Since developer Arrowhead Game Studios shadow dropped the Illuminate faction in its popular Windows PC and PS5 co-op shooter Helldivers 2 in December, it's been something of a game of cat and mouse between the squid-like aliens and Lady Liberty's finest troops. The Illuminate surprise attack one of Super Earth's colonies and transform democratic citizens into shambling Voteless zombies to refill its ranks, only to retreat and crop up elsewhere once the cavalry arrives to drive them away. Soon, however, it looks like the alien menace will kick off a larger, more nefarious plan.
On Monday, players were suddenly introduced to a new readout on their ship's Galactic Map: a Spacetime Fluctuation Indicator that's "surveying unexplained spacetime fluctuations." Nothing about its ultimate purpose is explained by the graph itself, but reading the latest intel report from Super Earth High Command in the dispatch menu reveals it's a tool meant to track Illuminate activity.
"Multiple Astronomical Monitoring Stations have reported the appearance of unexplained gravitational waves, and 'wobbles' in the orbits of astronomical bodies. These 'Spacetime Fluctuations' have been positively correlated with Illuminate activity," reads the report. "The Ministry of Defense has begun tracking these fluctuations in coordination with the Ministry of Science, and their activity will be displayed on all Galactic Maps."
Thus far, the Indicator hasn't picked up any spikey readings from the Illuminate's usual hit-and-run tactics, and it doesn't react when you look at or warp to an active Illuminate battleground, either. I do imagine it'll start beeping and whirring whenever the faction starts to initiate the next step of its wider scheme, though — a scheme we know is coming, per a recent Major Order failure notice.
"The Illuminate remain hidden. There can be no doubt that some larger scheme is at work, but it has yet to reveal itself," it said in the aftermath of the Helldivers' inability to defend against a flurry of Illuminate assaults. "The citizens of Super Earth will never be safe until the Illuminate are hunted down and destroyed."
Unsurprisingly, players are freaking out about the Indicator on social media sites like the Helldivers reddit, where a panicked "WHAT IS THIS" post about the tool has already become one of the biggest posts of the week with 15K upvotes and 1,000 comments. What the Illuminate plans to do to follow-up on the skirmishes we've been dealing with so far is anyone's guess, but pretty much everyone agrees that it's probably planning to initiate a large galaxy-wide invasion, and this new readout as a clear piece of foreshadowing.
But when will that scary next phase of the Illuminate's machinations begin? There's no way to know this for sure, either, but I'd hazard a guess that something big will happen on February 8 — the anniversary of Helldivers 2's release date last year. I'm expecting a new Warbond battle pass full of new kit (it's been nearly two months since the previous one), and a huge rip-roaring Illuminate offensive to test it out on. Perhaps the faction will even get new units, as currently, it only has five enemy types.
The good news? Even if we don't get a new Warbond (and we most likely will), the Helldivers' arsenal is more varied and balanced than it's ever been, with almost every weapon, armor set, stratagem, and booster being viable options against the Illuminate in particular (the same can't be said of the Terminids or the Automatons). Between that fact and the almighty Democracy Space Station weapons platform recently coming back online for players to call in copious amounts of artillery and air support with, Super Earth citizens can rest easy knowing that the Helldivers are ready to repel the squids' next move.
...Right?
Helldivers 2 stands tall as one of the best PC games and best PS5 games to play if you're into co-op shooters, intense sci-fi action, goofy physics antics, and goofy satirical writing. It's typically $40, though you can often get it for less if you shop around for discounts. Right now, the best one is CDKeys' sale that shaves nearly $10 off the price, allowing you to get the bombastic title for just over $30.
