A new Helldivers 2 patch has arrived ahead of the slightly delayed Redacted Regiment warbond also making its sneaky debut today, January 22nd. In line with that warbond’s stealthy shushness, this patch has seen Arrowhead add in new commando missions designed to reward those who know when to crouch-walk. They’ve also revealed that the slim build that’s been in beta for a little while is finally ready to take the reigns from the standard version and its very chunky install size.
First of all, the patch notes describe the new commando missions as follows: “Helldivers are going deep behind enemy lines where their normal reliance on air superiority is no longer an option. Reinforcements have to be deployed in advance and destroyer support is a risky business with limited time.” As such, knowing when to kill quietly or co-ordinate a rush with other players will be key.
You’ll also be able to test out some tuning up of suppressed guns, which should now be “more valuable in stealth gameplay and attract less attention from enemies”, as a result of firing noise radius tweaks. As part of that, foes like the devastator, berserker, spewer, charger, impaler, and observer have been made a bit more chill about bullets landing vaguely in their vicinity, so non-hits are less likely to instantly draw their ire.
Outside of the sneaky stuff, the slim build of Helldivers 2 which Arrowhead have been beta testing as part of efforts to cut the 154GB game down to just 23GB in terms of install size will no longer be in beta at some point soon.
“We are ready to make the slim PC build default for all players,” The studio wrote. “We’ll keep the larger version online for a short time to ensure a smooth transition for everyone; so you’ll continue to have the option to switch back should you wish. Once this transition has been completed we’ll look to sunset the large build permanently in the near future.” As of writing, no exact date for the initial switch appears to have been given, but it sounds like it’ll be ASAP.
Rounding out this first drop of new Helldivers 2 stuff for 2026 was a promise that there’s “much more to come in February and beyond”, as you’d hope. For now, in the spirit of these sneaky missions, Arrowhead aren’t giving too much away.
