Helldivers 2 is definitely real, and probably announcing soon
Another Nvidia leak bears out: 12 seconds of footage from a Helldivers 2 trailer has leaked on Twitter ahead of an official announcement. As sequels go, Helldivers 2 shouldn't be a big surprise at this point: developer Arrowhead Game Studios (also the makers of Magicka) hasn't released a new game since Helldivers in 2015, and last October Arrowhead tweeted some cryptic binary code that seemed like a tease for an announcement that never materialized. In other words: it's about time.
The first Helldivers was published on PlayStation by Sony, and actually arrived on Steam under Sony's banner back in 2015. It was one of only three Sony-published games on Steam, all indies, until Horizon Zero Dawn kicked off the new era of PlayStation games on PC in 2020. Arrowhead kept supporting Helldivers for years, which perhaps explains why the sequel has been so long in coming.
Here’s roughly 10 seconds of footage from the #Helldivers 2 trailer, made by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by PlayStation Studios. pic.twitter.com/6fDG4aHgGIAugust 18, 2022
There's not much to take away from the Helldivers 2 trailer, which includes only a couple lines of dialogue: "The aliens are at our doorstep" and "Democracy herself hangs in the balance." A bit of disclaimer text does confirm the game is coming to PlayStation 5, and there's no mention of PC in the brief snippet that made its way to Twitter. If Sony follows its recent playbook we'll likely see Helldivers 2 on PC, but we might be waiting awhile for a port.
PC Gamer's Morgan Park was a big fan of the co-op shooting in Helldivers, especially its supply drop system that required punching in d-pad codes mid-fight to call down ammo and powerups. You could also instantly squash your teammates with airdrops if they weren't paying attention, something he hopes Helldivers 2 maintains.