Helldivers 2 Board Game: First Impressions

Last year, Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 became a standout hit in the multiplayer gaming world, captivating players with its mission to spread democracy across the stars through intense battles against aliens and robots. Now, following their successful adaptation of Elden Ring into a board game, Steamforged Games is bringing the fast-paced, frenetic action of Helldivers 2 to the tabletop. The board game is currently available for backing on Gamefound. IGN had the opportunity to play a prototype and discuss the game with designers Jamie Perkins, Derek Funkhouser, and Nicholas Yu.

Helldivers 2: The Board Game

17 ImagesDevelopment of Helldivers 2: The Board Game began shortly after the video game's launch, aiming to encapsulate the excitement and popularity of the original. The board game successfully recreates the tense firefights, chaotic surprises, and teamwork-focused gameplay, while introducing unique tweaks to enhance the experience.

Helldivers 2 remains a cooperative, objective-based skirmish game, playable with one to four players. The designers suggest solo players use two characters. Each player assumes the role of a different Helldiver class, equipped with a unique perk, action cards, and a one-per-game "Act of Valor" ability. The demo featured the Heavy, Sniper, Pyro, and Captain classes. Players customize their kits with primary, secondary, and support weapons, grenades, and three strategems, with recommended loadouts provided on class cards, though experienced players can choose their own.

Gameplay unfolds on grid-based boards that expand as players explore, revealing sub-objectives and primary objectives, such as destroying Terminid hatcheries in the prototype. As the mission progresses, increasingly difficult enemies spawn, and a mission timer adds urgency, keeping the gameplay tense and frenetic.

The prototype focused on destroying Terminid hatcheries, but the final release will offer multiple objectives. The base game includes two main factions: Terminids and robotic Automatons, each with 10 unit types. While not confirmed, an expansion might introduce the Illuminate faction, given Steamforged's history with stretch goals.

A key aspect of the adaptation is how it handles the feeling of being overwhelmed and outnumbered. Unlike games like Zombicide, which rely on sheer numbers, Helldivers 2 opts for fewer, stronger enemies, fostering a more tactical, close-up combat experience.

Turns involve players and enemies adding action cards to a pool, which are shuffled and placed on an initiative tracker, similar to Steamforged's Elden Ring game. Combat is resolved through dice rolls, with every four action cards triggering a random event that can disrupt plans, such as spawning additional enemies.

Combat for Helldivers is straightforward, with each weapon determining the type and number of dice rolled. Damage is calculated based on the total roll value, with every five points inflicting a wound on an enemy. This system simplifies combat, focusing on the impact of hits rather than complex modifiers.

A new feature, the 'Massed Fire' mechanic, aims to replicate the video game's teamwork by allowing players to focus fire on the same target, encouraging group play and reducing downtime between turns.

"In the video game, obviously, you're encouraged to work together as a team," Nic explained. "You have a heavily armored enemy, you need to kind of flank around and shoot at the weak points if you don't have a support weapon to deal with it. But there wasn't a really good way to do that in a board game without going to a lot of facing and armor mechanics. So what we implemented was what we called 'massed fire,' so when anyone shoots at a target, if that's within range of another Helldiver's primary or secondary weapon, they can also focus fire with you at that time, and so you're kind of explicitly rewarded or incentivized to work as a group."

While players can explore solo, the 'Massed Fire' mechanic enhances group play and reduces downtime. Enemies, however, have more static effects, causing players to draw wound cards, with three wounds resulting in character death. Respawns are available based on chosen difficulty, allowing players to return with full resources.

One element not included in the board game is the galactic war from the video game. The designers chose to focus on making the board game a unique experience, positioning it as a training simulation for Helldivers.

Jamie shared an interesting piece of lore: "We're positioning it effectively as a training simulation. So you would get this board game as a Helldiver as a training simulation to learn how to be a better Helldiver." This adds a fun narrative layer to the game.

The designers, Nic, Jamie, and Derek, have ensured that despite the new medium, the game retains the essence of Helldivers. Nic emphasized, "We wanted to make sure that even though it had different mechanics, it felt like Helldivers – like we want to have unexpected things that you have to deal with from turn to turn. We want to have stratagems that could go awry and actually blow up your friends in addition to the enemies. The pool of reinforcements that dwindles as you go through the game and calling in stratagems, those are things that feel uniquely Helldivers."

Derek added, "We knew we needed to keep the core loop of what Helldivers is with the mission objectives, and just being able to chase the shiny, right? We've got points of interest and sub-objectives and the objectives to uncover and find, while also having to deal with enemies that are, you know, trying to eat you."

Currently, the game's core mechanics are about 75-80% finalized, allowing for community feedback and potential adjustments. Despite recent concerns about tariffs affecting the board gaming industry, Jamie assures that Steamforged Games is moving forward as planned, with the flexibility to make necessary adjustments.

After playing the prototype, the systems in place, such as random events and the 'Massed Fire' mechanic, create epic moments. However, while the tactical focus with larger, stronger enemies is appreciated, there's a desire for more smaller enemies to enhance the shooting experience. Additionally, enemy attacks could benefit from more dynamic outcomes to match the game's overall chaos.

Excitement builds for what Steamforged Games has in store for Helldivers 2. The prototype has sparked anticipation for new classes, game types, and combinations with different enemies and biomes. The question on everyone's mind is: Where are we dropping next?