Helldivers 2's siege of Cyberstan is the greatest galactic campaign the game has seen so far

Anyone who's been kickin' around the milky way for a while in Helldivers 2 will recall quite a few events of note in the galactic war. We fended off a massed Illuminate invasion of Super Earth, fighting through city streets as Leviathans swam in the skies above, raining down laser fire. We assaulted the Terminid Hive Worlds, diving underground into dark, bug-infested labyrinths, with only the weapons on our backs to keep us safe.

For my money, though, the current Machinery of Oppression update and our assault on the Automaton capital of Cyberstan is the best the game has ever been—and no, I'm not just saying that because it added my beloved explosive hammer. It all started with sneaky clankers stealing the blueprints for the 'Star of Peace', a planet-destroying weapon for the Democracy Space Station. Now, yes, that is the plot of the Star Wars, and what's even funnier: we're the Empire in that analogy.

Still, Super Earth couldn't suffer the Automatons to gain a planet-cracking weapon—or to know about the single ventilation shaft that was presumably its only weakness—so we hit the road for Cyberstan, blazing a trail of destruction right into the heart of Automaton territory to end their threat once and for all.

There's a multitude of reasons why this update has been so good. We got new toys to play with like the wonderfully designed Bastion Tank, which isn't actually a tank, but a Tank Destroyer. Don't ask me why Super Earth gave us a vehicle from World War 2, but its combo of major firepower and limited turret range make for some fun teambuilding between the gunner and the driver as they try to line up targets.

We got new enemies—or should I say old enemies—in the form of the returning Cyborg menace. Trying to accomplish strategic objectives while getting shotgunned and roundhouse-kicked into oblivion can be quite the hurdle. Not to mention the new colossal Vox Engines, towering weapon platforms that trundle through each area, firing rockets, lasers, and gatling guns, while screaming out Automaton propaganda.

The best bit? Their only major weakness is underneath them, so you have to run between their tracks with explosives like some street-fighter taking out a German tank in Stalingrad. Despite all that, the best bit for me is that Cyberstan is bloody difficult. For those who've been about the galactic block (like me), it's arguably the hardest the game's ever been, so much so that we might not win. Now that's really exciting.

Helldivers 2's galactic campaign is famously GM'd by a devious mastermind called Joel, though since launch the team has expanded. It's one of the reasons the game's major order system feels so responsive—it's like playing a tabletop RPG with a GM actively responding as you go, throwing complications into the mix and keeping you on your toes. But thanks to the current 'Forces in Reserve' system for our assault on Cyberstan, this GM-ing has really kicked up a notch.

You see, we only have so many lives with which to take Cyberstan. Looking at the screen as I wrote this, we were at 97,272,293 out of 410,000,000. That's right, over 300 million divers had already died in the assault, and that number is far bigger now. The fun part, though? Joel kept giving us ways to earn more lives. These 'Strategic Imperatives' are sub-objectives, such as diverting some players to kill Terminids or Illuminate and complete operations against those factions.

My favorite one of these involved moving the Democracy Space Station away from Cyberstan to pick up 35 million frozen divers Super Earth had apparently forgotten about on Fort Justice. To do that, though, we lost the support Stratagems that the DSS provides. It's such a great little devil's bargain, like something straight out of Blades in the Dark or another TTRPG. Defeating the Illuminate invasion of Super Earth felt like more of a sure thing, but the fact we can actually run out of lives to take Cyberstan has really upped the ante and made community decisions feel far more meaningful.

Helldivers 2 has really gone from strength to strength this last year. As a guide writer who covers many different live service games, there's nothing quite like it in the space. It's incredible to see how, even two years after launch, a major campaign like this brings players flocking back to be part of a historical event in its life cycle. If you're like me, the kind of person who waited for hours with other Destiny 2 players to watch the Almighty crash or the Traveler transform, then you're sure to enjoy Helldivers 2's community-driven campaigns.

I'm not sure I've ever experienced a game that is rooted so heavily in community-determined events, not just witnessed by players, but created by them as well in many ways. There's no better phrase to describe the game than: "You don't know man, you weren't there." Sure, there's arguably a FOMO component to it, but also, not really?

Anyone can be part of these events unfolding in the galactic war if they have the game. Whether defending Super Earth's streets, navigating gloomy Hive World tunnels, or, as now, fighting through the bot-defended industrial complexes of Cyberstan. It's currently unclear whether we'll triumph over the Automatons (forgive my traitorous words), but it's been one of my favorite major updates either way.