With the initial battle to keep servers online seemingly over, developer Arrowhead Game Studios must focus on a new and insidious threat that seeks to undermine the intergalactic war effort - from within. We are talking, of course, about Helldivers 2's inevitable cheaters, who have somehow managed to find all-new ways of being annoying, an astonishing feat in a game that openly embraces friendly fire.
Progression in Helldivers 2 is a stately affair, partly gated by samples that must be collected and successfully extracted from deployments over dozens of hours. But cheaters, using exploits, can collect dozens, or even hundreds, of samples in each mission. Worse, samples are shared across the squad, so even true and patriotic soldiers of Super Earth are being caught up, with some even heroically requesting Arrowhead to nuke their accounts so they can honourably earn their just rewards (something the developer can do upon request).
Other undemocratic players use hacks to get infinite ammo, increase movement speed, or even activate "god mode" to gain invulnerability. We'll report to the nearest Democracy Officer for immediate punishment for this next thoughtcrime, but we suspect those responsible are playing primarily on PC, what with their greater understanding of mechanical matters. Such is the double-edged sword that is cross-platform play.
Why, you ask? Why would anyone want to cheat in a cooperative-only game in which overcoming enormous odds is the entire point? Ask the Automatons, trooper; it seems like the sort of thing those unfeeling, mechanical monsters would enjoy.