Helldivers 2 has quickly become a major hit for developer Arrowhead Game Studios. In fact, the sequel to Arrowhead’s hit twin-stick shooter passed Palworld on the Steam sales charts for a time, making it one of the better-selling games of 2024 thus far. Helldivers 2 takes what the developers did well in the original and switches gears to a third-person shooter. That means the game is full of loot and players have recently noticed a fun nod to another popular third-person shooter franchise. It’s an Easter egg that’s easy to miss, but Helldivers 2 includes a fun reference to the Mass Effect franchise.
Helldivers 2‘s Mass Effect Easter Egg
The Easter egg was first spotted by a Reddit user who goes by QueenSparks. They posted a screenshot to the Helldivers 2 subreddit, showing one of the fake reviews the developers wrote for guns in the shop. The review reads, “I’m [redacted] and this is my favorite product in the acquisition center!”
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It’s not a perfect match to Commander Shepard’s famous line about their favorite store on The Citadel, but it’s an obvious nod to Mass Effect. The review is even written by someone called “Specctrei,” a reference to Shepard being a Spectre in the Bioware franchise. Given that both games dive deep into science fiction, it’s no surprise to see Helldivers 2 include references to Mass Effect. While it’s unlikely that Helldivers 2 fans ever get crossover gear or skins, it would definitely be a fun collab if it ever happens.
Helldivers 2 Review Bombing
Despite so many players jumping into Helldivers 2 and having a blast, the game has still been an early target of review-bombing on Metacritic. One of the big reasons for this is because of the recent rumors about Xbox games coming to PlayStation consoles. Players who form an identity around their favored console will often hop on Metacritic to downrate a game from their “competitor.” We’ve seen this go both ways with games like Starfield in the past, but now it’s Sony’s turn.
However, the string of poor reviews might be higher than normal because Xbox fans are upset about those rumors. After all, if you think your console is about to lose one of its major selling points, it can be easy to fight back through reviews. Fortunately, Metacritic is generally pretty good at sifting through user reviews and taking down anything done in bad faith, so Helldivers 2 will hopefully see that user score go up in the near future
Helldivers 2 is available now on PlayStation 5 and PC.
