Get your air up bottles and pods at airup.link/TheActMan and get 10% off with my code: ACTMAN10 Helldivers 2 is one of the best co-op games I've ever played and it's a straight up MASTERPIECE! If you're wondering why this video took so long to post, it's because I was playing the game too much and I love Liberty and Freedom.

The Ministry of Truth is pleased

Remember! The enemy cannot push the dislike to this video, if you disable his hand!

Fun fact actman, all those ships are actually players and you can even see the ships blow up if the player fails.

“We’ll see if that ages poorly” Sony: and I took that personally

someone got blown up by being to close to a tank exploded, thrown away across the map, survive by fall into the water only to be executed for treason because he's outside the map boundary, it's hilarious

That glowup between HD1 and HD2 just wow.

Fun fact: extracting is purely an xp gain. As long as you complete the main objectives the spread of democracy is already done, extracting the soldiers is just a bonus just like in game

The community of this game is so good and united, they MANAGED TO MAKE SONY TO BACK DOWN on forcing players to sign up to PSN for pc players!!!!!!

the fact that arrowhead delayed the mech suit update until after tien kwan was liberated because the factories were under attack is still extremely hilarious to me

The main ingredient which I think contributed most to the success of HD2 was the simple fact that the devs actually care about what they're making, and it shows.

Elden Ring, BG3, Last Epoch, Helldivers2 - man, it's like a second golden age of gaming is happening.

The fact you can find premium currency in the maps is a HUGE breath of fresh air. My personal favorite is how the lighting dynamically changes on maps. On some planets it'll go from day to night mid mission.

I straight got all of the armor in the super store without spending a dollar... I bought the premium pass because I wanted to support the game. What a wild concept.

Fun Fact: There's a planet in Helldivers 2 called Klen Dahth II (Wordplay for Klendathu from Starship Troopers)

I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! A new game that my trash laptop can run comfortably and still looks beautiful is insane. Optimisation is peak.

Seems like a fun game. I hope no greedy company jumps in and ruins the experience.

Every time I crush a cockroach i whisper “For Democracy”

For a man who has never played metal gear, "More solid than snake" is a bold claim

A lot of the magic with Helldivers I think is how they aren't afraid to make some things excessively difficult. When you just barely scrape by a mission, all swan dive into the extract ship with titans on your tail, that shit feels so good. The differences in the enemies was a good choice too, it's almost an additional unofficial difficulty slider. Me and my friends typically start out helping out the automaton front some till we get our teeth kicked in a bit too hard, then move on to having a blast gunning down buggos. Very good

Speaking of cinematic, we were killing bots and one of my team shot a drop ship out of the sky which then landed on a bot factory and exploded, the democracy was GLORIOUS!!!!

I loved that they had us liberate the planet where the mechs were being built, and as soon as we did it, we got the mechs. Incorporating these sorts of things in the ongoing story, the expanding lore that we get to help make, is truly awesome!

as a helldivers 1 veteran and ground floor supporter, the unexpected success of helldivers 2 brings a genuine real tear to my eye.

It is with great honor to announce that I’ve saved up enough money to enlist and join the helldivers (which includes ps plus) See you in the frontlines brothers 💪

24:02 That didnt age well

Only thing I think you missed was that the epic musical score deserves it's own recognition. The drop music, the sound cues when spotted by enemies, the extraction music. It all makes you feel like you're in your own movie!

All the danger of friendly fire as the actual military, with none of the training to avoid it

The most impressive detail in this game is that if you walk over your spent bullet casings on the ground they move and make sounds. I've never seen any other game do this especially in a game this chaotic.

I remember my first bio-titan experience. I had just barely gotten my second LMG and a small EAT rocket set to work with. My buddies drop me right into the thick of the fight. Our mission was to find that bio titan and find him a nice spot in the ground! We go looking and our bio titan location seems to be near a spore tower. I can’t see anything and all of us are looking for this thing. I stop for a moment and think that the skybox must be changing, in terms of like weather or something, because it was getting even darker and harder to see than it was moments ago. I look up and I think that I saw a mountain face. Then I thought it was a small land slide as the mountain was, like, moving from perspective. Then, its leg just stepped on me before I could finish my “I think the mountain is moving.” Sentence. Gave me chills and thrills getting primped like that! Gave the boys a great laugh for the rest of the mission XD

I love how if you lose all your lives but complete all objectives, it's still a mission success. You only lose the samples. it really helps sell the "mission above all else" feel of the game world.

Fun fact, the developers of Helldivers made another game called Magicka. It was a top-down game similar to HD1, where you played as wizards that could cast spells by combining elements in basically the exact same way you call in stratagems in Helldivers. Really cool to see them take and evolve older ideas for their new titles.

That one aged like a Terminid Carcass on the hot Sun. Edit: NEVERMIND! VICTORY HAS BEEN ACHIEVED!

no diver left behind. if they can't dive, i won't dive!

A lil' bonus. T'was such a Novel concept how we got the Mech unlock: 'Helldivers, the science planet making the mechs is under attack! Stop them, so they could be finished!' And the moment the community completed that Galaxy event and defended the plane - mechs released to play for everyone.

One of the great aspects of helldivers 2 is that sometimes you are the action star of the movie, and sometimes, well most of the time actually, you’re the unnamed extra that gets cut in half 15 seconds into a firefight with a 50 foot boss enemy

The renaissance is here the dark age is coming to a close

I’ve returned here to remember all the goods things arrowhead did as now Sony is killing the game. It was a honor to dive with you all. Edit: WE ARE SO BACK!!

Fun fact: As team building exercises during development, the team built, painted and played Warhammer 40K tabletop. That's why the Warhammer influence is so front facing even since HD1. The Termanids are based of 40K's Tyranids, the Hulks are based on Contemptor Dreadnaughts and the chainsaw bots have been heavily inspired by World Eaters. Then they layered the Halo and Starship Troopers flavor on top and now we have Helldivers.

I really love how the introduced the the mechs to the game. Instead of just being a upsate(totally fine!) the devs made it so you had to defend the planet the mechs were on as a major order and AFTER we defended it, we got sick ass mechs. Really made it feel like we were rewarded for our blood and sweat

From the moment I saw how aiming works with that trailing reticle I was in love. That alone makes the game 100% better than other shooters. It rewards control, patience and actually aiming instead of just pointing. Then of course there's the other stuff, like the stratagems, the support weapons, the utility backpacks. It was very reminiscent of the Division games, which I also liked primarily due to the shooting and combat tactics.

Only took 3 months to age like milk... Thanks Sony Edit: Sony has reverted the PSN required statement! New fresh batch of milk guys!

one of the best parts about the premium battle pass is you can buy it entirely with in game credits you can find in the missions you play. like holy shit

It's funny as hell that the first 2 GOTY candidates for 2024 COMBINED is the same price as a base game from a AAA developer that's going to need 18 months additional work and 7 paid dlc minimum to even start working correctly.

The thing I really enjoy is that you don’t need to spend money on the game to get the super credits or buy stuff from the super store. You can earn them in game, and fairly fast too if you got a friends group to play with. You want the new war bond? Save up for it, they aren’t timed so you can literally get it any time you save the super credits. I’ve got both of the premium bonds and didn’t spend a dime on the game. I love that about it. You can buy the credits if you want and don’t feel like sinking time to grind credits, or not. I love that. I wish more games did it that way.

The fact that they made the next stratagem we unlock player driven (i.e. choose which of two planets to liberate and get that new weapon) just goes to show that Arrowhead truly understand what makes this game so good. New content, territorial advancement, and even the occasional failed order all feel driven BY THE PLAYERS. The devs are giving us toys and a sandbox and are basically telling us to make our own story through our gameplay. This game is leagues beyond most other stuff out right now.

Put your hand on that wall, Trooper. PUT YOUR HAND ON THAT WALL! The enemy cannot call an Orbital Strike if you disable his hand.

Last time I was this early, we had control of the Creek... *Ptsd Intensifies* Edit: YOOOO WE GOT IT BACK!

Fun fact you are correct. Those other ships are actual players, and those are stratagems they are using in the missions there in. You can even watch their drop pods when they start a mission or reinforce.

Anyone else returning here after the mandatory PSN requirement on PC? Sony is speed running to shutdown another studio, aren’t they?

The fact that there is no dmg numbers makes this game even more fun.

I knew nothing about Helldivers. So when I was curious about the first entry, I was honestly extremely shocked how these devs were able to make a COMPLETELY different style of game with such high quality. These guys are insane

I only got this game 2 days ago, I'm on holiday so I can't play too often but the only dull moment in this game was ONE bug, where the flag strategem didn't work for one of the two objectives. With the long match timer me and this one random just started chatting about random crap and aggro'd every bug patrol just to have fun killing time. So the one bug that created 10 minutes of dull confusion ended with some pretty fun moments anyway. In 10 hours I've only had 10 bad minutes... That's impressive EDIT: 21:05 WAIT WTF I never knew the planets were procedurally generated. They feel so fluid and natural I never considered they might be lol. Ok this just made me love it a bit more, and I already adore this game

Game is now "MIXED" score on steam, and seems sure to be "NEGATIVE" by day's end.

Can we take a moment to appreciate the absolutely incredible music in this game? Wilbert Roget II totally outdid himself this time. After making music for a bunch of Star Wars and Call of Duty games, he goes and drops the most *democratic* OST in history. The start of every drop feels like the intro to a movie, the amazing orchestral backing rising and falling with the action makes me feel so badass, and main theme is one of the best video game songs I've ever heard. Like there's no Red Alert without Frank Klepacki, no Doom without Mick Gordon, now there's no Helldivers without Wilbert Roget II!

I'm shocked you didn't cover the greatest part of the game imo, which is the theme song. What a freaking masterpiece.

Despite what's happened to Helldivers, I've called my ship: Soldier of Freedom

Well, that was quick😂

I honestly thought he would’ve said“- and Helldive our way straight into this”

One of the beautiful things about this is that I don't have to pay money for the premium pass, you can grind the super credits in game at just the cost of your time and patience as a player, I grinded out for 1000 SC and got the pass in about roughly 25 hours, and for that I would be willing to pay them the $10 just for the respect of letting players do this. This trend of Game Devs releasing a genuine product made with care and passion is really awesome and it shows what we've been missing for years, People who actually give a damn, Games made by gamers FOR Gamers.

I love how visceral it is, especially against the bots. The way you hear and ***feel*** the bullets flying by, and when they hit it's almost like ya got actually shot in real life. The sound design and the way it looks and feels is insane, This game is honestly great, and once some bugs get fixed this game will genuinely be a 10 out of 10. Plus there is something to be said about being dropped onto planets, it's so cool.

Why helldivers 2 WAS a masterpiece 😢

We are only in March and there has already been multiple small studios reach over 100k copies sold on Steam. And the crazy part is none of them are predatory. Good job divers. We spoke with our wallets and the industry is listening! My life for Super Earth!

The hug emote is the best thing ever. Can't do a dive until everyone on the team gets a hug. No hug no play.

23:20 These are other players ships. Not directly, but the server looks up how many players are in a space and by that counter, it spawns/renders in other ships over an Operation point. Depending on player traffic over an Operation point it can differ then.

Another act ma’am video that aged like milk, what a surprise

It's got that addictive combat-loop, plus a looting element, and lots of variety in maps/equipment/weapons. I'm reminded of that "30 seconds of fun" quote from Bungie all those years ago.

18:09 "I had the opportunity to-- WEEEUUUUGGH!!" Good stuff, really giggled my goober

5:54 I love how he said "The absurd levels..." Then changed it to "The reasonable levels" that's kinda funny 😆

I can't wait for the updated version of this. Go Geddem ActMan!!!

Yuri lownethal put his heart and soul in saying “SWEET LIBERTY THE BLOOD”

one minor detail/small flavour that I like is that you can crank up the volume/music/effects to 11

12:57 Holy Democracy! This game looks like so much fun! 😃😃 Thank you act man!

Act Man probably has the best track record of based opinions about video games. Safe one of the best game critics out there. Means I gotta check this game out. Edit: Community based live events and world changes are wild man, awesome.

FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY!

Friendship ended with FOR THE EMPEROR. Now I’m part of FOR DEMOCRACY

Well.... Fuck.

This is a masterpiece of a game. It manages to do so many things right that the small niggles it has with guns not firing or getting stuck in the scenery just feels part of the comical tone they have set in the game. The animation of bugs and bots is so good and like you say, you feel every projectile and bullet has an effect on what it hits or not if its bouncing off armour One of the most impressive things I saw was sneaking up to some bugs at a POI and threw a stratagem in. The bugs did not react to Stratagem marker but as the orbital/eagle strike was about to hit, the bugs all flinched as if their senses knew something was about to happen. Just amazing to see such detail and how "alive" the bugs are.

I believe those ships actually are other players! If you look closely you can even see when stratagems are being used and if you see a ship blow up that’s cause a mission failed

My favorite part is how all cosmetics are fitting with the art style and lore. No multi collored carnivalesque BS, no cat ears, no streammer/company sponsored content, etc. The game makes sure to stick to it's style and it's so beautiful! It remains authentic and is a breath of fresh air from the "fortnitezation" that's been consumming other games. I feel very happy to play a game that doesn't seem like a playable billboard

So many videos like this and of the current Story going on finally made me get the game and i absolutely love it!

This video has just fed into my addiction of this game even more. Bless you Act man.

Never forget Spenny had 13.8k team damage that one run and that is surely treason

Those ships and orbitals you can see from your ship window apparently IS simulating numbers of actual players and orbitals being used in currently running missions. I don' t think it has been confirmed by devs but people were doing some research and it seems likely.

Saw this video in my recommended. Went and played another mission. Now watching more. So true my friend, good takes.

Could of win game of the year. Now it won’t due to Sony.

It also feels great that you aren't pressured into unlocking things before the warbonds go away since they stick around forever. The Warbonds are the only "battlepass" I've ever felt good about buying with zero remorse.

The best part is how committed the voice actor are. I hope the add even more lines or even new voices. Hell I'd be ok if they added them as a war bonds unlock.

I want to mention something that most people don't seem to bring up, Lag, when your game lags, it doesn't kill the gameplay, it doesn't make it impossible to play, somehow, I don't know how to explain it, the lag is... smooth. I feel like the game, rather than what most games do where it literally causes it to jitter and stop, it feels like Helldivers 2 just, lowers the FPS to help preserve data on it's own and constantly adjusts it so your gameplay loop is never interrupted Also, the CEO and devs went through mandatory military service in Sweden, so they know well how stuff like guns work, and how you would operate them, and anything else like that, it's really cool to have a game where your gun doesn't fire randomly, it feels like you're shooting a real gun, the sound, the recoil, the fire-rate, even the spread on the shotguns is realistic to an extent rarely found in video games, and because it's PVE, they can do that because balancing can be done in other ways unlike in most PVP games Last thing I'm adding, the thing about your 'head cannon' is 100% correct, those are indeed other player's hands, and those are actual stratagems being used on the ground

It's Act Ma'am!

This is the first game in a few years where I have to make myself NOT play it when I get home from work so I don't ignore stuff. It's so fun, been very happy with it and it's a joy with my friends.

Dude one of my favorite lore bits for this game is that they attacked and invaded the bugs because they produce oil kinda like whales do in the real world

8:37 Look gary, there I am!

“This will get game of the year in 2024” well that didn’t age well, it only took a month to age like milk.

6:18 "It worked.. *QUADRUPLE THE MILITARY BUDGET!!!"*

this game is like the halo odst game we could have but never will

I like how it drops you into the map. The first time I hopped into a mission that wasn't trivial - it's stress right off the hop! Or at least clear that you dropped right into the thick of it

Ivenever been so thankful for a game release, truly amazing, last night i checked across 2 planets alone, there was 344k divers active, not to mention the like 5 or 6 other planets that are available right now. 2 singular planets had more nearly 7 times the playerbase warzone/mw2/3 have on a normal basis... its freakin hilarious

The best part of the freedom pass is that you can technically grind the premium one FOR FREE. It costs 1000 Supercredits for the premium. With the freedom pass, and the RNG based supercredits that can be found on maps, you can earn the premium pass, FOR FREE.

I really love this game. It is brutally difficult though, especially with the ammo economy on some weapons and stratagems. Running out when a horde is coming onto you is extremely punishing, especially when playing solo and you either don't have teammates or the randoms you get paired with are deserters. The kinds of things I would like to see include the number of reinforces available to solo players jumping from 5 to 10, then having an increase of 5 reinforces per player on top of that; having the number of uses on some stratagems increase - namely the ones limited to 3 uses going up to 4, since the ones with only 1 or 2 uses are usually powerful enough to justify such a low number of uses; and the rocket reserves on the mech to increase, maybe to 20 or so - I'm not too sure about mech machine-gun ammo, on one hand you chew through it obscenely quickly, and on the other hand it is usually sufficient for at least 1-2 big enemy encounters/hordes, I definitely wouldn't mind an extra 500 rounds though (also pls fix unexpected and janky self-damage when in the mech). I believe it would hit a sweet spot of the same level of challenge and difficulty in enemies, but feeling like you're just that little bit better equipped to deal with them, especially when you don't have a consistent team to go in with. Otherwise, I have been feeling like the game is really really well balanced; the enemy spawns are challenging but reasonable; enemy density is definitely great; the game systems feel complex & layered, yet intuitive; and the quality and power of our gear feels perfectly in-tune with *most* enemies, with the exception of some underpowered outliers. I believe just increasing the quantity of some of our supplies and stratagems ever so slightly would make us feel like we're just that tiny bit more capable when in a tricky mess. A few other things, I am not sure if the 'bile-spit' attack on some of the bugs - namely the Bile-Spewers - is meant to one-shot (even when wearing Heavy Armour with Extra Padding), they seem like too much of a low-tier enemy with a high area-of-effect ranged attack to be able to one shot, especially on difficulties 6 and below. Sometimes I'll find that I am right in the middle of a bile-spray and it barely damages me, other times I will dive away and barely be caught on the edge of the attack, yet it still one-shots me. This may be a bug or known issue, I am not sure. Additionally, I am still not sure if armour numbers, hidden stats, and gameplay are accurately reflecting on each other and working as intended in the game. This too may be a bug or known issue. Finally, I really do hope for and eagerly look forward to new things being added to the game. New enemy races, more stratagems, more weapons, more armour with unique effects, more grenades & gadgets, more planets being unlocked, more side objectives, new buildings & structures appearing in missions, new mission types, more enemy types within our existing races, new orders & overarching objectives between missions, and new gameplay mechanics coming up throughout the game's life-span (which will hopefully be very very long). Great work to the studio, talents, minds, and - very rarely in this industry - the executives and managers responsible for this game. I really am excited for and can't wait to enjoy whatever this game has to offer in the future!

Love how you used the StarCraft Sound tract for your ad!