Do not stare directly into the Joel.
Arrowhead continues to lean into the Joel thing, with a brave studio member entering the containment unit where the Helldivers 2 game master is kept in order to capture footage of the strange and elusive creature.
Did one of our daring video team members just manage to capture some rare footage of the elusive J.O.E.L? ???? pic.twitter.com/9rVEiMPCHXAugust 1, 2024
In the footage, posted to X/Twitter, an Arrowhead "video team member" enters a glass-doored closet marked "J.O.E.L." and catches footage of a figure, who looks like those hooded stock photos of hackers, clattering away at a keyboard with an array of monitors showing various views of Helldivers players in action. The strange creature does a breathy cackle while considering a button which apparently fires those mysterious blue beams at successful players. From there things get hectic, as the agitated Joel notices the filming employee and, you know, attacks with psychic powers.
It's a nice piece of commitment to the bit on the existence of a literal Joel, or Joels, the game master who helps coordinate the story of Helldivers 2's galactic war by setting up the branching arcs of story events players fight through and incorporating the successes and failures of players like a tabletop dungeon master.
We spoke to Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt about the mysterious Joel back in February, and he affirmed that the collaborative storytelling of tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons was a major inspiration for Arrowhead.
"It's the same format when you build that for millions of players, it's just that you can't get as personal with every individual. But you can still do the same twists and turns," said Pilestedt at the time.
Now, though, it seems like Joel—or, J.O.E.L.—is becoming something else. Something stronger, more powerful… stranger. Which is to say that it's developing the same godlike metaphysical power and psionic abilities that the rest of us who run tabletop roleplaying games every week do. Try not to rub it in everyone's face, Joel.
In case you missed it, Helldivers 2 has a huge new update on the way: The Escalation of Freedom. It'll come complete with new enemies, fresh objectives, a new difficulty, and votekick protection.
