From the moment you boot up HELLDIVERS 2, you’re greeted not by subtlety, but by the clarion call of liberty. The Experience proudly swaps stealth and nuance for Liberty and Camaraderie, where coordination isn’t optional—it’s national duty. Your squadmates are your lifeline. Friendly fire? That’s not a bug. That’s a feature. Because in the name of Super Earth, if you die in a crossfire, you die free.

Now hold on here, mid-one of these glorious dives against the fascist bug plague, my friend screamed, "FOR DEMOCRACY!" as he lowered an orbital 380mm strike directly atop where we lay. We all died simultaneously. It was great. Because when the smoke clouds rolled back, we'd complete the objective—and each square centimeter of that dirt was suffused with democracy.

Reminded me of when I cried watching a bald eagle sit on top of a grill half-full of hot dogs on July Fourth.

Combat is crunchy, chaotic, and glorious. Whether you're raining armor-piercing justice on Terminid hordes or giving a Helldiver an portable Hellbomb, sending that Helldiver into an Automaton base with deliberation, each second is chock-full of adrenaline and über-patriotism. The variety of Stratagems at your disposal—ranging from airstrikes to mechs—happens to be like unboxing a basket of goodies destrucion courtesy of Uncle Sam himself. It's adorable. It's absurd. It's like witnessing the Declaration of Independence get drop-kicked into an alien stronghold by a jetpack-clad helldiver. Missions are a war film waiting to happen. One moment you're joking around with your squad after just surviving a bot ambush, and the next you're weeping as your best friend keeps the evac point heroically while screaming the national anthem into voice chat.

I haven’t cried like that since my high school civics teacher showed us a film of 21 McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighter jets from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina flying over during Reagan’s funeral.

But here's the thing, and it's a doozy. Despite all the Liberty, unity, and resplendently detonating body parts, HELLDIVERS 2 does something that reduces Lady Liberty to tears. PlayStation still denies access to players in 121 countries that don't have PSN. That's over a hundred nations full of would-be Helldivers unable to take up arms for liberty. Somewhere out there, a would-be freedom dropper is behind PlayStation's Iron Curtain.

Despite that bitter truth, HELLDIVERS 2 is the decade's finest. Buy it, play it, Helldive. Do it for justice. Do it for honor. Do it for SUPER EARTH glory.

And remember: liberty is not given. It's served up.
With high-explosive precision.