Later today, Helldivers 2 fan film For Liberty will premiere for the whole of Super Earth to watch. Created by volunteers at YouTube channel Plot Coalition, the film will reach almost an hour in length, longer than any other Helldivers fan project made to date.
The fan film is not officially endorsed or made in partnership with Sony or Arrowhead, but it has proven exhilarating to the Helldivers community. As of writing, the latest trailer has accrued almost 300,000 views in just over a month.
The film itself is animated in the Helldivers style, following the experiences of some brave soldiers of Super Earth as they navigate the treacherous galaxy the popular third-person shooter takes place in. It’s also fully voice acted, with six actors lending their talents to the project.
One of them – Kevin Lauer – spoke to Eurogamer about For Liberty earlier this week. A previous actor on Plot Coalition’s Titanfall series, he is a relatively new fan of the Helldivers series. However, having dived in to better learn about his role and the background for the film, Lauer quickly learned the ins-and-outs of Helldivers quirkiness and its general appeal.
“I didn’t play Helldivers until it launched on Xbox earlier this year, so at first I was guided by the director,” Lauer stated. “Then when I played the game I was like: ‘oh, that makes sense, I understand that reference now!’
“I would say it is pretty accurate. It’s not as humorous as some people think. There are three trailers: one’s very liberty, democratic. Another is quite solemn and dark, and the last trailer is in the middle ground. It does have that humour, and there are a lot of things in there I think a lot of fans will recognise. This is made by fans of Helldivers, and I think that will definitely show through.”
Lauer plays the Veteran, a stand-in for the community idealised ‘John Helldiver’ who represents what it means to fight for Super Earth. According to Lauer, the community reception to the project has been exceptionally positive.
Lauer explained: “I’ve been doing content creation for a while so I’m used to negative comments, but there have been so few. People are excited, or they’re asking how long the film is (laughs). But it’s been very well received, and as far as I know in terms of fan projects there’s been nothing to this scale.”
According to Lauer, even Arrowhead is hosting its own watch party today upon the film’s release. He stated: “After the first trailer in February or March, they reached out and they thought it was really cool. I heard there’s going to be a watch party for it at Arrowhead, and I think it’s really cool that the developers are so engaged with the community.”
All of this is fun, but it begs the question: why is Helldivers 2 so ripe for such fan projects. For Liberty may be the largest fan film released, but it’s far from the only creative work made in the world of Helldivers. What about the game and its players attracts such passion? For Lauer, the answer is clear.
“One thing I’ve learned as a new fan is everyone is in on the joke, everyone is ‘brainwashed’,” Lauer concludes. “If one of my friends in-game is like, that’s a dumb thing, I’ll shoot him in the head because it’s like, don’t question democracy. Don’t do that, and they’ll do it to me! I think it’s just a fun simple game, personally I feel there’s a need for cooperative games, and it just works. It’s nice, it’s crazy, and you can just be ridiculous! It’s goofy and it plays well.”
Helldivers 2 continues riding high off its initial popularity, keeping its dedicated fan base engaged with constant updates and an ongoing Galactic War on numerous fronts. One of its biggest strengths is allowing players to tell their own stories, something Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestadt said in a GDC talk on the game’s development. You can read more about Helldivers 2, as well as how developers find continous success in the brutal live service market, in Eurogamer’s longform deep dive on the topic from earlier this month.
