Helldivers 2 players misguidedly ask for a flamethrower attack robot, CEO says "careful what you wish for" as he shares the idea and one dev says "We have to do this"

Helldivers 2 Flamethrower — (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Helldivers 2 players who literally want to watch the world burn have put forward a spicy suggestion for a new Stratagem, which sounds like it has the potential to be incredibly powerful, if not massively risky for your fellow teammates. Enter the idea of the Guard Dog Flamethrower – an auto-firing companion bot that can spew flames whenever it wants, at whatever it wants.

Especially with Helldivers 2's Flamethrower's recent rise in popularity, there's no doubt that this is a tantalizing idea. On the other hand, we have to remember that friendly fire can't be turned off in this game, and generally speaking, uncontrollable fire and keeping the rest of your team alive don't mix particularly well.

That's not to say that developer Arrowhead Game Studios is ruling it out, though. Responding to the Reddit user who initially suggested the idea, Arrowhead CEO and game director Johan Pilestedt posts a screenshot showing him sharing the exact Reddit thread with other Helldivers 2 developers. Enthusiastically, one of them responds: "Oh god, we have to do this," while another chimes in: "Let's have a flamethrowing AI follower, hovering just above and behind me, firing at will. What could go wrong?! The friendly fire from these will be amazing."

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Comment from r/Helldivers

In the same post, Pilestedt clarifies that the devs' enthusiasm doesn't guarantee that the Flamethrower attack robot will actually be added to the game; they just agree with the fanbase that "it's an exciting idea." While he can't commit to its full inclusion, though, Arrowhead will "prototype and test it out."

We already knew that Arrowhead looks to Helldivers 2's avid community for suggestions of things to implement in the game, with Pilestedt recently teasing "a massive list of quality-of-life improvement ideas that we source from the community." For now, we'll just have to watch this space, but be warned that even the most dangerous suggestions seem to have a chance of becoming reality.

Check out our guide on how to activate the Terminid Control System in Helldivers 2 for help in completing the current major order.

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I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.