I’ve played hundreds of hours of Helldivers 2 on PS5, and can confirm that it's just as great on Xbox

It still seems surreal that Helldivers 2 is 18 months old. A year and a half on from the PlayStation 5 and PC release of a co-op shooter that captured millions of players, it’s finally come to Xbox consoles as well.

Back in February 2024, we awarded the game four out of five stars and have since called it one of the best PS5 games, but if there’s one title that’s shown the potential of live service gaming, it’s Helldivers 2. Arrowhead’s third-person shooter has grown exponentially, meaning that Xbox players have entirely new systems and mission types to play with, as well as a whole new faction.

That means it’s easily one of the best Xbox Series X games and a smorgasbord of pseudo-fascistic flag-raising, but it does come with some growing pains.

A winning formula remains

If you’re new to Helldivers 2 and have only an Xbox console, what’s all the fuss about?

Basically, Helldivers 2 is a co-op shooter that has you landing on different locations on planets, completing objectives, then working to ‘get to the chopper’ and extract via dropship.

No two excursions play out quite the same way. Different biomes offer unique challenges, like thick fog or biting cold, while you’ll also come up against one of three enemy factions. All of this plays out against the backdrop of ‘The Galactic War’, which sees you and every other player across PS5, PC, and now Xbox, working to liberate planets.

Back in 2024, that meant a series of mission types that were fairly predictable, carried out against bug-like Terminids and Terminator-esque Automatons. Both carried their own challenges, but anyone jumping in now will also be tasked with fighting the Illuminate.

The most technologically advanced of all foes encountered thus far, they range from carpet-bombing ships and flying enemies to the genuinely pretty scary zombie-like creatures that can easily overrun a squad.

New toys, new problems

Thankfully, there’s plenty of firepower granted by Super Earth, with rifles, explosives, and much more that were there from launch.

Tailoring your loadout to the objective at hand remains just as important as ever, like popping a turret down while you’re uploading important data, or having a suite of rapidly reloading air support when on a hunting mission.

Much of this is tackled in the game’s tutorial (which remains just as chortle-worthy as it ever was), but the game beyond has outgrown that initial gauntlet. For example, there are new vehicles and even mechs to pilot, which have been added since launch, but there’s no room for them in the tutorial, so you’re left to your own devices once you unlock them.

That wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t have to start from scratch on Xbox. When Helldivers 2 launched on PS5 and PC, I bemoaned the lack of cross-progression, but a year and a half on, it seems it’s still not coming.

That means if you have the game on PC and want to pick up where you left off on Xbox, you can expect to complete the tutorial and start off as a level one trooper again, shorn of all your shiny toys.

Given how many fun things I’ve been playing with on PS5, many of which are tied to premium Warbonds, it’s a shame there’s no option to pick up where I left off on Xbox. Then there’s the Warbonds themselves.

For the uninitiated, Warbonds act like battle passes, although they thankfully don’t expire. Each is themed on a certain type of weapon or damage type, and there are now well over a dozen. If you’re jumping in fresh, that’s a lot to catch up on, and while it’s hardly mandatory because so many of the free weapons are fun to use, it’s worth mentioning that it could be overwhelming.

The new Halo-themed Warbond is included, too, and offers weapons like the assault rifle and SMG, but it’s a ‘Legendary Warbond’, so it’ll set you back around $15.

Hellacious

Still, one upshot of being stripped back to basics is that it highlights just how right Arrowhead got it when developing Helldivers 2’s shooting and movement mechanics.

Weapons are fun to use but have heft, and walking while shooting, or letting off lengthy bursts, can cause a huge penalty to accuracy. With some weapons requiring two players to load, or you to be totally stationary to change mags, there’s a ton of subtle intricacies to learn while you do your best to defend Super Earth.

Then there are the stratagems, which still produce screen-filling explosions and are an absolute rush to drop on a whole fleet of enemies (or, as is often the case, your own comrades through fluke or foolishness).

Outrunning a bunch of bugs or an Illuminate bombing run, triggering a cinematic artillery drop behind you, and just making it to the dropship on time for departure remains an experience unmatched in co-op gaming, and it’s somehow even funnier when you realize one buddy didn’t make it after all.

Should I play Helldivers 2 on Xbox?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility features

As with the PS5 version, there are a few accessibility features on offer in Helldivers 2 on Xbox.

Reticules can be changed in shape and color, while subtitles are available and in multiple sizes. There’s also text-to-speech and speech-to-text functionality.

How I reviewed Helldivers 2 on Xbox

Having spent countless hours spreading Managed Democracy on PS5 (and a chunk on PC, too), I jumped into the Xbox Series X version of the game and played for a few days across conflicts with all three enemy factions and playing with friends and strangers alike.

Whether it was the sound of airstrikes in my Logitech Astro A50X headset or making use of the adjustable triggers in my Xbox Elite Controller Series 2, I had a blast but also tried to come at the game from the perspective of someone that’s new to the series.

First reviewed August-September 2025