Helldivers 2 is now straight-up threatening players with a new Stratagem they’ve avoided for months: Kill 1.5 billion enemies ASAP or you get the mines

How much do you hate mines?

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Helldivers 2 players have spent the bulk of the year dodging every chance they’ve had to unlock the MD-17 Anti-Tank Mine Stratagem, and it seems ol' Game Master Joel has had enough. The game’s latest Major Order is making a threat: complete it or you’re getting saddled with those mines.

“High Command has ordered an Efficacy Review of the currently available Mine Stratagems,” as the Major Order, which the devs posted toTwitter, explains. “The Helldivers are ordered to kill or dismantle the targeted number of Liberty’s enemies. If the targeted number is not reached, High Command will specially authorize the urgent addition of Anti-Tank Mines to the Helldivers' repertoire.”

The ‘targeted number’ in this case is 1.5 billion kills over the next four days, and judging bycommentsfrom players it certainly sounds like the deck is stacked toward everybody getting the mines - but it’s not impossible that players will be able to rally for those kills and stymie this Stratagem one more time.

This all goes back to April, whenanother Major Order asked players to choose between liberating two different planets, with either the MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines or the RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher awarded depending on their choice. Obviously, the rocket launcher won out. Then, in June, players were asked tochoose between the mines and saving a bunch of Super Earth children. Again, the kids won the day.

Now the community just has to ask itself if it really hates the idea of the mines so much that it’s willing to actively fight against getting them with no other incentives on the line. We’ll find out the answer in just a few days. around when theHelldivers 2 Escalation of Freedomupdate goes active.

Helldivers 2 player asks if they might one day ride atop mechs “like steeds to battle,” studio CEO responds that he’s “100% pro metal steeds.”

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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He’s been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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