Johan Pilestedt, CEO and creative director of Arrowhead Studios, told the PlayStation Blog that "Helldivers 2" does away with the top-down camera perspective of its predecessor, allowing players to get closer to extraterrestrial killing bugs and robots, and that the player is now closer to the soldiers and feels more vulnerable when confronting them.

"'Helldivers 1' takes a lot of inspiration from real life and military sim experiences and blends them with fighting extraterrestrials," said the director.

"However, the top-down perspective does not allow for a more immersive experience due to the distance.

By bringing the camera closer to the action, Arrowhead was able to make everything in the world feel dangerous, including his own teammates." We always knew we wanted a juxtaposition between the fragility of humans with too powerful tools and physically superior enemies who are only vulnerable to heavy weaponry.

"Feeling human is an important part of the Helldiver experience.

Friendly Fire also plays a part there by creating "a complexity of gameplay that requires the player to actively think during combat sequences.

And the laughter that occurs when a player accidentally carpet-bombs a fellow player allows for play that would be tragic in real life, but within the confines of the game-self, the dark humor of these situations can be explored."

Exactly. The best "Hell Diver 2" moments are always accidental. Whether it's a rocket hitting your buddy in the back or you catapulting yourself halfway around the world. My fragility is the magnet that holds it all together. It's not unlike the allure of the "Souls" series or "The Elden Ring". In a hostile world, a sense of community (and comedy) is naturally fostered by watching clips of people being annihilated by bosses just like you. For this reason, cooperative play is popular in FromSoft's games, but it always takes a lot of work to set up.

As Evan explained in his article on friendly fire in Helldivers 2, there is also a brilliant systemic reason for it. As long as you cannot see the entire battlefield as in the original game, your teammates become much more important. And that tension makes every move in a galactic war far more meaningful than a purely solo experience.