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Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 is one of the most frantic and fun multiplayer games to ever release, and part of that is due to the way in which players die. Unlike most co-op games, players can’t directly revive their teammates, only call in a new version of them to join the fight. However, that wasn’t always the case.
As it turns out, Arrowhead originally designed Helldivers 2 with the revival system from the original game, allowing players to help their teammates up after getting decimated by enemies. Obviously, the studio eventually removed this feature in favour of the more brutal, often hilarious, instant death system.
Removing the Helldivers 2 Downed Mechanic
In a recent Anniversary Stream, ex-Helldivers 2 design director and current head of product testing Patrik Lasota revealed that the game was designed with the downed mechanic. For years, Arrowhead worked with this feature, but it simply didn’t feel as satisfying in third-person as it did in the original’s top-down setting.
“We actually worked with the downed mechanic being in the game for a long time,” Lasota explained. “We couldn’t get it to feel quite right. In a third-person shooter, you were taking a lot less damage—simply put—from friendly fire. You’re not confined to the same screen, there’s different heights, it’s a lot harder to just reap your gun over someone in Helldivers 2.”
“The fact that downed almost always saved you meant that you weren’t sort of afraid of enemies or friendly fire.”
Eventually, the team realised that players’ reliance on the downed mechanic and the fact that good teamwork would always result in players being saved made the game less scary. During the game’s bigger firefights, players hunkered down together could just revive one another if a stray shot took them out, but now that stray shot eliminates a reinforcement making the entire game more stressful.
“That, in combination with the fact that downed almost always saved you, meant that you weren’t sort of afraid of enemies or friendly fire unless it was a one-shotting attack,” Lasota explained. “[It was] fine, but you can’t have only one-shotting attacks in the game. Well, I guess you can, but not in Helldivers.”
Lasota explained that Arrowhead simply couldn’t “make it work” as it just “didn’t feel right for the game experience in the end”.
In it’s current state, the Helldivers 2 gameplay loop is brilliant, and the way in which characters die with ease is one of the game’s best elements. Would HD2 be as successful with a downed mechanic? Maybe. But is it awesome without it? Absolutely.
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