Helldivers 2 CEO dances around a potential new faction that sounds like the Illuminate from the first game, immediately insists "I'd never" tease such a thing

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The Illuminate or the something even fiercer?

Helldivers 2
(Image credit: Sony / Arrowhead)

Get to the chopp- I mean, get to the pelican, divers. Arrowhead Studios' CEO Johan Pilestedt has teased that another alien species, or potentially an entire enemy faction, is plotting its revenge against Helldivers 2 players.

In response to an online player request asking for in-game collaborations, such as a potential Predator crossover, the Helldivers 2 boss had a sly comeback. "Imagine if there was a Predator-like alien species in the Helldivers universe that were exiled from the galaxy that were planning vengeance," he writes. 

Another player's comment asked if this was a hint about the Illuminate, a faction from the first game that was thought to have been defeated. "I prefer Enlightened but thank you," Pilestedt quips.

The Illuminate has long been speculated to be the next faction added to Helldivers 2's sprawling galactic war table, rejoining Super Earth's other democratically mismanaged foes, the Terminids and the Automatons. It's not just blind speculation, though, players have spotted signs of the Illuminate in-game. 

Sightings of the psionically-power, tentacled baddies have been reported for months, and blue beams have even been caught sniping Helldivers to death in the past. Pilestedt got the propaganda machine turning to deny the undemocratic claims, however. 

Do Predators resemble the Illuminate that much? Well, the exiled Helldivers faction can cloak themselves and strike from afar, but some species in the faction more closely resemble the wrinkled Prophets from Halo on account of their ceremonial robes and squid-like builds, rather than an apex alien that can go toe-to-toe with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Only time will tell.

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Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.