Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is a cooperative third-person shooter in which squads of up to four players are deployed from orbit onto hostile planets to complete strategic missions. Players select loadouts of weapons, armor, and stratagems that allow them to call in orbital strikes, supply drops, vehicles, and turrets during combat. Friendly fire is always active, requiring coordination between teammates. The game features a persistent galactic war where community-wide performance determines which planets are liberated or lost.
What it feels like
Fast, frantic combat and the rush of coordinated squad action create sustained kinetic thrills. Despite satirical framing, the core gameplay is sincerely challenging and rewards genuine tactical teamwork.
What it's about
Armed forces, military terminology, and combat operations define the entire fictional premise and player role. A future speculative-tech setting of orbital strikes, armor, and alien warfare extrapolated from near-future militarism. Sweeping interstellar warfare across hostile alien-infested planets drives the galactic conquest narrative.
How it plays
Aiming and firing ranged firearms with tactile feedback is absolutely central to moment-to-moment combat in this third-person shooter. Pre-mission selection of weapons, armor, and stratagems is a central decision-making system before each deployment. Combat emphasizes positioning, suppression, and tactical use of environmental cover and defensive stratagems.
How it looks and sounds
The entire game is experienced from a third-person camera following the player character.
How it's structured
Four-player cooperative play over the internet toward shared objectives is the defining structure of the entire experience. Play is delivered as discrete selectable missions on various planets with specific tactical objectives. A shared galactic war continues to evolve; community-wide performance determines planetary control in real time.
Kindred games
Shares Online Co-op, Gunplay, Science Fiction, Class System.
Both lean into Online Co-op, Gunplay, Science Fiction, Class System.
Shares Gunplay, Third-Person, Science Fiction, Exhilarating.
Both lean into Gunplay, Third-Person, Science Fiction, Exhilarating.
Shares Gunplay, Third-Person, Loadout Customization, Mission-Based.
Both lean into Third-Person, Gunplay, Loadout Customization, Science Fiction.
See all games like Helldivers 2 →
Closest hidden gems
A lesser-known kindred — Gunplay, Third-Person, Space Opera, Military & War. 96% positive across 4,671 Steam reviews.
Both lean into Gunplay, Third-Person, Space Opera, Military & War.
A lesser-known kindred — Gunplay, Online Co-op, Third-Person, Exhilarating. 91% positive across 4,757 Steam reviews.
Both lean into Gunplay, Online Co-op, Third-Person, Exhilarating.
A lesser-known kindred — Mission-Based, Science Fiction, Military & War, Grid Tactics Combat. 87% positive across 4,686 Steam reviews.
Both lean into Science Fiction, Mission-Based, Single-Player, Military & War.