Earlier today, Helldivers 2 called in pest control to address a major bug problem. Briefly, the game's most heavily armored terminids, from the Vile Titan to the Charger to the Annihilator Tank, were spawning directly above the player.

The patch fixed this, and also adjusted for bugs in general that targeted things like the Charger's "leg meta" (which was more effective at targeting legs than heads, essentially).

This caused chaos as hell-divers swarmed the sector in question, but the interesting angle here is that it is permanent. First of all, because Super Earth Command never lies about such things, and its implications in the broader galactic war. It may be a pushover, but the idea of holding a piece of territory in perpetuity is a new one.

"Terminid control systems are being built by SEAF engineers on all barrier planets," says the Super Earth Information Ministry. But the Terminids have swarmed onto four of the planets, forcing evacuation." The Helldivers have been asked to activate the TCS, which, once activated, will inoculate each planet with a kill terminator and permanently quarantine the bugs.

The four planets targeted in this order are Elata Prime, Fenrir III, Meridia, and Turing, with a reward (as if a reward were required) of 50 medals. As of this writing, there are approximately 205,000 players across these four planets, with only Fenrir III being slightly dented by the dominance of the bugs. Let's see if Joel, the game master, will start turning the dial.

Helldivers 2's popularity continues to rise, largely due to how Arrowhead has developed Galactic Warfare within the first month of the game's launch. This is not like other live service games, nor does it feel like it follows the same calendar schedule (despite the obvious meticulous preparation that goes on behind the scenes).

The current bug squashing sequence follows a great side story where players rushed to liberate a planet that could produce mechs and then everyone got them. Obviously there is more to come, including the introduction of a third enemy faction, but for now let's go squash the bugs for freedom.