“We Don’t Know If They Will Win” - Helldivers 2 Director Discusses Consequences Of Failing Cyberstan Invasion

Helldivers 2 is currently embroiled in its biggest conflict yet, the invasion of Cyberstan, the home world of the Automatons and the recently re-emerged Cyborgs, who had lain dormant since the First Galactic War (the original Helldivers). Despite the enduring might of Liberty and Managed Democracy, however, victory on Cyberstan is not assured, and the theater is likely to have a permanent impact on the Second Galactic War. Helldivers 2 constitutes an ongoing live-service narrative, told through the victories and defeats won and suffered by the players, and this major operation surrounding the game's second anniversary could still end in disaster.

"We don't know if they will win. We don't know if they will lose," game director Mikael Eriksson told IGN. "And there will be impacts on the Galactic War level." He goes on to reference consequential events of past narrative arcs: "Planets can get destroyed to never be able to be played on again. That sort of thing can happen. Or they don't get destroyed. This has happened in the past. Players have even voted to blow up planets."

Eriksson likens the Helldivers 2 meta-game to a tabletop RPG – developer Arrowhead Game Studios even has a game master controlling the enemies. "We have the story that we're telling, we know what’s going to happen," he says. "We know that players will now go to Cyberstan, but we don't know how it will play out." The invasion of Cyberstan is the most consequential narrative beat since Super Earth almost fell to the Illuminate, and will seemingly shape the future of the Helldivers 2 itself.

Invasion Of Cyberstan Will Have A Huge Impact On Helldivers 2

At the time of writing, the Helldivers are tasked with killing 700 million Automatons on Cyberstan in order to establish a foothold on the planet, and are on pace to accomplish this ahead of the deadline. This is, however, just an early stage of the invasion, which began after evidence suggested the Automatons stole schematics that would let them recreate the Star of Peace, a weapon capable of turning a planet into a black hole.

The pretext for the invasion is ostensibly to secure the blueprints (Super Earth High Command is even calling it Operation Valid Pretext), with the implication being that failure will result in the Automatons being able to wipe planets off the galactic map. This is the immediately obvious example of an outcome that, as Eriksson puts it, "you can see afterwards on the Galactic War screen." He stresses that "the outcome is not predetermined," and references the defense of Super Earth, which was nearly a failure, and would have had disastrous consequences in the Helldivers 2 story.

Arrowhead Thinks Of The Galactic War As A Tabletop RPG

Capturing Cyberstan would be an equally impactful blow to the Automatons and their Cyborg compatriots. The bots were removed from the galactic map entirely at one point not long after Helldivers 2 launched in 2024, but that was before major story arcs like the more recent ones had crystallized into full-fledged events. While telling an ongoing story is one of the primary goals of Helldivers 2, Eriksson admits it's a bit of a facade – "This story is basically set" – since Arrowhead stacks the deck to keep the game running and conceivably has a plan for any outcome.

Players have long since caught on to the idea that these major, single-faction story arcs are a chance for the other enemies to gain territory. While the invasion of Cyberstan is ongoing, the Terminids and Illuminate are likely to claim sectors. It's a necessary push and pull that keeps Helldivers 2 locked in its continuous war. The developers' line of thought framing the game as a tabletop RPG is plain to see; a Dungeons & Dragons DM similarly keeps shifting the goal posts as players engage with the game.

And just as a DnD campaign isn't necessarily about winning, Helldivers 2 is really about creating "really powerful memories together" in a "shared fantasy." Perhaps the greatest testament to Helldivers 2's success is how enthusiastic its core fan base is about roleplaying alongside Arrowhead. Players are flocking back to Helldivers 2 for the invasion of Cyberstan in part because they want to be a part of something greater. It's a sign that Arrowhead is accomplishing the goal very touchingly laid out by Eriksson: "We want to believe that we actually add real value to the lives of real people."