Helldivers 2 accidentally spoils old faction from original game is actually coming back

The Illuminate appear to (finally) be set for a huge comeback in Helldivers 2, based on a quick mistake the Arrowhead Game Studio developers have done their best to hide.

Helldivers 2 players have reported looking through the game’s map and spotting hints of the Illuminate today. While selecting other Helldivers 2 map areas, active enemy factions such as Terminids and Automatons are labeled and highlighted in their respective colors with their own insignia. When hovering over the Rictus sector, however, there isn’t any label for players—but with a closer look, the Illuminate insignia is actually visible, clear as day.

Other Helldivers spotted the Illuminate on Haka too, with many tagging Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani and chief operating officer Johan Pilestedt. After Jorjani’s attention was drawn to the matter, all he had to write was “fake news,” leaving gamers questioning what they’d seen. 

In an update that removed the blips of Illuminate players managed to find, a System Outage Update details a “service outage” describing interference with electronic equipment, leading to faulty electronics that caused the “issue” to appear. As gamers pointed out, this is a slick in-lore way to dismiss any accidents the devs may have wanted gamers to miss.

Helldivers fans appear to enjoy the fun back and forth this accident managed to create between players and devs. The tone shift has been very welcome across the community, especially considering Helldivers 2 has been caught up in endless controversy of late. This way of players and Arrowhead’s devs poking fun at the matter has helped break that up.

As for the impending new group, the Illuminate is an enemy faction of aliens from the original Helldivers release known for being difficult to handle. Players have been eager to see them added for some time now, and small teasers like this slip-up (planned or not) shows Arrowhead intends to deliver on those fandom dreams. Furthermore, datamining has already proven the missing faction has been kicking around in files for at least a few months.

All this news shines an air of positivity around Helldivers 2 as the new action RPG’s player count continues to plunge. It’s been looking dire for the Arrowhead Games Studio release for a while now, especially in the wake of Concord’s failure, which put a magnifying glass on Sony’s willingness to bet big on live-services without effectively supporting them. It’ll take more time to see if the Helldivers can bring in the huge numbers it once had again, but to some absent players, the Illuminate are all the reason anyone really needed to come back.