Sometimes, when you’re fighting aliens, you’ve got to whip out a gun that might explode in your own face. Them’s the rules. You’ve got to risk it for a chocolate biscuit. Or, at least that’s premise of Helldivers 2’s latest warbond.
Dubbed Control Group, it’ll give you access to a bunch of experimental gear Super Earth’s scientists have cobbled together from captured Illuminate tech if you opt to pick it up when it drops on June 17th.
As outlined in the PS Blog penned by Arrowhead community manager Katherine Baskin, this warbond for the shooter includes a primary weapon, three stratagems, and the usual array of stocking fillers.
I’ll start off with the stratagem that’s caught my eye, the LIFT-182 warp pack. With help from the Illuminate’s spooky dark fluid (ooh, matron), it generates a “(somewhat) stable wormhole on demand”, which you can then hop into to teleport short distances without a cooldown. As with all of the main Control Group warbond gear, however, there’s a quirky catch. Each time you teleport, the hole destabilises a bit more. If you attempt one jump too many, it’ll warp you into the afterlife. Nice.
Continuing that trend, the primary’s a VG-70 Variable volley gun that comes with three firing settings, with one spunking out all of your remaining ammo at once in a fashion that’s possibly fatal to the user. The PLAS-45 Epoch plasma gun stratagem might explode in your face if you overcharge it. The third stratagem, an A/LAS-98 laser sentry turret, will go boom if you forget to let it cool down every so often.
Armour-wise, there’s the AD-49 Apollonian heavy set and the AD-26 Bleeding Edge medium set, with both boasting an “Adreno-Defibrillator” that’ll revive you once, but leave you slowly dying once it’s done so. So, best get the mission done quick once you’re on your second life.
All it all, it looks to be one of the more fun warbonds Arrowhead’s put together so far, especially for those of us who’re not mega into alternative ways to look like you’ve got some dodgy views about authoritarianism or cosplay as Judge Dredd. Given HD2’s at its best when you’re having a laugh, I’m glad it’s getting being stabbed with a slapstick syringe on the 17th.
