Helldivers 2 could see a return to its former glory next month if Arrowhead lives up to expectations

It is no secret that Helldivers 2 has seemingly fallen from grace over the past few months. Although very few games can maintain their peak player base long-term, Helldivers 2 has seen over 90% of its player base leave the game, notably in greater amounts since the PSN controversy in May 2024.

Despite this, Helldivers 2 still has a very bright future ahead of it and all hope isn’t lost when it comes to Super Earth defeating the Automatons, Terminids, and eventually The Illuminate. The game is set to receive its first major update in the form of the Escalation of Freedom update in August, which will be followed by the Freedom’s Flame Warbond on August 8th. This will mark the biggest change that the game has seen to date, especially in such a short period. With Helldivers 2 being in a downward spiral, the future of the game could rest of Arrowhead Game Studios delivering with these two new additions.

Escalation of Freedom will be released on August 6th and is set to bring many changes to the Helldivers 2. In addition to new planets to explore, there will be new modes, new enemies including the return of the Impaler from the first game, a level 10 difficulty mode, as well as quality-of-life changes such as kick grief prevention. This will be the first major update to come to the game, and the first of many, as Arrowhead Game Studios intends to support the game for many years to come, similar to Helldivers 1 which only recently saw its story end but players can still jump into missions.

Two days later, the next Warbond is set to be released titled Freedom’s Flame. This looks to be a significant turning point as it seems as though Arrowhead is finally listening to the community. Part of the reason why Helldivers 2 has declined is due to the developers releasing reactionary updates that nerfed any weapon that was even slightly more powerful than others. Coupled with releasing Warbonds that had little to do with their naming such as Polar Patriots with nothing to do with ice, snow, or cold, players eventually got turned off by having their hopes crushed and desires ignored.

Freedom’s Flame looks to be entirely fire-themed, with new weapons such as a Flamethrower, and the highly requested fire-resistant armor, which will make traversing planets such as Hellmire more manageable, as well as reduce the likelihood of accidental death when using fire-based weapons. This is something that players have been asking for since at least March and now it is coming to the game. This marks a positive step in the developers listening to the community and building trust among the player base.

While these are just two updates in a long line of patches and Warbonds, if Arrowhead can get these right and deliver on what is expected, then it is a major step in the right direction when it comes to bringing players back. The Escalation of Freedom update will bring many players back, so ensuring the changes are fun to play is crucial. This is likely why releasing the next Warbond so close to Freedom of Escalation makes sense, as it is another positive change while the game has the most eyeballs on it that it has had for a while.

It is unlikely that we will suddenly see Helldivers 2 reach its peak player count of over 500,000 again, perhaps that day will never come. But, it has the opportunity to establish a strong player count again which would be great to see. It will be interesting to see how the next month plays out, if Arrowhead knocks it out of the park then it could set Helldivers 2 up to recapture its initial hype and attention.