By
Oliver Brandt is a Contributing Pop Culture Writer based in Tasmania, Australia. Their focus is reporting on video games, film, and TV. They have extensive knowledge of video game history and communities both in Australia and abroad, animated films and television shows, and international cinema. Oliver joined Newsweek in 2024 and has previously worked at Men's Journal, Parade, and more. They are a graduate of Curtin University. You can get in touch with Oliver by emailing o.brandt@newsweek.com. You can find them on X and Bluesky @chocobalt. Languages: English.
Contributing Pop Culture Writer
Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors
The recent Helldivers 2 update 01.002.101 had a whole array of exciting changes up its sleeve, but developer Arrowhead snuck some secret additions into the game on this occasion as well. Specific points of interest on a few Helldivers 2 maps now contain the one tool that has been a friend and companion to soldiers across ages and cultures: the shovel.
Players of the third-person shooter can now apply the Julius Caesar-solution to any problem in warfare by digging a trench. You're about to be attacked from two sides? Dig. You're trying to besiege a larger enemy force? Dig. You activated the Hellbomb strapped to your back from the new Helldivers 2 Servants of Freedom Warbond? We recommend not digging, in that case.
Naturally, the Helldivers 2 community is having a field day with this surprising discovery — and not only because of the huge potential for Warhammer 40,000 Death Korps of Krieg and Deep Rock Galactic memes.
The new entrenchment tools genuinely come in handy, allowing players to build rudimentary fox holes and trenches that are useful to weather an enemy assault. They are also not the only new secret added in the latest update.
Arrowhead introduced a nightmarish Bile Titan nest that continues to spawn the giant bugs until it has been destroyed, enabled some urban maps for battles against the Automatons, and planted a few story seeds that point towards a massive assault by the Illuminate coming very soon — it looks like Super Earth itself may come under threat, as the dastardly aliens are trying to move a wormhole into our solar system. Will shovels help against that? Probably not, but they're pretty neat anyway.
With Helldivers 2's first anniversary approaching, players definitely expect a major twist to take place that will require all hands on deck to manage — and a threat to Super Earth would do the trick for sure. A menacing progress bar has appeared at Meridian on the galactic map, so the clock is very much ticking.
Helldivers 2 was released on PC and PS5 on February 8, 2024, and anyone wanting to take part in the anniversary festivities should start their preparations.
English (US) ·