Helldivers 2 grunts suspect Illuminate interference as Automaton distractions and a last-minute update contribute to a Major Order failure: "Illuminate is controlling High Command"

Oh dear. Helldivers 2's big battle for Super Earth kicked off earlier this month as the democracy-hating Illuminate invaded our beloved home planet, but apparently no amount of pure, unfiltered patriotism and sweet liberty was enough to keep everyone focused on the task at hand, with the latest Major Order ending in failure.

Last Friday, Helldivers were given their latest, most crucial orders in the fight against the Illuminate invasion, requiring them to successfully extract from Illuminate missions 20,000,000 times to hold the Mega Cities and hold off our foes. However, despite passing 96% completion, Super Earth's finest didn't manage to secure a victory, and some are convinced that Illuminate interference at High Command is to blame.

Why? Well, while this Illuminate-centric Major Order was ongoing, Helldivers received a separate Major Order diverting them away from Super Earth entirely. It's still ongoing for the next three days, asking soldiers to kill 200,000,000 Automatons in order to secure scrap metal and bring the Democracy Space Station back online. A noble cause, to be clear, but certainly not the priority in the face of protecting – as the latest update calls it – the Heart of Democracy itself.

"DO NOT DEVIATE! At this current pace we will fail the squid order. I repeat DO NOT DEVIATE!" read the pleas of one desperate Helldiver, begging their comrades not to get distracted. "Focus on Super Earth! They are trying to distract us!" another warned, along with an image proclaiming that "the Illuminate have taken over our communications array."

"Illuminate is controlling High Command," suggested another, sharing a gif of an Illuminate at a computer, sending out the Automaton Major Order itself.

Illuminate is controlling High Command from r/Helldivers

"THERE WAS NO OFFICIAL DISPATCH IN THE DISCORD, OUR COMMS ARE COMPROMISED, FOCUS ON DEFENDING SUPER EARTH," one soldier frantically urged.

Potential Illuminate sabotage wasn't the only obstacle in the way of the fight for managed democracy, though. Earlier today, little over an hour before the Major Order ended, a hotfix for Helldivers 2 was rolled out with a few bug fixes in tow. While a quick download on PS5, over on Steam, this came in at over 11GB, forcing some players to sit through an update rather than playing during the final push.

"What a great time for an update Arrowhead," says one annoyed Helldiver. "30 mins [until] MO ends and my game crashed and got hit with a 11.4GB update."

"ARROWWHEADDDDDDD," cries another, sharing a screenshot of them stuck with an hour-long wait to get back into the game.

"Damn it! I can't support Super Earth right now because my Super Destroyer just started Updating LibertyOS in the middle of a Campaign," another declares.

Was it all Illuminate interference, or just a genuine hunger to scrap some bots that led to the failure? Whatever the reason, High Command now says that "the chance to strike a mighty blow against our invaders has evaded us," so better luck next time.

"We wanted to do live service right": With 2.5 million players a week 1.5 years after launch, Helldivers 2 boss says it's down to "great free updates, optional paid, and long-term commitment."