Get your hands on the most advanced, experimental, and explosive weaponry ever devised — from assault rifles to machine guns, energy blasters and even hand-to-hand melee weapons.
Each has their own stats and traits, and many can be customised from the Armoury Terminal on your Super Destroyer when you reach level 10 – Sergeant.
New recruits receive standard-issue equipment but can spend Super Credits, or Medals earned completing objectives, on gear from the Acquisition Centre.
Top tip: Friendly fire isn’t very friendly and is distinctly un-democratic.
Stratagems
The silver bullet in your arsenal. The doomsday device in the palm of your hands.
Stratagems are your gamechangers – immensely powerful, limited-use weapons, reinforcements and ballistics summoned from your Super Destroyer using unique sequence codes.
Rain down freedom from above with Orbital Bombardments, cheat death with Shield Generator Packs, tear your targets apart with Autocannon Sentries, and much more.
Top tip: Practice makes perfect. Try out Stratagem codes on your ship before deployment.
Armour
Sprint or stomp across the battlefield with specialist armour for every tactical manoeuvre.
Light armour keeps you mobile but won’t take much damage, heavy armour keeps you breathing longer but limits your movement, and medium armour is a blend of both.
Check the protection, speed and stamina regen stats when choosing your combo – and look out for Armour Passives, special abilities for specific armour types
Top tip: Dress for the occasion – environmental conditions matter!
Sony has delisted Helldivers 2 in more than 170 countries that don’t have dedicated regions in PSN, which was the main argument against the change. These countries no longer have the ability to buy the game or activate a retail key. Steam is refunding the game even with more than 100hrs of playtime.
Helldivers 2 was compared to Starship Troopers when it was first released, but since then, the squad-based third-person shooter has become closer to the post-Judgment Day future in Terminator. While the first mission order, to retake territory from bugs called Terminids, was a success, things went downhill once the game introduced the Automatons, the much harder-to-kill robots that attack Super Earth planets.
Just this week, players lost the planet Malevelon Creek to the Automatons while just barely liberating Mort after around 10 million Helldiver deaths, according to a post in the official Helldivers 2 Discord (via Gamesradar). Despite some gains, the Automatons have pushed back Super Earth’s forces for now. Starting Thursday, players will see a message stating the major order to liberate planets under Automaton control has been a failure, and players should change course:
Despite the valorous efforts of the Helldivers, Automaton marauders have invaded Super Earth territory. Patriotic citizens mourn as their sufficiently-sized homes burn to the ground. Super Earth citizens demand justice, and they will receive it. But for now, the Terminid Control System is ready for activation.
While players can still fight on Automaton worlds, most will likely shift their priorities to Terminid territory, starting with Veld, which features a hive that “eluded detection and has been gestating un-Democratic vermin for weeks.”
Helldivers 2 launched with the Terminids, and while they proved to be a challenge, players banded together and were able to complete the first major order and reap the rewards. That was not the case with the Automatons, which proved to be way tougher than their organic bug brethren. Besides the fact that even the smallest units are covered in tough-to-pierce armor, the game introduced missions that required way more strategy and teamwork than previous ones. Along with some surprise real-time work from Arrowhead Game Studios devs, the failure was inevitable.
Image: Arrowhead Game Studios/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon
The mission type that specifically threw players for a loop was escort missions, which required Helldivers to help researchers and other citizens trapped on planets being invaded by Automaton fleets escape into an extraction point. Sounds easy enough on its face: Follow some unarmed civilians as they run from one side of a relatively small area to another. It was a common objective with the Terminids as well. However, anybody who’s played one of these Automaton missions through will tell you that after the first 10 or so get rescued, you’ll get bombarded with Automatons of all kinds. And because these missions take place in one small space with a lot of chokepoints, and the NPCs aren’t the best at self-preservation, it’s easy for players and civilians to die over and over… and over.
Players on the Helldivers subreddit have been trying to plan out strategies for this specific mission type since the campaign started. The consensus has been to have a full four-person team, with three people luring enemies into the outskirts of the mission area and one person focusing on stealth tactics to escort civilians (that means using smoke stratagems or specialty scouting armor sets). However, this only works if people are willing to constantly communicate in voice chat. Depending on your difficulty level, you still might run into some extremely heavy spawn rates that will decimate your team regardless of how coordinated you are. And with its 40-minute clock, there is a lot of time for things to go horribly wrong. Plus, players have reported bugs, like NPCs standing in front of the extraction point without entering.
I spoke with a player who identified himself to Polygon as Alessio, aka Zarrusso on Reddit, who posted a clear, comprehensive visual guide on how to tackle these missions this week, basically putting all the disparate Reddit threads and YouTube videos on the topic together. The guide suggests landing as far away from the objective as possible, along with a set of stratagems to equip.
Image: Arrowhead Game Studios/Sony Interactive Entertainment
“On difficulty 6 [Extreme] and all of the above, the difficulty spikes greatly and we couldn’t kill the enemies fast enough and the civilians kept dying after taking one step outside,” he wrote. “So after getting some advice from YouTube and Reddit and just playing the missions, I put together that little strategy. And now I play those missions on difficulty 7, 8, and 9, and I have completed like 90 percent of my escort missions.”
These escort missions require way more strategy than others. Some Automaton objectives are nearly identical to Terminid ones (kill a certain number of enemies; launch an ICBM), so they didn’t have a large barrier to entry and therefore didn’t need nearly as much coordination between players, especially on lower difficulties. “The other missions don’t require this much strategy. On lower difficulties, you can pretty much do them without thinking but still need to bring the right weapons,” Zarrusso explained.
The Automaton escort missions, though, have been a completely different challenge for players, despite being similar to previous ones. This led to many people spamming easier 15-minute objectives instead. With this many failures on the board, it’s no wonder the community didn’t succeed in their collective fight.
But also, failure might’ve been the point all along. In a pre-release video, deputy game director Sagar Beroshi revealed Helldivers 2 would have a game master who would introduce twists and story moments, watching players as they complete missions and responding in real time. Players still have a degree of control over how mission orders go, but like in a tabletop RPG, the GM will move players in a specific direction, sometimes with a little improv. This might include something small like giving players an extra stratagem mid-round, or something much more globally impactful.
“The enemies have goals, right? They will look at what you’ve done, respond to the ways in which you have — you as the community, that is — has behaved, and react in a way that changes the face of the galaxy thereafter,” Beroshi said.
A recent PC Gamer article features a quick interview with CEO Johan Pilestedt, who explained this dev’s name is Joel and he apparently “takes his job very seriously.”
“Joel, in his infinite wisdom decided, ‘What happens when a faction wins a portion of a war? Well, they mine everything.’ That’s where the incendiary mine segment came from,” Pilestedt gave as an example, referring to the period where players got access to the incendiary mine stratagem for free.
Helldivers 2 will continue to surprise players with these tactics. “We have a lot of systems built into the game where the Game Master has a lot of control over the play experience. It’s something that we’re continuously evolving based on what’s happening in the game,” Pilestedt said. “And as part of the roadmap, there are things that we want to keep secret because we want to surprise and delight.” This will likely be with mechs, which have been teased and have been the subject of leaks, along with other new enemies and stories. It’s all a good reminder that your best efforts might be in vain, but you can turn the tides of war, and that makes for a more complex play experience.
A random player and I are surrounded by giant, alien bugs who want to rip out our guts and eat our bones. We are trying to destroy their nest, which lies in a rocky crater on some backwater alien planet. Low on ammo, out of health items, and unsure of what to do next, it seems we are screwed. But this is Helldivers 2—we have powerful tools at our disposal, like a massive airstrike or auto-turret. My squadmate calls in his airstrike before I can, runs into the fray, drops it at his feet, and begins tossing grenades. “Get outta here! I’m taking ‘em with me!” he yells. I dive over an angry insect the size of a dog and skitter out of the crater, explosions and gunfire popping off behind me. Then there is one big boom. I turn around. He did it. He saved the day, killed two dozen bugs, and destroyed their vile nest. — Zack Zwiezen
Last week, thanks to the Final Fantasy VIIRebirth demo, some old video game discourse returned and overtook social media: The use of yellow paint to mark certain in-game objects or ledges. All it took was a now-viral tweet of Cloud climbing some yellow rocks in the new demo and a comment about how yellow paint was a “virus” and, bam, the debate is raging all over again. Like a comet returning for another scheduled pass by Earth, the yellow paint topic has once again predictably appeared, leading to endless takes, jokes, threads, opinions, and arguments. Why is this topic so incredibly capable of sucking in everyone around it for days or weeks on end? Well, it’s not really because of the paint, but everything the yellow splotches represent. – Zack Zwiezen Read More
Chargers are big, nasty bugs in Helldivers 2, and you’ll need to take out multiple of them if you want to complete some Personal Orders (as of this writing, it’s “Strain Culling”) and pick up extra Medals.
In this Helldivers 2 guide, we’ll tell you where to find Chargers and give you some bonus tips on how to deal with them.
Where to find Chargers in Helldivers 2
Image: Arrowhead Game Studios
Chargers aren’t the first “mini-boss” style enemy you’ll encounter in Helldivers 2, but they’re the first that should really scare you. They have loads of armor, are very fast once they charge, and even their weak spot can take a ton of punishment. But we’ll get to how to kill them later; first, you need to actually find a Charger.
Chargers only seem to appear in missions that are rated Medium difficulty or above (meaning you’ll have to work your way up through the difficulties by clearing easier missions first). However, even on Medium you’ll only really find Chargers in missions that ask you to specifically kill Chargers. And while that can be useful, none of the Chargers I killed on the Medium difficulty counted for “Strain Culling.” That could have something to do with the server issues at the time of this writing, but your best bet regardless is to play on the difficulty above Medium: Challenging.
Starting on Challenging difficulty, Chargers will just show up in nests or when you’re trying to complete an objective. They seem to spawn more frequently when you’re in a group (which can be difficult given the aforementioned server issues). Just keep playing missions on Challenging and hunting down nests. You should find all the Chargers you need in just a handful of missions.
How to kill a Charger in Helldivers 2
Image: Arrowhead Game Studios
So, you’ve found some Chargers, but now you have to actually deal with them. I won’t lie to you, until you and your squad have a handle on how Helldivers 2 really works, a Charger is probably going to kill one or two of you unless you’re very well-equipped or extremely careful.
But that actually leads us to one of our first big tips for Chargers or any big enemies: Drop directly on them. Yes, that’s right, you can drop your respawn pod on top of a bug and they’ll explode. It’s not worth the revive if you can kill the Charger another way, but if you’re already pulling in a reinforcement, do your best to squish the Charger on your way in. It’s a pretty fast way to end any fight.
Now you’re not going to squish a Charger every time you kill one, so it’s important to have other tactics. First, you can just shoot it in its big, glowing ass. The Charger is heavily armored at the front, but its back is exposed. Shred it with a turret or your own personal heavy machine gun. You can, of course, just use your primary assault rifle or pistol, but on Challenging and above, it’s going to take a long time if you do that.
You can also destroy the Charger’s armor with something like the Recoilless Rifle. Now this is a great option if you can consistently get two to three shots onto the same spot on the bug, as the Recoilless Rifle and other armor-piercing weapons seem to be better at punching a hole through armor and finishing the job that way than raw damage against already exposed weak points.
Your best bet for Chargers, however, is to simply blow them to hell with Stratagems before they even get the chance to see you. They’re big — big enough that you can spot them in their nest before they spot you. And, until they’re threatened, they move pretty slow. You and your group can use this to your advantage by dropping Orbital Strikes, Eagle Strafing Runs, and all other kinds of Stratagems on top of the Charger. If you can score a direct hit, you’ll probably kill it before it even gets the chance to chase you.
The Thaumaturge, an upcoming narrative-focused, turn-based RPG, was planned to launch in just a few days on February 20. However, the game has now been delayed until March as the developers and publishers hope to avoid a “busy” February and give the game more “breathing room.”
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As we warned late last year, the first few months of 2024 have been stacked with popular video game releases. This is bad news for folks hoping they could catch up on their 2023 backlog in what is usually a quiet time for the game industry, as the first weeks of 2024 have already delivered hits likePalworld, Helldivers 2, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. And the rest of February isn’t empty, with games like Pacific Drive, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Star Wars Dark Forces remastered, and Skull and Bonesall launching before March 1. As a result of this packed start to the year, The Thaumaturge is going to wait for the dust to settle a bit.
On February 12, developer Fool’s Theory and publisher 11 Bit Studios announced on Twitter and explained in a press release that even though The Thaumaturge is already in the hands of some critics, it was going to be delayed until March 4 in order to avoid all this chaos.
“Taking February’s busy launch period into account and the opening for a better release window,” the two companies said in a statement, “we’ve decided to take this opportunity to give more breathing room so it receives the attention we believe it deserves. We want you to have enough time to enjoy the game in full, and we feel that the current release window is not the perfect moment for it.”
While folks who have been waiting to play the game are probably a bit sad that they have to wait about two weeks longer, it’s a smart move to get away from so many big and small hit games and try to find a bit of a gap in the release schedule to give your game a better chance to find an audience, as well as the attention of over-worked critics and content creators. We’ll have to wait and see if the move pays off.
The Thaumaturge, an isometric RPG set in 1905 in an alternate-universe Poland filled with magical powers and tough choices, will now arrive on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on March 4.
It’s beyond undeniable that 2023 was one of the most memorable years in recent history when it came to new game releases. From completely brand new IPs, to long-awaited sequels, to surprisingly refreshing remakes, there was something for just about literally everyone to try.
It puts just a little bit of pressure on this new year to keep that momentum going, but thankfully there are even more exciting new titles to look forward to, particularly on the PlayStation side of the field. If you’re wondering what all is on the docket this year for PS5 players, we’ve got you covered. Here is our list of all PS5 exclusives releasing in 2024.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Release Date: January 19, 2024
Image Source: Naughty Dog
On the heels of giving the universally acclaimed The Last of Us Part I an incredible glow up with their new PS5 engine technology, Naughty Dog has understandably done the same for the sequel, which is set to release in just a couple of weeks now on the PS5. Revered as one of the most controversial and yet most successful sequels in the industry, The Last of Us Part II takes players back into the lives of Joel and Ellie a few years after the events of the first game, and the consequences of Joel’s decisions which have created a familial rift between the two of them.
This time around, players experience the journey ahead mostly through Ellie’s eyes, and even those of new characters she encounters along the way. The journey itself is perhaps one of the most emotionally palpable and devastating ones ever seen in modern gaming, and one that powerfully divided the fanbase of the series in the months and years following its release. If you’ve never played the sequel before, or want to relive it in its completely remastered version, this will be your chance. This version will also debut a brand new, roguelike survival mode called No Return mode for players to try out.
Helldivers II
Release Date: February 8, 2024
Image Source: Arrowhead Game Studios
Helldivers II, which releases on PS5 and PC early next month, looks to be a spectacular reimagining of the original game that debuted back in 2015, with far more explosive action that you can share with friends. While keeping the soul of the first game, the team at Arrowhead Game Studios set aside the top-down aesthetic and instead opted for a more immersive and modern style this time around as a third person shooter.
They’ve also promised plenty of “fast, frantic, and ferocious” action, albeit with a stroke of good humor on the side, as players are tasked with fending off ruthless alien invasions on various planets. You don’t have to face them all alone, however, as the game will feature online co-op, allowing you to team up with your friends against these dangerous threats.
Pacific Drive
Release Date: February 22, 2024
Image Source: Ironwood Studios
Pacific Drive is the very first IP out of Seattle-based Ironwood Studios, and if the trailers are anything to go by, it looks like a very promising and unique experience behind the wheel. An amazing soundtrack plays alongside the backdrop of a mysterious supernatural catastrophe that’s happened in the Pacific Northwest of the country. The region has since been renamed as the Olympic Exclusion Zone where outsiders aren’t permitted, but your character remains trapped within this treacherous, unforgiving landscape, and it’s all about personal survival while uncovering the source of what happened.
The key to actually surviving this supernatural catastrophe is your beloved station wagon, which you need to keep alive and running just as much as yourself. That requires venturing out into the wilderness of the Exclusion Zone to gather as many resources as you can, and each time you travel, new threats and mysteries await in the darkest shadows. Customize and upgrade your car in any way you see fit, with as many bells and whistles as you can, all in the hopes that you can discover the truth and finally escape. Pacific Drive pulls in for players everywhere on PS5 and PC at the end of February.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Release Date: February 29, 2024
Image Source: Square Enix via Twinfinite
After Final Fantasy VII Remake blew countless fans away with what turned out to be a dramatically immersive reimagining of merely the beginning of the iconic game’s original story, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is set to be the next huge chapter of Cloud Strife’s epic adventure, emphasis on “huge”. After he breaks out of Midgar alongside Tifa, Barrett, Red XIII, and Aerith in order to pursue Sephiroth, the party now has the entire world of Gaia before them to explore. As beautifully vibrant as it is, Red XIII reminds them that the planet is actually on the precipice of death thanks to Shinra, as well as the machinations of Jenova and Sephiroth.
Along their journey, as revealed in the game’s latest trailers, the party will unite with familiar characters such as Vincent, Cait Sith, and Cid, as well as Yuffie whom players first got to play as in the Intergrade DLC. The gameplay will further evolve, with players able to seamlessly combine abilities between characters during battle. Plenty of open world exploration will mix with more linear storytelling as players are taken through an almost entirely new version of the story, with Cloud’s former friend Zack Fair mysteriously alive in another timeline. Not only that, it’s all but confirmed that arguably the most iconic scene in the game will occur, which has fans all the more anxious for what will truly happen.
Either way, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will finally release at the end of February as a timed exclusive on the PS5. A PC port will follow suit sometime after, as FFVII: Remake and the Intergrade DLC have since become available on Steam.
Rise of the Ronin
Release Date: March 22, 2024
Image Source: Team Ninja
If you’re someone who enjoys an action-packed, sword-wielding samurai adventure like Ghost of Tsushima, then Rise of the Ronin will probably hit that same sweet spot for you. Players will be able to create their very own customized character, whom will embark on a open-world journey across various iconic cities and countrysides of Japan during the final years of the Edo period, at the peak of the Bonshin War between the Tokugawa Shogunate and factions opposed to the Western influences coming into the country that’s been sealed off for years.
As an action-based RPG, while cutting down those who stand in your way, your character will come across important story-related decisions that will impact the outcome of the conflict one way or another. This is the most ambitious game Team Ninja has developed to date, going from more simplistic, linear titles to an immersive, higher tier RPG with the visual fidelity of previous, similar IPs like Ghost of Tsushima. Its open-world gameplay is bolstered with dynamic battle mechanics and an impressive variety of close-quarter and ranged weaponry. There’s also the transportation, which allows to you go by ground on horseback or by glider in the air, if you wish. That’s right, flying samurais, as if it wasn’t cool enough already.
Rise of the Ronin arrives in late March exclusively on the PS5.
Stellar Blade
Release Window: TBA 2024
Image Source: Shift Up Corporation
Originally marketed as Project EVE by Korean studio Shift Up, Stellar Blade is an action-packed and absolutely stylish hack-and-slash adventure that introduces us to the one and only Eve. After Earth is overwhelmingly invaded by an alien species known as NA:tives, Eve and her squad are tasked by the Colony with going down to Xion, the last standing city on Earth and repelling the invasion at all costs. While there, she meets the city’s residents, particularly a survivor named Adam, and eventually the elder Orcal, who each plead her for help in saving the planet.
With a vibe that definitely feels like Nier-meets-Bayonetta, Stellar Blade looks to make a name for itself in the hack-and-slash genre, and certainly promises plenty of stylish action for players to enjoy. While the game was initially supposed to release in 2023 for PS5, Shift Up announced a delay in December to 2024, with no exact date yet given. Once we know more, we’ll update that here.
Foamstars
Release Window: TBA 2024
Image Source: Toylogic
If you’re in the market for a more light-hearted, free-for-all online bonanza with a bunch of colorful foam cannonballs, then Square Enix’s aptly named ‘Foamstars’ is likely something you’ll want to check out. Since described by public opinion as a homage to the beloved Splatoon franchise, the game is a free-to-play (FTP), 4v4 online multiplayer game that brings much of what makes Splatoon great from the Switch to the heftier PlayStation console.
An open beta hit PS4 and PS5 in Fall of last year, giving players a firsthand look at the foam-based, third-person shooter, and the full game is slated to release sometime this year. Even if you’re on the fence about it, the game will be free to download, so you can decide for yourself with no strings attached.
Concord
Release Window: TBA 2024
Image Source: Firewalk Studios
Concord is the latest IP that comes from the minds of Firewalk Studios, who previously worked on the Horizon: Call of the Mountain VR game that released to critical acclaim. This time around, players will be zooming through the far reaches of space, at least according to the teaser trailer released last summer that didn’t give much away beyond that at the time.
We now know, however, that Concord is slated to be an online multiplayer FPS game that is also being developed in tandem with Bungie, the hub behind the Destiny franchise, and newcomer Haven Studios. Firewalk themselves has so far described the game as having a “unique universe of vibrant worlds” with a “rich” cast of “colorful characters”.
The game is set for a release sometime in 2024 on PS5 and PC, though even that may be tentative as the game isn’t available to wishlist yet on Steam. As soon as more details follow, we’ll update this.
Baby Steps
Release Window: Summer 2024
Image Source: Bennett Foddy
Bennett Foddy is back to both entertain and undoubtedly enrage us once again with his newest, hilarious project called Baby Steps. With the same inherent spirit as Getting Over It, the viral indie title that had many of the biggest streamers screaming and smashing their keyboards a few years ago, Baby Steps is the successor that will have us traversing a vibrant variety of environments, from mountains to jungles, with some very unbalanced footing and a snug onesie outfit to match.
Deadbeat Nate has quite the journey ahead of him, and players will have to get a handle on the unique physics gameplay as best they can, to ultimately put one foot in front of the other and avoid having Nate awkwardly plummet off cliffsides and any other embarrassing stumbles that can mean lost progress.
Baby Steps was first revealed during last year’s Summer Game Awards, and is currently slated to release summer 2024 on PS5 and PC.
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Release Window: TBA 2024
Image Source: Bloober Team
This one is probably a surprise to many, given that so little news has come out about the Silent Hill 2 remake since the teaser trailer first released a year ago in Jan 2023. The cat is now out of the bag, however, thanks to PlayStation’s new 2024 release reel that popped up on YouTube most recently, which briefly showcased the Silent Hill 2 remake among this year’s upcoming games. As soon as Bloober Team officially discloses a closer release window, we’ll update this entry promptly.
In similar fashion to other remakes like Capcom’s Resident Evil 4, this is a top-to-bottom, faithful reconstruction of Konami’s most iconic supernatural horror game, Silent Hill 2. Thanks to the creative minds of Bloober Team, and of course the reunion of Team Silent’s Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka, players will get to relive the harrowing journey of James Sunderland as he returns to the eerie lakeside town of Silent Hill in search of his deceased wife, Mary. Along the way he comes across other mysterious characters, and encounters truly unsettling horrors that pull the curtain back on his own past.
That concludes our list of all upcoming PS5 Exclusives releasing in 2024. We hope you found this informative, and let us know which games on this list you’re looking forward to the most.
Be sure to check out all of our other guides and lists on releases for the new year, such as our list of upcoming JRPGs in 2024.
About the author
Stephanie Watel
Stephanie Watel is a freelance writer for Twinfinite. Stephanie has been with the site for a few months, and in the games media industry for about a year. Stephanie typically covers the latest news and a variety of gaming guides for the site, and loves gardening and being the bird lady of the neighborhood. She has a BA in Writing from Pace University in NY.
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