It's time, Helldivers 2 community: Malevelon Creek is a liberation target next to the new Major Order to take out an Automaton factory in Game Master Joel's latest plot

Update - March 31: Somewhat confusingly, Malevelon Creek appears to have been an unrelated side dish to the new major order itself, which focused on a separate chain of planets physically but not mechanically attached to the Creek. The current campaign, now paused by the sudden Draupnir invasion in a parallel sector, is centered around Ubanea and Tibit. It seems I wasn't the only one confused by this – and for the record, I apologize for any mix-ups – based on a statement to the Helldivers 2 Discord from community manager Spitz, posted March 30:

"Our task is now to retake Draupnir to enable FTL lines to Ubanea before the Automatons can shore up defenses and repopulate their losses," it reads. "This setback will prove to be significant, and may compromise the Major Order if Draupnir and Ubanea are not retaken quickly.

"Another significant obstacle in our operations has been the ongoing support of expeditionary forces on Malevelon Creek. Long standing as a bastion of human endurance and a symbol of our resistance against the Automatons, Malevelon Creek remains locked in a stalemate with an average 25% of our forces committed to its defense and eventual liberation, though success on Draupnir, Ubanea, and eventually Tibit seems unlikely with such a large contingent diverted elsewhere..."

Original story: 

It all comes back to Malevelon Creek. Helldivers 2 players smashed the latest major order, and now a new one's come in to shut down an Automaton factory on planet Tibit, but we're going to have to punch through some other planets first, and the infamous Malevelon Creek is marked for liberation once again.

Helldivers 2's new Major Order came in earlier today. "OP Swift Disassembly, Phase 2: Reduce Non-Sentient Combatant Production," the in-game order reads. "Intel analysis have identified the planet Tibit as the most significant producer of illegal Automaton combatants. Liberating this planet would significantly replenish decommissioned socialists. It would also limit further theft of the planet's natural resources from future generations of inarguably sentient humans." 

The truncated mission message adds: "We have identified the most significant source of Automaton combatant production. Liberation of this planet will severely impact the enemy's force replenishment capacity." 

Tibit is at the end of a chain of planets in the western front, with the two active war theaters being Malevelon Creek and Ubanea for the time being. Malevelon Creek has been quietly simmering away ever since players begrudgingly lost it to the Automaton surge, and the folks at developer Arrowhead have even leaned into the meme and publicly urged players to return to the fight. 

At the time of writing, there are about – let me just double-check this – 69 hours left to finish this 45-medal Major Order. Thanks to its supportive faction of devotees, Malevelon Creek is already 43% liberated, with some 54,729 Helldivers deployed. Ubanea, the other planet in the immediate liberation chain, has 84,396 Helldivers on the ground and is 24% liberated. Tibit itself isn't available yet, and I'm assuming we'll have to take at least these two planets, if not a fourth on the way, to unlock it. It's time, Helldivers. The creek must be freed once and for all. 

Helldivers 2 probably wouldn't exist without Nintendo as its director says the Mario maker is "the reason why I became a game dev."