‘Helldivers 2’ Issues Order 66 For Automatons, Extinction To Follow

The time has come, this week’s major order in Helldivers 2, with a four day time limit, is the complete and total extermination of the remaining Automatons in the entire sector, full stop. Here’s what the message says when players log in today:

“OP SWIFT DISASSEMBLE, PHASE IV (FINAL): ANNIHILATION: All Helldivers are ordered to make an all-out push to completely destroy the Automaton Legion. Despite the enemy’s losses, Automaton messages still include references to “The Reclamation.” They must be annihilated before this plan can be carried out.

Countless Helldivers gave their lives to acquire this opportunity. Do not let their sacrifices be in vain. Protect our way of life. Destroy the Automatons at any cost.”

The order is to eliminate the last three Automaton-held planets in the Severin sector, which include Mai, Durgen and Tibit. All of these have barely started to be taken, given that the order was just issued within the hour, and it will not be easy.

And yet, I think Joel is going to tip the scales to allow the players to wipe them out, if they weren’t already going to do it on their own. This is it, this is the groundwork for The Big Thing that’s about to happen, probably the single largest development in Helldivers 2’s short lifespan.

All signs point to “The Reclamation” being an all-out assault by Automatons outside the system to take back Cyberstan, the home of the Cyborgs, the “parent” race of the Automatons. This will likely result in a huge push from the north west quadrant of the galactic map, and will fill in the mostly blank spaces that Helldivers 2 have erased over the past couple months. There are still four Terminid sectors, and my guess is that once the Automatons are gone, there will be some sort of Terminid-based campaign until they return. And they will return.

It won’t be a simple process to take these planets. Automatons, in addition to being harder than the bugs more generally, now have giant AT-AT walkers and flying units that were just added this week, complicating the battlefield even further. Helldivers have lost plenty of battles against the Automatons in the past, but I think this one has to be accomplished for the narrative’s sake, given the false sense of security it would create. Really, it should create ominous dread.

So, see you out there, do your part. But brace for what’s to come.

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