Helldivers 2’s Commemorative Capes Open a Pandora’s Box the Game Can’t Close

Considering it is a live-service shooter that lacks a traditional story campaign, Helldivers 2 has had no shortage of epic narrative beats punctuated by miscellaneous Major Orders and occasional update events. Its latest, the Battle of Super Earth, arrived during Helldivers 2’s Heart of Democracy update, which debuted Mega Cities as a brand-new map environment with a massive scale and looming skyscrapers.

It’s never clear whether a new Major Order will snowball into its own huge event, but Automatons could well be the next Galactic War enemy faction to receive limelight in Helldivers 2. Indeed, Hulks and Devastators have recently been imbued with Jet Pack technology in an improved Jet Brigade, and leaks suggest that there are terrible yet great things to expect from bots at some point in the future. Likewise, commemorative capes have quickly become a hot item in Helldivers 2, and their popularity and sentimentality will surely thrive as development continues and the Helldivers repel whatever horrors threaten democracy.

Helldivers 2 Super Earth Illuminate Invasion Commemorative Cape FOMO

Helldivers 2’s Battle of Super Earth Cape Proves It Has Its Finger on the Right FOMO Pulse

While FOMO has developed a troubling reputation among live-service games, Helldivers 2’s unique brand of FOMO has become a welcomed tradition.

Helldivers 2’s Commemorative Capes are More Than Rewards—They’re Cherished Memories

Helldivers 2 players have been donning commemorative capes more frequently nowadays with the release of Protector of the Heart, a cape awarded to anyone who was active during a certain period attributed to the Battle of Super Earth, and the recently launched Pillars of Freedom cape. The latter, rather, honors Helldivers 2’s staunch playerbase amid purposeful ‘review bombs’ and region lock controversies, which have since ceased. Helldivers 2’s commemorative ‘review bomb’ cape, in particular, demonstrates that not only can in-game events inspire commemorative capes, but that each new cape will also come bearing a loaded story about the game’s development or story.

As far as cape descriptions go, they’ve only recently become illustrative of the actual event or story beat in the game’s history that they’re meant to be commemorating. The description for Fallen Hero’s Vengeance is completely opaque and could be about anything, let alone Helldivers 2’s Malevelon Creek, and thus its significance is watered down:

Helldivers 2’s Fallen Hero’s Vengeance cape description reads:

“Our heroic fallen live on in this cape, guiding its bearer’s aim to the heart of those who killed them.”

Conversely, Protector of the Heart makes it perfectly plain what event it is commemorating. Plus, it even name-drops the update that the event was a part of:

Helldivers 2’s Protector of the Heart cape description reads:

“When the Illuminate threatened Super Earth, the very Heart of Democracy, the Helldivers answered the call.”

Pillars of Freedom name and design are equally cheeky. It’s unlikely that any cape in Helldivers 2’s future will be as sentimental, unless something similarly disastrous and polarizing occurs in the development pipeline:

Helldivers 2’s Pillars of Freedom cape description reads:

“Woven in honor of our loyal Helldivers, whose heart’s blood is the foundation on which Super Earth is built.”

Additionally, Helldivers 2 launched the Eye of Freedom cape to commemorate the game’s first anniversary.

Helldivers 2 Should Hope to Have More Events That Warrant Commemorative Capes

Subsequent Helldivers 2 Warbonds will almost always include new capes alongside new armor, helmets, primary and secondary weapons, throwables, stratagems, colorway patterns, titles, emotes, and other such goodies. That said, capes provided in commemoration of something special are going to be truly remarkable items to look forward to.

Helldivers 2 may eventually run the risk of having too many commemorative capes and the concept bolstering them becoming a bit more trivial, yet it’ll always be wonderful inspecting the cape catalog and reminiscing about the exhilarating in-game- and real-life-inspired events that inspired them. In the meantime, commemorative capes are in their infancy, and it’ll be neat to witness what the next monumental events are that inspire Helldivers 2’s next commemorative capes.