Illuminates invade! Helldivers 2's biggest update yet drops today with a new alien faction and four-person vehicle

Super Earth needs us more than ever: Joining the Terminids and Automotons, Helldivers 2's much-teased third faction has just been added in a surprise update called Omens of Tyranny, which was announced during The Game Awards. The mind-controlling Illuminates are "back with a vengeance" after previously being exiled from the galaxy, and Helldivers 2 creative lead Johan Pilestedt says that even experienced defenders of Super Earth should expect the new alien threat to give them trouble.

"The Illuminates are mostly going to be for the players that have played the game for some time, know the ins and outs, and know how to be able to handle that threat," Pilestedt told me earlier this week after guiding me on a hands-on tour of the update. See the video above for gameplay footage of that session and our thoughts on this new era for Helldivers 2.

Here are the big additions in the Omens of Tyranny update:

• The Illuminate faction: Inspired by classic sci-fi stories like War of the Worlds and They Live, the Illuminates pilot flying saucers and command armies of mind-controlled abductees called "The Voteless"—so named by Super Earth because they've lost their say in managed democracy.
• Fast Recon Vehicle: The new Jeep-like car is inspired by PUBG and the funny moments that emerge when you have to trust one of your squadmates with the wheel: "If you flip that car, you'll all go ragdolling out of it," says Pilestedt. For now, you can find FRVs in the new urban zones, but after a Major Order they'll be unlocked as a Stratagem. (Update: I might've misunderstood an aspect of the vehicles—they're easier to drive than I say in the video. I've asked Arrowhead for clarification.)
• Urban environments: Blocks of midrise concrete buildings provide some new roads to drive your new car on, if you can keep it upright. The new urban areas aren't giant cities, but it seemed like a nice injection of variety in my experience.
• New weapons: Helldivers 2's first melee weapon, a stun baton, has been added as a new secondary. The update also adds new Stratagems: a flamethrower turret and anti-tank emplacement.

The Illuminates were in the original Helldivers, and we've been expecting them to show up ever since Helldivers 2 blew up earlier this year. "The Illuminates were exiled 100 years ago or so from the galaxy after they lost the first Galactic War, and now they're finally back with a vengeance," Pilestedt told me.

A vengeance is right: I don't have much experience in Helldivers 2, but I wasn't the only one in the squad being repeatedly bodied by Illuminate lasers when I tried it out earlier this week. The armies of zombie-like Voteless commanded by the Illuminates demand skilled crowd control, while the Illuminates themselves tested my accuracy (damn flying enemies to hell) and anti-armor capabilities.

The balancing decisions Arrowhead has made over the past year have been controversial—the normal state of affairs for any popular shooter—and recently, some have felt that the co-op shooter's toughest enemies have become too easy. Pilestedt says they're trying to be consistent with Helldiver's themes.

"We want to create a game where you are a Helldiver," he told me. "You have the destroyer in orbit that can call down awesome firepower, and at that point, like some of the more challenging enemies, they're maybe not as challenging anymore, but at least they react appropriately to what it would be like to be hit by a 380 millimeter barrage."

A new faction of legendary aliens who are pissed off and coming in hot is a big opportunity to tweak the threat level, though. Arrowhead hadn't originally intended for Terminids to be viewed as the easier enemies and Automatons the harder ones, but players have latched onto that hierarchy, and the studio is running with it. The Illuminates are the new hardest faction, unless players figure out some brilliant way to undercut their supremacy.

"Of course, we know that there's a lot of players that want that challenge that comes from playing Helldivers," said Pilestedt. "The Illuminates are a step in that direction, and playing a high difficulty Illuminate mission is going to be a tremendous challenge for even the most experienced players, I hope. But who knows? The community is so smart and so skilled at the game that they have a tendency to surprise us, to our delight."

Omens of Tyranny is available now as a free update for Helldivers 2.