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Helldivers 2 Board Game: Exclusive Preview

By Connor: Apr 27,2025

One of last year's standout successes in the multiplayer gaming world was Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2, a game that aimed to spread democracy across the stars through intense battles against aliens and robots. Following their successful adaptation of Elden Ring into a board game, Steamforged Games is now tackling the fast-paced and frenetic experience of Helldivers 2 with their latest project. This board game adaptation is currently available for backing on Gamefound. IGN had the opportunity to play a prototype and discuss it with designers Jamie Perkins, Derek Funkhouser, and Nicholas Yu, diving deep into this new tabletop rendition.

Helldivers 2: The Board Game

17 ImagesDevelopment of Helldivers 2: The Board Game began shortly after the video game's launch last year. It successfully captures the essence of what made the video game so popular and thrilling, including tense firefights, chaotic surprises, and a teamwork-centric experience, while also introducing unique tweaks to enhance the gameplay.

Helldivers 2 remains a cooperative, objective-based skirmish game, playable with one to four players (with a recommendation for solo players to use two characters). Players assume the roles of different Helldiver classes, each equipped with unique perks, action cards, and a powerful one-per-game "Act of Valor" ability. The demo featured classes such as the Heavy, Sniper, Pyro, and Captain. Each player customizes their kit with primary, secondary, and support weapons, grenades, and three strategems, with a suggested loadout on their class card, though experienced players can choose their own.

Gameplay unfolds on grid-based boards that expand as players explore, revealing sub-objectives and primary objectives like Terminid hatcheries to destroy. As the mission progresses, more challenging enemies spawn, and a mission timer adds a sense of urgency, keeping the game fast-paced and intense.

The prototype focused on destroying Terminid hatcheries, but the final release will feature multiple objectives. The game includes two of the three main factions from the video game – the Terminids and the robotic Automatons – each with 10 unit types. While not confirmed, there's a possibility of the Illuminate faction being added through an expansion, given Steamforged Games' history with stretch goals.

A key curiosity about this adaptation was how it would handle the overwhelming and outnumbered feeling of the video game. Unlike Zombicide, which overwhelms with sheer numbers of weaker enemies, Helldivers opts for a more tactical approach with progressively stronger foes.

Turns involve players and enemies adding action cards to a pool, which are shuffled and placed on an initiative tracker, similar to Steamforged’s Elden Ring game. Combat is dice-based, and every four action cards played trigger a random event, adding chaos and excitement to the game.

On the Helldivers' side, combat involves rolling dice with each weapon specifying the type and number of dice. Damage is calculated based on the total value of the roll, with every five points equating to one wound on an enemy. This straightforward damage system avoids the complexity of modifiers and defense values, emphasizing the Helldivers' elite status – they always hit, with the focus being on the damage dealt. Friendly fire is a risk, especially with area attacks, but reinforcements are available.

A new feature, the 'Massed Fire' mechanic, enhances the teamwork aspect by allowing players to focus fire on the same target if within range, mimicking the video game's cooperative feel. This mechanic encourages group play and reduces downtime, enhancing player engagement.

Enemies have set damage and effects, causing players to draw wound cards. Each wound has a detrimental effect, and three wounds result in character death. However, players can respawn after a set time, depending on the chosen difficulty, returning with a full loadout.

One aspect not included in the board game is the galactic war from the video game. The designers aimed to make the board game feel unique, positioning it as a training simulation for Helldivers.

Despite the new medium, the designers' goal was to maintain the core Helldivers experience, including unexpected events, stratagems that can go awry, and a dwindling pool of reinforcements. The game's core mechanics are about 75-80% complete, allowing for community feedback and potential adjustments. Jamie emphasized that recent tariffs won't impact their plans, and they are moving forward as intended.

After playing the prototype, the game's systems, like random events and the Massed Fire mechanic, proved fun and led to epic moments. While the tactical focus on larger, tougher enemies is appreciated, the author wishes for more weaker enemies to create a more frenetic experience, similar to the video game. Additionally, the author suggests adding more variability to enemy attacks to match the game's overall chaos.

Excitement builds for what other surprises Steamforged Games has planned for Helldivers 2, with anticipation for new classes, game types, and combinations of enemies and biomes. The community eagerly awaits the next drop.