Today’s Helldivers 2 update is bittersweet for the hardcore fans: The teased arrival of new Illuminate enemies did not include the anticipated Cultist unit, but it did add two other monstrosities that just kicked my teeth in for half an hour.
Everyone say hello to the crusher and the wretch, a pair of melee bruisers rounding out the Illuminate faction with some much-needed variety. They’re the headliners of today’s Devoid of Liberty update, which charges Super Earth’s bravest soldiers with counteracting an imposing void that’s opened up in Illuminate space.
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)
It’s at this point that I wonder if you’re seeing the same resemblance making the rounds online: The wretch are dead ringers for Dead Space necromorphs, and the crushers seem directly inspired by Silent Hill’s Pyramid Head (except they carry big clubs, not a big sword). If you’re going to borrow, it better be from the greats.
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And man, these things do feel at home in Helldivers 2. The wretches serve as a new frontline enemy alongside the basic “voteless” zombies. Similar to the mid-sized Terminid units, wretches are faster than helldivers at a full sprint unless you shoot off some of their creepy-crawly legs. Unlike the Terminids, these jerks are pretty smart: they will pivot on a dime to avoid your line of sight, preferring to attack from the rear after making you waste ammo.
They’re simple to kill if you can hone in on their tiny heads or shoot off their limbs, but they overwhelm easily in groups. Unless you’re extremely confident in your aim, shotguns might be the play for these guys.
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)
Crushers are kind of the opposite: Giant, meandering brutes wielding long clubs. They have no ranged attack and only a prominent helmet for armor—so far, knocking off the helmet to reveal the head is the quickest way to put one down. These guys seemed a little underwhelming at first, but they’re sneakily lethal. Keeping away isn’t hard, but their health pool is huge, so they’re a problem you have to deal with eventually. Watch out for the club’s surprisingly far reach: if it connects, that’s the ballgame.
While it’s great to see the Illuminate faction get some much-needed love, this is a smaller update than I anticipated. There’s no new biome (unless stormy cities with twisters count) or major piece of tech like the tank introduced earlier in the year. I do like how Super Earth has begun summoning SEAF troops of varying classes to reinforce players—could this be a test run to eventually give us direct control over troops?
Looks like this one won’t match up to the memorable raid on Cyberstan, and that’s fine. New weapons that aren’t tied to a warbond are quite rare these days, which is a shame, but 240 hours later I’m still happy to buy the occasional $10 warbond for some new toys. The armor sets in the new Warhammer warbond look cool, but none of the weapons seem interesting enough to justify the $5 crossover upcharge.
Indeed, Helldivers 2 is in an age of refinements. Today’s patch made some great quality-of-life changes to short magazines and backpack reloads (you don’t need to have the backpack on to assist anymore), and after a months-long break, this was also my first time seeing the campaigns terminal on my ship. The level cap has also increased to 300 for Super Earth’s truest sickos.
