It wasn’t that long ago thatSuper Earth successfully (?) spaghettified a team of scientiststo develop a new type of weapon, andHelldivers 2players have already gotten around to using it. Specifically,the recent planetary destruction campaignwas a resounding success, and Meridia is now a black hole.
Over the past couple of days, Helldiver forces were tasked with a unique Dark Fluid mission type. It consisted ofHelldivers 2players taking the fight to the Terminid super-colony on Meridia and injecting canisters of the Fluid into the planetary core. While the operation wasno simple feat, Helldiver fireteams were successful in the end, and Meridia is now permanently spaghettified, from the looks of it. According to Super Earth, what was once Meridia is now ahumongousblack hole, but something may be amiss here.
Helldivers 2’s Meridia is now a black hole or something like it
While the jury is still out on whether the former planet of Meridia truly is a black hole or not, the visual representation of the anomaly itself may remind veteranHelldiversplayers ofthe infamous third faction from the first game: the Illuminate. The aesthetic is, broadly, on point, as the Illuminate used to leverage dark energy portals to move around the battlefield, and this is most definitelynotthe first hint of Illuminate presencewe’ve seen so far. The Meridia operation’s Dark Fluid had to come from somewhere, right? To say nothing of the strange murmurs that can be heard coming from the “black hole”.
Depending on how (un)lucky you are, you may have already fallen victim to one ofHelldivers 2‘s biggest question marks yet:the strange blue lasersthat strike players down out of nowhere every so often. There’s alotto suggest that the long-anticipated return of the Illuminate faction is almost upon us, then, even if we don’treallyhave any hard information on the when, what, how, and why of the event. As with many such things, developer Arrowhead Games is keeping cards close to its chest, but the writing seems to be on the wall at last.
It’s a good thing, too, asHelldivers 2is yet to receive its next major update, which is supposed to revert the game’sexcessive enemy spawnsamong other ongoing issues. Betweenthe relatively mild reception to the new mechand the aforementioned spawning problems, there’s a lot of stuff that requires Arrowhead Games’ attention.
Since the studio usually keepsa tight lid on the most exciting pieces of contentcoming toHelldivers 2, it’s entirely possible that the Illuminates could be a part of this future update. Certainly, all the pieces have fallen into place by now, but pushing out a whole new faction might prove to be particularly risky at this time. Only one way to find out what happens next!
