-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Helldivers 2 would be so much better as an SP game
- Thread starter bitbydeath
- Start date
- Opinion
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
No, no and no. Core of the game is messing everything up for your teammates and generating emergent gameplay moments in the process. This game is unique even on MP landscape.
HD2 is perfect the way it already is, for SP crowds there are things like Space Marine 2 with optional co-op already on the market.
HD2 is perfect the way it already is, for SP crowds there are things like Space Marine 2 with optional co-op already on the market.
bender
What time is it?
Yeah
bitbydeath
, make your own Helldivers 2 game with a single player mode...and blackjack and hookers.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
A SP campaign in addition to the current mode would be great. But not a replacement.
Paltheos
Member
This is a pretty good bait. Seems earnest and coming from a well-meaning place while overlooking the very obvious you could nevertheless be forgiven for given the tone (that alternatives are aplenty for single player games). It loses points at the end for the 'couch co-op' bit - The author sees the multiplayer appeal and has to address it but the response is a fumble in our age of discord, teamspeak, etc.
LyricalShrike
Member
You wouldn't even know about Helldivers 2 if it weren't for the core fanbase who loves the studio's formula going back to Magicka.
kevboard
Member
the first game had an offline mode, which was removed from the sequel.
Paltheos
Member
Best with friends and, like most shooters, better with m&kb. The game is as good as ever but is kinda infamous for being buggy especially after major patches (but somehow still fun).
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
It did, and It's a shame they went multiplayer only with the sequel. I think a majority of multiplayer games should have both. At minimum an offline mode with bots.
It would be great for game preservation.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Hell yeah its still worth playing. The game has mostly gotten better over time, and its not a game where you "fall behind" and such.
TerribleAtThisGame
Member
The massive fun of this game comes from playing with friends and laughing at the absolute chaos that ensues. I've never not had a good time playing it because we're all dying laughing half the time. It's all the emergent nonsense that makes the game as popular and addictive imo.
Don't be a party pooper
Don't be a party pooper
MonkD
Member
Better than ever.
Disagree that the game is about griefing. Although it can be fun to a degree, the game is at its best when you're running a smooth operation with competent players. I'm only ever on the highest difficulty, and I've learned that most players complaining right now are just terrible at the game. I don't run any meta builds. I cycle in the next weapon and armor every mission. But I can still complete the (currently) hardest planets/operations at 100% without dying. But doing that with a team that average 8 deaths each, while dropping barrages on top of me, is fucking ass.
But other than that I agree. The emergent gameplay is what gets you hooked.
Last edited:
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
I'm speaking about chaos-inducing friandly fire, not about griefing though. That first mortar turret self own burned into my mind vivdly from a solid year now.
vaibhavpisal
Member
Plenty of SP titles, play them maybe.
What exactly are you looking for in a Helldivers SP campaign that you wouldn't find in other SP games?
What exactly are you looking for in a Helldivers SP campaign that you wouldn't find in other SP games?
bitbydeath
Gold Member
Shifty1897
Gold Member
I enjoy it for what it is but I see what you mean OP. A tightly crafted co-op story mode with scripted set pieces would be fun too and make for a great tutorial as a way to show you how some of the more obscure weapons work.
Last edited:
Loomy
Thinks Microaggressions are Real
Hard disagree. Also
If this was a SP game, you'd play it for what, 15 hours? And then never touch it again.
{insert code here}
Member
While I disagree with your opinion of the gameplay, I 100% agree that a more traditional single player mode with a story behind it would be pure tits. It's the only thing keeping the game from being a 10/10 all time classic IMHO.Helldivers 2 is a great game, carried largely by its fire and explosions.
The worst part of it is the gameplay loop, namely it's repetitive and lacks story. You're constantly dropping into a limited amount of samey worlds where you get limited objectives and are constantly tied to a ticking clock.
It's fun for a while but overall it lacks the replay-ability you'd find in a well-made single player game that offers greater purpose to playing.
If this had a local co-op SP mode that made winning worth a damn it could be so much better.
Like damn, get a couple decent writers and put a team together with a budget and make some Starship Troopers-like Campaign Mode. You don't need fully rendered cutscenes, just use comic strip panels to tell the story like the OG Max Payne games did.
vodka-bull
Member
Actually it's fairly old. It started back in the PS360 era when classic SP games got a mp mode slapped on. Back then people were already complaining about the wasted resources that should've rather spent to improve the SP campaign.
Is HD2 on PS5 still active? Might wanna look into it.
Johnny Concrete
Member
Grow a pair, man.It goes against nature. Humans kill bugs. Robots kill humans as humans are little more than bugs to robots like me,bender .
I loved killing the bugs, despite being a cockroach myself.
nnytk
Member
Same! It is grindy, but it somehow just clicks. The arcade feel of the UI and sound design, the b-movie tier audio and dialog, it's hilarious. It's a shame that Helldivers 2 stole so much from the EDF games and became the hit that it is; including it's stupid stamp collecting battlepass stuff.
Love the aesthetic and atmosphere of Helldivers 2 but I'd pay a lot for an EDF game by the Helldivers 2 devs.
Story, I couldn't care less. Turning Helldivers 2 into a Sucker Punch type game would make it even more westernized and akin to Split Fiction. And I prefer EDF style shenanigans and goofyness over that.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Nah
Not GAAS but not SP either.
Not GAAS but not SP either.
RSMan
Member
I would but the voice acting is so fucking bad.
crackajack
Member
Creating a SP campaign seems to be not as trivial as one might think. The effort to played hours (ie player engagement) ratio is just not there anymore. Hence we also get these bloated open world games and increasingly shorter CoD campaigns. The great 10-20h games of the past are almost gone.
I also think a game like eg WoW would have been interesting to offer a SP spinoff, telling the main plot points in an adapted way.
I would think reusing a lot of stuff should be possible in some way and change the gameplay loop to one linear experience. Could even be interesting for the actual players, eg before another expansion drops to have an easy way to replay some sort of condensed "previously on" summary.
Helldivers 1 was possible to play solo. Iirc I joined or rather was joined by other players now and then but mostly played alone and that was fun, even though it got rather too hard in the higher levels and I guess it kinda tried to push into actual teamwork. Which was for that "be sneaky" trophy rather hard or impossible if not discussed beforehand.
I also think a game like eg WoW would have been interesting to offer a SP spinoff, telling the main plot points in an adapted way.
I would think reusing a lot of stuff should be possible in some way and change the gameplay loop to one linear experience. Could even be interesting for the actual players, eg before another expansion drops to have an easy way to replay some sort of condensed "previously on" summary.
Helldivers 1 was possible to play solo. Iirc I joined or rather was joined by other players now and then but mostly played alone and that was fun, even though it got rather too hard in the higher levels and I guess it kinda tried to push into actual teamwork. Which was for that "be sneaky" trophy rather hard or impossible if not discussed beforehand.
Truthtellers
Member
Radical_3d
Member
Everything is better with friends. And you can play solo. That said, if this was a conventional game and not some GAAS design both solo and coop would be so much better.
John Bilbo
Member
Unlocking stuff the game. Once I unlocked all the stuff I wanted to see and try I stopped playing.
Mephisto40
Member
Honestly you should just play Earth Defence Force if you are looking for something similar that's single player
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
While it would have been cool to have SP mode included, let's be real here it would have been very short and very phoned in with obvious modified MP missions with bots
I don't think the Devs have that sort of creative direction even if the general style of their trailers suggests it would be awesome and funny.
I don't think the Devs have that sort of creative direction even if the general style of their trailers suggests it would be awesome and funny.