After a failed Major Order, Helldivers 2 boss says the devs are "talking about" making planets clearer, one player-made idea is "surprisingly close to what we had"

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Sometimes managed democracy needs some extra managing

Helldivers 2 story trailer
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

As the Helldivers 2 community formally piles into Malevelon Creek for a surprise Major Order following a failed operation, creative director and Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt says the studio is talking about ways to make such orders easier to understand.

To give you the short version, the previous Major Order failed in no small part because planets adjacent to the target planets, Ubanea and Tibit, were either important but easy to miss, or unimportant but easy to misread. The whole thing got pretty confusing, and has redoubled discussion about how the supply lines connecting Major Order targets can be conveyed. 

"It is surprisingly close to what we had in the game before," the director said of the fan-made supply lines. "But we wanted to visualize all of the supply lines and it got way too cluttered. We are talking about making this more clear internally at the studio." 

If, when, and how such a tool may be released in-game remains to be seen, but especially after this confusing weekend, I don't think Helldivers 2 players would complain about some added direction on key targets in Major Orders. Even for veteran players tuned into what high command is cooking, it can be tough to immediately discern the order that we'll need to liberate planets. Maybe managed democracy can be better managed after all. 

Pilestedt's "childhood dream" is for the co-op shooter to join the pantheon of PlayStation's biggest IP: "It's crazy that it might be in the future."

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.