Videogames produce a lot of guns every year. Most of them fly under the radar, fulfilling their roles as one of dozens of options on a loadout screen or meeting a quota of archetypes that we reckon shooters ought to have. It takes a lot for a gun to stand out in 2024. Most of them are boxy, grey quadrilaterals so invisible that we reduce them to their stats. When we single one out, it's usually because we're reprimanding it for being so good it makes all the other guns around it look bad. Truly remarkable guns require invention—a distinct take on something familiar, a perfect marriage of mechanical sophistication and fantastical capability, or maybe just a memorable sound, action, or reload.
In 2024, no videogame gun checked all those boxes better than the Helldivers 2 AC-8 Autocannon. I've gotten to know the Autocannon well these last 10 months. We've fought countless battles side-by-side, the reliable 'tuh-thonk' of its armor-piercing rounds sending bugs, bots, and squids to an early grave by the hundreds.
An uncomplicated, yet simply genius design both for the game itself and the in-fiction Helldivers, the Autocannon is not the best gun of 2024 because it's the best gun, but because of its quirks, its learning curve, its imperfections. The Autocannon is an animal to be wrangled, and once you do, it's a rewarding workhorse of a gun. This gun deserves a medal—in fact, it deserves four medals.
The Autocannon looks like something a human should not be holding. Everything about it screams "this was originally intended to be fired from a stable turret structure," but Super Earth went ahead and made it portable. Its armor-piercing shells can unmake aliens of every tier, but at the high cost of the worst aim drag and highest recoil of any support weapon. It's essentially a gigantic bullpup rifle—approximately 90% of its body is barrel and it's top-loaded with unique ammo cartridges.
Despite its unwieldiness, the Autocannon is surprisingly ergonomic. The slot where it rests on the shoulder looks inviting and the included ammo backpack conveniently holds up to 10 extra cartridges at five rounds each.
(Right-click video and click "Show all controls" to turn on sound)
Tuh-thonk. Tuh-thonk. Tuh-thonk. When an Autocannon is popping off, you can be sure something big is going down. Sound is the Autocannon's most distinctive characteristic. Shooters have taught us that the end-all-be-all of power weapons is the scorching boom of a rocket launcher, exploding once on liftoff and again on impact.
The Autocannon makes a strong argument for less is more. The sound of an Autocannon is closer to an M1 Abrams tank—louder than the bullet itself is the immense metallic "clang!" of the cannon's hammer striking the firing pin, like a blacksmith landing precision blows on stubborn steel. Fired automatically or with measured breaks, the Autocannon is always the main character of the soundscape.
Autocannon barrages are punctuated by one of the most satisfying reloads in videogames. Expended shells are lobbed out of the weapon's top breach until it runs dry. Reloading the cannon is appropriately involved—divers have to plant their feet and take a knee, at risk of being overrun while carefully retrieving cartridges from the backpack. I choose to believe this is the game telling the player to sit back and watch the show. The metal-on-metal sliding of the cartridges is strong—fresh rounds slot neatly into place like a tape deck, feeding into a curved internal magazine.
The star of the reload is the backpack. Like a handful of Helldivers 2 support weapons, the ammo backpack can be worn by a teammate to enable a special tandem reload. This turns the Autocannon into a devastating 60-round machine gun, as the ammo helper can continuously slot in cartridges as fast as the operator can shoot them until the whole pack's gone.
I will never get tired of watching a squad of Automaton grunts reduced to nuts and bolts by a single Autocannon shell. In a game that's chock full of guns with an amazing sense of impact, there's just something special about it. I think it goes back to the tank comparison—Autocannon bullets shred straight through machine and flesh like they have somewhere better to be. It doesn't make a big show of itself or leave its target zone obscured by fire and smoke. It simply takes what was there a moment ago and atomizes it.
If you're only looking to grind out missions for a warbond, there are better guns in Helldivers 2. The Railgun can kill everything the Autocannon can with better mobility, accuracy, and faster reloads. I know some divers who don't even consider using the Autocannon because the ammo pack takes up the slot they usually reserve for an energy shield.
That's fair. The Autocannon's best qualities can't be observed on a tier list anyway. It is, by far, the most Helldivers 2 gun in Helldivers 2—brash, irresponsibly destructive, meticulously crafted, and best enjoyed with a friend. For my money, the Autocannon should be held up as the north star for designing powerful, skillful weapons with personality. It takes Gun of the Year with ease.
