occasionally the Helldivers' bravado vanishes, resulting in a panicked human being realizing they're in the middle of a SuicideMission at best, but it's understated. Even if they survive the mission instead of [[WeHaveReserves dying and being replaced with reinforcements]], naturally they're just going to go back to their indoctrinated "kill all enemies of Super Earth" mindset, but it shows that fanaticism only goes so far in the face of mortality.
182	* OneBulletClips: Entirely averted - not only are the remaining bullets in a magazine discarded when you reload, they are discarded at the very start of the reload, so if you interrupt it before finishing (by, say, dodging, meleeing, or bringing up the map), your gun will be empty. [[DamnYouMuscleMemory You may experience some growing pains if you've grown too accostomed to this trope]].
183	* OneHitPolykill: Weapons with the Unstoppable trait have ammo which is capable of piercing through multiple enemies at once, making them very useful for clearing out hordes of lined-up {{Mook}}s quickly.
184	* OneManArmy: Any solo Helldiver can still expect to easily rack up dozens of kills, possibly even hundreds, during the course of a high-threat mission. [[HoldTheLine Retaliatory Strike and Extermination]] missions require you to kill X number of enemies in an enclosed area, and the number is rarely less than 100.
185	* OptionalStealth: Killing enemy scouts before they raise the alarm means only having to worry about patrols instead of having to defeat swarms of enemies while completing objectives but completing them with the alarm raised is still possible and doesn't affect the experience gained.
186	* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: Super Earth's propaganda constantly peddles the word "democracy" but in reality, the planet is a global dictatorship where brainwashed citizens are sent en masse to die for causes they don't comprehend under the excuse of "spreading democracy".
187	* PhysicalMysticalTechnological: The three enemy factions. The Bugs are the Physical, relying on their armored physiology and {{Natural Weapon}}s. The Cyborgs are the Technological, relying on cybernetics and more conventional mechanical units. The Illuminate are the Mystical -- their technology is [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology advanced to the point where it almost seems like magic]], being able to alter the minds of others.
188	* PoorCommunicationKills: A degree of awareness and communication between a squad of Helldivers is vital to avoid getting wiped out, as a lack of it can result in things ranging from a Helldiver lagging behind trying to pick up a sample to calling down critical Stratagems on top of one another and destroying vital equipment.
189	* ProceduralGeneration: The universe, planets, and mission environments.
190	* PropagandaMachine: The Super Earth government spreads an image of false democracy and freedom and claims that the various alien species in the galaxy are a threat to humanity that must be eliminated in order to have their citizens join their forces and fight for them. The hints of the true nature of the war and such can be spotted in many of the official videos (in-universe and otherwise) for the Helldivers. On the surface, video clips meant to be positive and inspiring are often bombastic and full of flair, as one might expect, especially ones that take place during combat. However, careful eyed viewers will notice that such clips are often staged and the ones that aren't, either cut away before the 'main' Helldiver dies (from explosions, attacks, friendly fire...) or obscure Helldivers in the background getting killed due to said explosions, quick cuts, and the like. And even a completely staged setpiece of a Helldiver triumphantly standing on a pile of bugs in front of the Super Earth flag has the arm of another helldiver poking up from under the pile and waving for help... only to jerk and go limp when the Helldiver on top steps on the pile and it sinks slightly and, presumably, crushing their fellow Helldiver.
191	* PurelyAestheticGender: Being a male or female Helldiver has no effects on the gameplay.
192	* PunnyName: The Element 710 which allows for Faster-Than-Light Travel. If you rotate '710' 180 degrees, it looks like "OIL", which is exactly what it's an allegory for.
193	* RecurringRiff: The ''Helldivers'' Main Theme's central eight-note melody frequently jingles throughout the game, whether you're completing an objective or making your last stand at the extraction.
194	* RevolversAreJustBetter: The P-6 Gunslinger. It's a high-skill requirement HandCannon types with slow reloads but considerable power if you can aim them well.
195	* RunOrDie: This becomes mandatory on higher-level missions. Enemies infinitely spawn as long as the alarm is sounded, so there is literally no reason to try and hold your ground unless you're defending an objective and all the Helldivers in your squad should constantly be tactically retreating or otherwise on the move to avoid getting overrun by enemies like Brood Commanders, Butchers and Striders.
196	* {{Satire}}: The game is a heavy-handed satire of American neoconservatism and War on Terror politics. The Helldivers are the forces of a dystopian Super Earth fighting offensive wars against various alien races in the name of "freedom and democracy", but of course Super Earth is ''really'' just a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny that is not so different. They don't even practice genuine democracy on Super Earth, as elections are tightly regulated and implied to be a sham.
197	** The reason for Super Earth's war against the [[SpaceElves Illuminate]]? The squid aliens have [[WeaponOfMassDestruction nano-fusion obliterator bombs]] and the government feels threatened by an alien race who can rival or exceed human technology. And the war against the [[BugWar Bugs]]? Well, when they die, their bodies rapidly deteriorate into a byproduct essential for space travel technology...
198	* SawedOffShotgun: The DBS-2 "Double Freedom" can be upgraded to remove the stock, allowing it to be used one-handed.
199	* ScaryDogmaticAliens: All three enemy factions apply to this trope:
200	** The Bugs are the least outwardly dogmatic of the three, appearing for the most part to be a HordeOfAlienLocusts. However, it one starts digging deeper, there are subtle hints that the Bugs are a civilized society who are only defending themselves from Super Earth's onslaught. This would make them fall into the role of "Aliens who see Humans as a threat".
201	** The Cyborgs, while technically [[WasOnceAMan once human]], are Aliens as Communists played entirely straight. They're Posthumanist Marxists trying to declare independence from Super Earth's tyranny while also attempting to create a utopian society for themselves using cybernetic augments.
202	** The Illuminates are the only faction without any clear-cut dogma, but they're also a ProudScholarRace who venerate intelligence so highly that [[TheComputerIsYourFriend they willingly let powerful and supremely intelligent A.I. supercomputers run their society]] and clearly pride themselves on their highly-advanced nanotechnology, which Super Earth is trying to steal. Thus, while the war against them is in self-defense on their part, Super Earth is still all too willing to portray them as evil {{Social Darwinist}}s who hate democracy and freedom, [[UnreliableExpositor the exact truth of which is blurry]].
203	* ShortRangeShotgun: Played straight for three of the four available shotguns (even the laser one) but averted with the SG-8 which has a range and spread that makes it a viable weapon to use at mid-long range.
204	* ShoutOut:
205	** [[WholePlotReference The entire game]] is one for ''Film/StarshipTroopers''. Several Trophies and Codex entries are almost direct quotes from the film ("Next time I see you, I'll probably have to salute you"; Aim for the center mass, etc).
206	** One of Super Earth's most prominent government agencies is responsible for controlling information and suppressing dissent amongst the population. Its name? The [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Ministry of Truth]].
207	** The Displacer Field perk is a direct reference to the Displacer Fields of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''.
208	** One of the lines the male Private on the Super Destroyer can say has him call into question why [[SkeletonMotif all the Helldivers' equipment has skulls on it]], in an allusion to the famous [[Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook "Are we the Baddies?" sketch]].
209	** There is a Twitch drop armor set, called the TR-117 Alpha Commander armor, being an obvious nod to John-117, aka [[VideoGame/{{Halo}} the Master Chief]], right down to the green armor.
210	** The Achievements are full of these, with some referencing ''Franchise/{{Warcraft}}'''s unit commentary when you click on them.
211	** One of the DLC weapons is a boxy, shoulder-fired four-tube missile launcher very similar to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M202_FLASH M202 FLASH]] popularized by the Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger vehicle ''{{Film/Commando}}''. It's even part of the "Commando" DLC pack.
212	** Another DLC weapon is a hose which sprays poisonous sludge called the [[Film/TheToxicAvenger TOX-13 "Avenger"]].
213	** [[Music/MCHammer The MC-109 Motorcycle's nickname is "Hammer"]].
214	* SingleBiomePlanet: Every planet you can visit is of a specific type and the entire surface resembles that type. For example, [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Snow planets]] are covered in movement-restricting snow and [[LethalLavaLand Volcanic planets]] are covered in lava-spurting fissures.
215	* SmokeOut: One perk replaces your standard grenades with smoke grenades. They do no damage, but the smoke they release blocks enemy line of sight. This prevents enemy scouts from sounding the alarm if the smoke is between them and the Helldivers.
216	* SpentShellsShower: All the weapons to a certain extent, but it's especially noticeable with the Minigun Turret, Heavy MG, and Exosuit weapons.
217	* {{Sting}}: A distinct sound will play if you come close to an enemy whilst no enemies are currently alerted, and when you (or they) move far enough away. This occurs even if the game's music is turned off, and gives you a little bit of a sixth sense for enemies that might otherwise sneak up behind you whilst your attention is elsewhere.
218	* StealthParody: Much like [[Film/StarshipTroopers the film it takes heavy inspiration from]], ''Helldivers'' satirizes MilitaryScienceFiction in ways you have to go out of your way to notice, mostly concerning things in the extended universe and encyclopedia entries giving hints that Super Earth's government isn't as benign as it seems and it's waging imperialistic war across the galaxy for its own benefit.
219	* StuffBlowingUp: The Nux-223, Shredder missile, grenades, grenade launcher, missile launchers,...
220	* TakeThat: There are several named background characters who are thinly veiled Expies of real world politicians: "Senator John W. Killjoy", for example, who talks about seizing [[WeaponOfMassDestruction WMDs]] from aggressive aliens and preventing them from being "too advanced", in case they start a war against Super Earth. And to stop this, Super Earth declares war. "Cowel Pollin" also gets a mention.
221	* TankGoodness: The TD-110 "Bastion" is technically a tank destroyer, but it still fits. It's a two-man armored vehicle (one person drives, one person shoots) equipped with a heavy AT cannon and a lighter machine gun capable of slaughtering entire hordes of Behemoths effortlessly in the right hands. Its primary weakness is that it's difficult to turn left or right on a dime.
222	* TechTree: A very simplified version, where weapons and stratagems ca be upgraded by collecting Samples.
223	* ThrowAwayGuns:
224	** The EAT-17 Expendable Anti-Tank Stratagem. It calls down two rocket launchers pre-loaded with a single rocket powerful enough to punch through tank grade armor and deliver a OneHitKill to anything that isn't an [[BossBattle Enemy Master]], essentially the same as a single-use RL-112 shot. After shooting off the rocket, Helldivers will immediately toss the used up EAT onto the ground, letting them pick up the other one, or use a different support weapon.
225	** The MGX-42 Heavy Machine Gun is a magazineless 300-round[[note]]400 fully upgraded[[/note]] machine gun operating off the 'metal storm' principle of stacked, electronically-fired caseless ammunition in an array of barrels. It outright says in its armory description that its ammo supply is meant to be used up and then the weapon discarded.
226	* TimeSkip: ''Helldivers 2'' is set 100 years after the original ''Helldivers'', and the Federation's victory over the three original enemy factions.
227	* TrialByFriendlyFire: There is ''always'' a chance a stray bullet (or bomb) can hit a friendly. Sometimes, that's a risk you need to take for liberty.
228	* TriumphantReprise: If you are detected during extraction, the game will play a more action packed and slightly faster remix of the title theme, inspiring you and your team to hold out in the name of democracy!
229	* TruthInTelevision: “Managed democracy” is a thing in real life, also known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_democracy guided democracy]].
230	* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: In most co-op horde shooters, you don't have to take things into account like teamkilling (at least not to the IJustShotMarvinInTheFace extreme this game presents), shooting armor-piercing rounds at the right angle so an enemy's armor doesn't deflect them, aiming for enemies' center of mass to deal the most damage, having to ''wait for a vehicle to come to a complete stop to avoid getting hurt when exiting it'', etc.
231	* UniversalAmmunition: Sniper rifle, pistol, shotgun, rocket launcher backpack, doesn't matter. Picking up any ammo box will refill (at least some of) the weapon's ammunition, regardless of whether it was a random one that spawned during mission generation or one you called for. Likewise grenade boxes found during missions will always restore 4 grenades regardless of what type you have equipped.
232	* UnlockableContent: Weapons and Perks are unlocked as you progress in levels. Stratagems become available as you complete certain missions.
233	* VariableMix: Both the original and its sequel have music that changes depending on if you're in combat, out of it, or extracting, and will switch between as the situation changes.
234	* VideoGameRaids: Essentially how Assaults work. After a Helldiver builds up enough Influence in a sector to unlock the local Master fight, they have around two-and-a-half hours to defeat the Master inside the Assault mission before it closes again. These missions are basically impossible without a well-coordinated full squad of competent Helldivers to back you up, but they pay massive dividends of Influence and ExperiencePoints if you succeed.
235	* WarIsGlorious: According to the government of the dystopian Super Earth, war spreads democracy and ensures freedom, despite the fact that it's gotten humanity stuck into a ForeverWar with multiple alien species.
236	* WeakButSkilled: The Illuminates lack heavy armor, and can be defeated without using any anti-tank weapons/stratagems at all. On the flipside, they have the most gimmicks out of the three factions. Their shields can block overkill damage, so you'll need two explosives to defeat a shielded unit. Three of their units can invert your controls, which can be deadly if you aren't prepared for it. Their scouts are semi transparent, making them hard to see at times.
237	* WeHaveReserves: While Command would prefer if you extracted alive, losses are basically brushed aside and extracting alive is not conditional to mission victory once main objectives have been completed. In the sequel, in the event of a TotalPartyKill, everyone gets reinforced with the voiceover saying "Replacement squad being deployed".
238	** The enemies aren't very different either. The Bugs will happily swarm you in the hundreds, Cyborgs will drop in more forces to take down helldivers the moment a signal flare is shot, and Illuminates seem to be able to teleport in endless amounts of reinforcements, regardless of how many you kill. Retaliatory Strikes can see you kill upwards of five hundred enemies on max difficulty, and they'll still keep coming at you.
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Context VideoGame / Helldivers