Helldivers 2 CEO dances around a potential new faction that sounds like the Illuminate from the first game, immediately insists "I'd never" tease such a thing

Helldivers 2
(Image credit: Sony / Arrowhead)

Get to the chopp- I mean, get to the pelican, divers. Arrowhead Studios' CEO Johan Pilestedt has teased that another alien species, or potentially an entire enemy faction, is plotting its revenge against Helldivers 2 players.

In response to an online player request asking for in-game collaborations, such as a potential Predator crossover, the Helldivers 2 boss had a sly comeback. "Imagine if there was a Predator-like alien species in the Helldivers universe that were exiled from the galaxy that were planning vengeance," he writes

Another player's comment asked if this was a hint about the Illuminate, a faction from the first game that was thought to have been defeated. "I prefer Enlightened but thank you," Pilestedt quips.

The Illuminate has long been speculated to be the next faction added to Helldivers 2's sprawling galactic war table, rejoining Super Earth's other democratically mismanaged foes, the Terminids and the Automatons. It's not just blind speculation, though, players have spotted signs of the Illuminate in-game. 

Sightings of the psionically-power, tentacled baddies have been reported for months, and blue beams have even been caught sniping Helldivers to death in the past. Pilestedt got the propaganda machine turning to deny the undemocratic claims, however. 

Do Predators resemble the Illuminate that much? Well, the exiled Helldivers faction can cloak themselves and strike from afar, but some species in the faction more closely resemble the wrinkled Prophets from Halo on account of their ceremonial robes and squid-like builds, rather than an apex alien that can go toe-to-toe with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Only time will tell.

Helldivers 2 get delisted in more countries without PSN access, blindsided devs call for it to be “available worldwide.”

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

Read more
Helldivers 2
100 years after Super Earth saw them off the first time, Helldivers 2 brings back the Illuminate faction in its new Omens of Tyranny update, live now
Helldivers 2
Now that the Illuminate faction's arrived, Helldivers 2 is "finally the three-front battle of the galactic war" fans have been "waiting for"
Four Helldivers lined up on base ship
Helldivers 2's mysterious black hole might finally come into play as Arrowhead tweaks its look and the new faction inches closer: "Helldivers, protect your holes"
Helldivers 2 screenshot showing a fully geared/armored diver standing with gun in hand as three jets soar the skies behind him
Another Helldivers 2 collaboration is already in the "early stages" after the sci-fi shooter crossed over with Killzone
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 players celebrate victory after scaring new Illuminate invaders out of the galaxy, only for the creepy squid aliens to come running back
Helldivers 2 illuminate
The Helldivers 2 Illuminate faction and how to beat them
Latest in Third Person Shooter
Helldivers 2 screenshot showing a fully geared/armored diver standing with gun in hand as three jets soar the skies behind him
Arrowhead reveals the Helldivers 2 ideas left on its cutting room floor, from 5-player squads to low-gravity planets and a whole new armor system
Helldivers 2 Ultimatum
Helldivers 2 has a Major Order problem, but the solution isn't simple because "having 100% participation means the MOs will always be won and that introduces other issues"
Marvel Rivals Clone Rumble
Marvel Rivals' new Clone Rumble mode sounds like the kind of absolute chaos multiplayer games need more of
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 has an endgame problem, but a developer assures us "things are coming," they just can't say what yet because otherwise our expectations will be too high
Jeff the Land Shark as he appears in Marvel Rivals
"Sounds like a skills issue": Jeff the Shark co-creator says Marvel Rivals players "should get better at the game" if "my boy is beating your ass every night"
Helldivers 2 intro cutscene helldiver thumbs up
Helldivers 2's Galactic War resumes as Arrowhead fixes its broken liberation rates, and High Command insists anyone who saw anything weird "may be suffering from Illuminate mind-influence"
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip