Radekin Gaming

As of mid-June 2026, I think Helldivers 2 is in a very good place.

Not perfect. Not immune from criticism. Not magically free from balance problems. But overall? The game is fun, varied, stable, and still one of the best co-op PvE experiences out there right now.

The Recent Patch Made Heavy Tools Much Tougher

We recently had a fairly significant patch that buffed the toughness of exosuits, tanks, and sentries, and overall, I think that was mostly a good move.

That said, I do not think tanks and exosuits were weak before this update.

Before the patch, tanks and exosuits were already very strong. On lower and mid difficulties, you could often steamroll most enemy factions and mission types with them, outside of a few specific threats like Automaton tower cannons. On difficulties 8, 9, and 10, though, you had to play more carefully. You could still get punished hard if you positioned badly, ignored major threats, or let enemies swarm you.

Honestly, I thought that was mostly fine.

The tank being able to ignore light armor penetration attacks now makes sense from a gameplay and fantasy standpoint. It is a tank. It should not feel like every random small enemy can slowly chip it down just because you let enough bugs or bots scratch at it. Even before the patch, the tank had a massive health pool, so it was not exactly fragile, but I understand why that interaction felt wrong to people.

The exosuits are where I am a little more mixed.

I have never viewed Helldivers 2 exosuits as Gundams. I view them more like several stratagems strapped together into one armored weapons platform. They should be strong, durable, and worth bringing, but they should still demand awareness and good positioning, especially on the highest difficulties.

The recent patch definitely made tanks and exosuits feel tougher, and in many ways that feels good. Taking multiple tower cannon shots in an exosuit can feel satisfying in the moment. But at the same time, it is a long-range tower cannon. Part of me is not fully convinced an exosuit should be shrugging that off too easily.

So my position right now is this:

I am mostly okay with the buffs for now, especially the tank changes. But I do think we are getting close to a point where tanks and exosuits may be too comfortable as default powerhouse options. I do not mind them being cruise-control tools around difficulty 6 or 7. But on difficulties 8, 9, and 10, they should still require real respect for positioning, threat priority, and mission pressure.

Right now, they are very strong. Maybe too strong. Not game-breaking necessarily, but strong enough that I think it is worth watching carefully.

Fun Comes First, But Balance Still Matters

Fun should always be the top priority in Helldivers 2.

This is a chaotic co-op PvE game about dropping onto hostile planets, blowing things up, getting overwhelmed, saving each other at the last second, and occasionally getting vaporized by your friend’s poorly placed stratagem. If the game is not fun, nothing else matters.

But fun still needs to be tempered by good game balance.

Even in a purely PvE game, balance matters. Some players act like balance only matters in competitive games, but that is just not true. If everything becomes too easy, too powerful, or too forgiving, the experience can flatten out into one big pile of “whatever, everything works, nothing matters.”

That might feel exciting for a few missions, but long term, it gets boring.

Good balance gives player choices meaning. It makes loadouts feel distinct. It makes difficulty matter. It gives the sandbox texture. It creates moments where the right tool, the right teamwork, or the right decision actually changes the outcome.

So my current opinion is this:

Helldivers 2 is extremely fun right now, but some of these buffs are starting to push the game toward being a little too easy in certain areas.

Not catastrophically. Not “the game is ruined.” Not dramatic outrage nonsense.

Just something worth watching.

The Current State of the Game Is Strong

Overall, I’m very happy with where Helldivers 2 is right now.

I thought the game was fun before this patch, and I still think it is fun after it. The recent changes mostly feel like good additions. Exosuits and tanks feel more durable. Sentries feel more worthwhile. Heavy battlefield tools feel more like heavy battlefield tools.

That is good.

Arrowhead has also made changes to several other areas recently, and I’ll get into those more deeply in future posts and videos. I want to review the patch changes in more detail later, because there is a lot worth talking about.

But just looking at the big picture, the game is currently playing very well.

The three main enemy factions — Automatons, Terminids, and Illuminate — plus their respective sub-factions, all feel distinct and worthwhile. They each pressure the player in different ways. They each reward different loadouts, habits, and team strategies.

That is one of Helldivers 2’s greatest strengths.

As a team game, Helldivers 2 currently has a ton of variety. You can run coordinated loadouts with friends, mess around in quickplay with random players, or bring some weird build you want to test and still have a good time.

For solo players, there is also a good range of challenge from Difficulty 1 all the way up to Difficulty 10 Super Helldive. Not every loadout is equally viable at every difficulty, and it should not be. But there is a lot of room to experiment, improve, and find what works for your own playstyle.

That is a healthy place for the game to be.

There Will Always Be Something to Complain About

Could some things still be tuned, tweaked, or improved?

Of course.

There will always be something.

Some weapons could use a clearer identity. Some enemies could be adjusted. Some stratagems may still need tuning. Some missions, modifiers, or spawn patterns could probably be improved. That is just the reality of a live-service PvE game.

But especially as a PlayStation 5 Pro player, I have to say the game is performing very well for me right now. The overall stability and performance feel much better than they have at various points in the past.

Arrowhead has clearly been making gradual progress on technical issues, stability, game balance, and overall quality of life. Have there been ups and downs? Absolutely. Has every decision been perfect? No. But the game has kept moving forward.

And that matters.

The Rage-Bait Analysis Around This Game Is Exhausting

Now, some Reddit threads, YouTube videos, and content creators would have you believe that Arrowhead is full of incompetent, malicious, greedy developers who are only now “finally listening” because the community screamed loudly enough.

I think that analysis is weak.

Not just harsh. Not just negative. Weak.

The idea that Arrowhead suddenly discovered that players want the game to be fun is ridiculous. They have obviously had many of these issues in mind for a long time. But players do not know every constraint behind the scenes.

We do not know every development limitation.

We do not know every business pressure.

We do not know every technical problem.

We do not know every internal priority.

We do not know every conversation between Arrowhead, Sony, or anyone else involved.

And in Helldivers 2’s case, there is also the added issue that the game was built on an engine that was discontinued years into development, which likely made an already difficult project even more complicated.

As a player or consumer, you might not care about that. Fine. You do not have to care.

But if you are going to throw out harsh criticism — especially personal, nasty, moralizing criticism — then it is only fair to take those realities into account.

Otherwise, you are not doing serious analysis. You are just venting.

And venting can be entertaining, sure. I understand the appeal. But let’s not confuse that with insight.

Criticism Is Fine. Rage Farming Is Not.

There is a big difference between criticizing a game because you care about it and constantly framing everything as proof that the developers are stupid, evil, greedy, or malicious.

The first can be useful.

The second is just noise.

Helldivers 2 has problems worth talking about. Balance matters. Difficulty matters. Weapon identity matters. Enemy design matters. Performance matters. Player trust matters.

But if your entire approach is just “Arrowhead bad” every time something happens, that is not serious criticism. That is a content formula.

And frankly, it is a lazy one.

The people farming negativity and outrage know who they are. I think a lot of that analysis is sloppy, emotionally loaded, and designed more to feed anger than understanding.

If someone wants to make a serious argument, make it. Put the reasoning on the table. Explain the evidence. Compare tradeoffs. Acknowledge constraints. Then we can have a real discussion.

But if the entire argument is just sarcasm, outrage, selective memory, and “the developers hate fun,” I am not going to pretend that deserves the same respect as thoughtful criticism.

It does not.

The Game Is Not Perfect, But It Is Clearly Improving

To be clear, none of this means Arrowhead is perfect.

They are not.

Some balance decisions have been questionable. Some communication has been rough. Some patches have created new problems while solving old ones. That is fair to criticize.

But the current state of Helldivers 2 does not support the idea that the game is being neglected, abandoned, or maliciously mismanaged.

The game is active. The sandbox is expanding. The factions are distinct. The technical experience has improved. The recent heavy-unit buffs make tanks, exosuits, and sentries feel much more satisfying.

That is not failure.

That is progress.

Could the balance eventually drift too far toward easy mode if these buffs keep stacking up?

Yes.

That is my biggest concern right now.

When powerful tools become too safe, too durable, and too broadly useful, the game can start losing some of its pressure. Helldivers 2 is at its best when things are chaotic but manageable, dangerous but fair, ridiculous but still demanding.

If the game becomes too forgiving, it risks losing some of that edge.

But right now, I do not think we are there yet.

Right now, I think the game is simply in a strong, fun, slightly more player-friendly state.

Final Thoughts

So, as of mid-June 2026, my opinion is simple:

Helldivers 2 is in a great place right now.

The game is fun. The factions are varied. The sandbox is strong. The technical experience, at least for me on PS5, has improved a lot. The recent buffs to exosuits, tanks, and sentries make those tools feel much more powerful and satisfying.

Do I think some of the balance might be drifting a little too easy in certain areas?

Yes.

Do I think the game is ruined?

Absolutely not.

Helldivers 2 is still one of the most fun co-op PvE games available right now, and based on what Arrowhead has said about the future, there are more good things coming down the pipe over the next several months.

So for now, I’m happy with the game.

I’m still critical. I’m still watching the balance closely. I’ll still call out bad decisions when I see them.

But overall?

Helldivers 2 is doing very well, and I’m excited to see where it goes next.

For Super Earth.

Radekin