Helldivers 2 players have been waiting a long time, and through multiple teasers, for the arrival of the Illuminate, a technologically advanced civilization that, along with the Terminids and Automatons, provided the three opposing factions in the original Helldivers. The Illuminate have yet to make a massive appearance, but a fresh teaser suggests they may be closer.
As reported ForbesThe latest sign that someone modern might be shooting came on the Helldivers 2 map, which briefly showed several sectors of space occupied by an unidentified force. Multiple divers captured images of the map and shared them Reddit:
Of particular note is the presence of a diminutive logo next to the Rictus sector. It is indeed the Illuminate symbol: It is impossible not to notice it when compared to this detail from the Helldivers: Dive Harder Edition screenshot:
Picture 1 With 2
The purple sectors of the map were cleared within minutes, and shortly thereafter Arrowhead Studios—the Supreme Command of the Super Earth Armed Forces—issued an in-game message announcing that the appearance of the mysterious modern faction was merely a glitch caused by a combination of human error and human debris.
“Some Helldivers may have noticed a recent outage in the Major Order Communication Display service,” the message reads. “The issue has now been resolved.
“Cause: Degradation of organic tissue on electronic equipment. Discussion: Comms. Technician #R-2342 stranded in server farm. Cause of death: Exposure. Solution: Replacement of electronics. Family of deceased fined for damages.”
Arrowhead’s history of using meta-narrative in Helldivers 2 leaves the door open to two possibilities. It could be a legitimate teaser for the long-awaited arrival of the Illuminate, but it could also be a genuine technical glitch in the game, perhaps or perhaps not a leaked plan for a new faction that Arrowhead is hiding behind a quick disinformation about a Super Earth.
Arrowhead Studios CEO Shams Jorjani hasn’t helped explain what’s really going on here, dismissing the whole thing on Twitter as “fake news.”
Of course, this only serves to remind us how former CEO and current CCO Johan Pilestedt vehemently denied the existence of flying worms until Super Earth confirmed that flying worms were real and they knew it all along. But at the same time, Arrowhead has previously used Helldivers 2’s narrative to explain real bugs in the game, including a previous map bug that I’m sure was an actual bug.
Where does that leave us? No one knows, which is what makes this fun. Some believe Illuminate is imminent, others expect a longer wait, perhaps until the end of the 60-day update plan that Arrowhead announced in August. The only thing players seem to agree on is that Illuminate If is coming, but whether this strange map glitch is a sign of an impending invasion or simply the result of Joel spilling coffee on his keyboard, we’ll have to wait and see.
