Helldivers 2 doesn’t waste time getting you into the action. After a gut-busting opening piece of mandatory propaganda (refusal to pay attention is treason) which explains that Super Earth is under attack from the robotic Automatons and the “legally-distinct-but-still-totally-the-bugs-from-Starship-Troopers” Terminids (which are also definitely not Warhammer 40K’s Tyranids!), you’re dropped into Helldiver basic training. Your instructor tells you that he isn’t easily impressed… before letting you know how impressed he is by the fact that you’re not backing down.

After mercilessly gassing you up during one of the funniest tutorials I’ve ever played and telling you how invincible you are – while conveniently avoiding the fact that the average Helldiver has a lifespan of about, oh, I don’t know, 30 seconds – you earn your cape and are given command of your own Super Destroyer space ship (I named mine the Elected Representative of Family Values) and sent to the front lines with your buddies. Once you’re out in the Galactic War, you’re free to head to either the Automaton or Terminid front to bring Liberty and Managed Democracy to their occupied planets. Each world has multiple missions with multiple objectives, which range from destroying Termanid eggs to activating your local, nuclear-armed ICBM. Just a regular, glorious day at the office for your average Helldiver.