Helldivers 2 ramps up the authoritarian satire as High Command takes action against civilians who make too much eye contact, and fans think a new rebel faction is on the way

Arrowhead Game Studios is ramping up the authoritarian satire in Helldivers 2 as the game's democracy-obsessed, space-colonizing, seemingly mono-cultural government is starting to crack down on citizens who make too much and not enough eye contact with authority figures. And a recent Major Order has players speculating that a new faction might be in the works.

A Major Order from earlier in the month tasked divers with gathering resources for The Center for Citizen Surveillance & Safety, which broke the fourth wall and made it onto Discord. Not at all Orwellian. And a new Major Order now claims that the center has found "dissident activity on every Super Earth planet, save Super Earth itself."

"The indicators are clear: extended breaks; prolonged eye contact with authority figures; use of slang; avoiding eye contact with authority figures," an in-game transmission reads. "The Government has declared a new war: The War on Dissidence. All domestic territories are officially designated as warzones." Military forces have apparently been deployed to interplanetary cities, with curfews now in effect too.

"Feels like they're working towards a rebel faction," one subreddit comment speculates. "I have my doubts but would be cool if that's how this plays out."

Another fan theorizes a potential new faction of human rebels could function similarly to The Illuminates before they became a full-on enemy type. "They'll randomly pop up in one or two planets every so often as the dissidents secede and cause chaos," they wrote. "This also leaves an entire quarter of the map open if they do decide to make an actual fourth faction."

A third theory on Reddit involves the human dissidents allying with The Illuminate themselves, becoming a sub-faction of sorts. A Cult of the Squids, if you like. Though, there's also the possibility that The Illuminate are using their mind control abilities to cause friction within Super Earth's ranks.

And a final theory proclaims that there is no conspiracy or fourth faction. The point isn't that rebellious humans are causing chaos – it's that authoritarian regimes waste resources on creating boogeymen, instilling fear, raiding homes, and holding citizens to "this silly and arbitrary standard, all in the name of control."

Helldivers 2 studio CEO says despite improvements, there's "more work to be done" with performance patches: "The intent is that new releases don't bork quality but build on it"