Later today Helldivers 2 The premiere of the fan film “For Freedom” will be available to the entire Super-Earth. The film, created by volunteers from the YouTube channel Plot Coalition, will last almost an hour – longer than any other. Helldivers fan project made to date.
The fan film is not officially endorsed or produced in collaboration with Sony or Arrowhead, but it has proven to be an inspiration to the Helldivers community. At the time of writing, the latest trailer has received almost 300,000 views in just over a month.
The film itself is animated in the style of Helldivers and follows the experiences of some of Super Earth's brave soldiers as they navigate the treacherous galaxy in which the popular third-person shooter is set. 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. Previous Plot Coalition's actor. Titanfall series, he is a relatively new fan of the Helldivers series. However, as he delved deeper into his role and the film's backstory, Lauer quickly grasped the intricacies of Helldiver's quirkiness and overall appeal.
“I didn’t play Helldivers until it came out on Xbox earlier this year, so I was guided by the director at first,” Lauer said. “Then when I played the game I was like, 'Oh, that makes sense, now I understand that reference!'
“I'd say that's pretty accurate. It's not as funny as some people think. There are three trailers: one is very free, democratic. The other one is quite solemn and dark, and the last trailer is in the middle ground. It does have that humor and there are a lot of things in it that I think a lot of fans will recognize. It's made by Helldivers fans, and I think that will definitely come through.”
Lauer plays the veteran surrogate of the community's idealized “John Helldiver” who represents what it means to fight for Super-Earth. The community response to the project has been overwhelmingly positive, Lauer said.
Lauer explained: “I’ve been creating content for a while now, so I’m used to negative comments, but there have been so few. People are excited or ask how long the film will be (laughs). But it was very well received, and as far as I know, in terms of fan projects, there was nothing on this scale.”
Even Arrowhead is throwing its own movie viewing party tonight, Lauer said. He stated: “After the first trailer in February or March, they approached us and thought it was really cool. I heard there's going to be a screening party for this movie at Arrowhead, and I think it's really cool that the developers are so involved with the community.”
This is all fun, but it begs the question: why is Helldivers 2 so ripe for such fan projects? For Liberty may be the biggest fan film to be released, but it's far from the only creative work to come out of the Helldivers world. What makes the game and its players so passionate? For Lauer, the answer is clear.
“One thing I learned as a new fan is that everyone gets the joke, everyone gets brainwashed,” Lauer concludes. “If one of my friends in the game says, ‘This is stupid, I’ll shoot him in the head because it’s like, don’t question democracy. Don't do this and they will do this to me! I think it's just a fun simple game, I personally feel there is a need for co-op games and it just works. It's fun, it's crazy, and you can be downright funny! It's stupid and good to play.”
Helldivers 2 continues to build on its initial popularity, supporting a dedicated fan base with constant updates and the ongoing Galactic War on multiple fronts. One of its biggest strengths is the ability for players to tell their own stories, as Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestadt said in a GDC talk about the game's development. You can learn more about Helldivers 2, as well as how the developers are finding continued success in the cutthroat live services market, in Eurogamer's extensive in-depth look at the topic earlier this month..
