The liberty-loving freestyle Helldivers 2 rap that didn't make its iconic opening cinematic surfaces, spurring us on to spread managed democracy like never before

A screenshot from Goodbye Kansas Studios' behind-the-scenes video on Helldivers 2's opening cinematic.
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios / Goodbye Kansas Studios)

Folks, we thought this day may never come, but it's here. The official Helldivers 2 freestyle rap, which was tragically cut from the full version of the game, has surfaced online thanks to a behind-the-scenes video from Goodbye Kansas Studios – the team behind the shooter's iconic opening cinematic.

As we previously reported, the face of Helldivers 2's iconic opening recruitment cutscene recently shared that "MANY, many hours of improv" had gone into the making of the cutscene. Amongst all that content that wasn't crammed into the short, in-universe recruitment ad was a freestyle rap, which the intro cinematic director Freddy Löfberg "called out that I should do with no warning, in the middle of a take" (thanks, PC Gamer).

Previously, Craig Lee Thomas teased that all this footage would be out there "somewhere on an Arrowhead external hard drive," but we never knew if it'd actually see the light of day, and we could only imagine what democracy-loving lyrics it included. Now though, it's here, and it's everything we could have dreamed of. Please, feast your eyes on the video below - the ending specifically.

It might be short, but from the spreading of liberty to the threat against the Terminids, they really captured the full essence of the game with this one. In case you want the lyrics for karaoke purposes: "L-I-B-E-R-T-Y, Helldiver ship screaming across the sky, I got Helldiver one, and Helldiver two, gonna turn those bugs to a bucket of goo."

The timing of this rap being shared now is particularly hilarious, as only recently did a fan-made Automaton diss track make its way online. Unfortunately, in that one, it's not at all clear what the bots are saying, so we can't compare the lyrics, but it definitely feels like we're in the middle of a rap battle between the bots and Super Earth right now. 

Be sure to take a look at our Helldivers 2 beginner's guide to help get you started in the fight to spread Managed Democracy.

Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works 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.