Summary
- Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers share similar concepts, with humanity fighting against giant alien bugs in both narratives.
- Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers critique nationalism and imperialism through their depictions of propaganda and class divides.
- Both works have caused controversy for their unsubtle, yet superficially appealing depiction of the future.
It's no secret that licensed game Starship Troopers: Extermination.
But the similarities go deeper than the surface. The developers of Helldivers 2 have itted their inspirations, fans have made infinite comparisons, and even the original film's star, Casper van Dien, has commented on his interest in playing the game - as well as starring in a (totally hypothetical) crossover movie. Here's everything the two have in common.
New Helldivers 2 Stratagem Is Going To Make The Game Even Cooler
Helldivers 2 is getting another layer in the near future, thanks to an additional gameplay element that first appeared in the original game.
10 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Both Wage War Against Bugs
Helldivers & Starship Troopers Have Similar Conflicts
Perhaps the most prominent similarity between Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers is the most superficial: at their core, both pieces of media revolve around humanity fighting against giant, alien bugs. Starship Troopers has Arachnids, and Helldivers 2 also features robot enemies, Automatons, that are totally different from anything in Starship Troopers. Some of the Starship Troopers strategy games feature robots, but they're allied with the humans, not against them.
9 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Both Use Similar Bug Designs
Arachnids Vs. Terminids
But it's not just the existence of the bugs that's similar - Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers also use similar alien designs. Helldivers may call them Terminids, but they're clearly closer to spiders (and Starship Troopers' Arachnids) than termites. Both types of bugs have long, multited legs and spiny abdomens. They're usually found in mixed units, generally one large bug guarding a contingent of smaller bugs. They're armored with dull-colored, protective exoskeletons, and secrete greenish-yellow bodily fluid. Perhaps most importantly, they have few (if any) recognizably mammalian characteristics - no eyes or mouths.
8 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Use Similar Weapon/Armor Design
Power Armor & Turrets
And just as their respective bug species are similarly designed, Starship Troopers' and Helldivers 2's humans are similarly outfitted. They all employ large rifles, gray-and-black armor with prominent, rounded helmets, turrets, and other mounted installations. In some of the animated films, Starship Troopers' infantry also uses power armor similar to what appears in Helldivers 2.
7 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Portray Similar Types Of Armies
Disorganization & Self-Sacrifice
And, in part as a result of their similar equipment, both Starship Troopers' infantry and Helldivers 2's titular Helldivers use similar tactics. They're disorganized and imperfectly outfitted, having difficulty rising to the challenge of the giant bugs. It's an honor, although a great risk, to be chosen for either. Self-sacrifice is lauded as the ultimate act of heroism, but is inevitable more often than not. The one major difference is that infantry in Starship Troopers doesn't have much air , like Helldivers 2's Stratagems. The infantry is mostly on its own, lacking the of its government.
6 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Both Employ In-Universe Propaganda
"Would You Like To Know More?"
By way of worldbuilding, Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers both depict things like news broadcasts and ments, designed to drum up for their respective bug wars. These always depict soldiers as infallible heroes: women swoon over Starship Troopers' protagonist Rico, while Helldivers are lauded for their bravery in spreading democracy beyond Earth.
Starship Troopers takes it a step further, though: the entire film is presented as an in-universe propaganda piece, interrupted by commercials and reports from the war front. This framing is used as commentary, pointing out the disparity between the idealized vision of wartime heroism presented on film and the bloody realities of the frontline. It also references how real-life armed forces often latch onto popular media as a powerful recruitment tool.
Paul Verhoeven, director of the first Starship Troopers film, employed a similar satirical strategy in his films RoboCob and Total Recall, using in-universe commercials, news broadcasts, and sitcoms to create a richer world.
5 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Are Both Set On A Unified Earth
"Do Your Part!"
Both Starship Troopers and Helldivers 2 take place in futures where all current modes of discrimination are obsolete: the divisions of race, gender, sexuality, nationality, age, and ability have disappeared. Everyone in Helldivers 2 is a resident of Super Earth, and everyone in Starship Troopers is a member of the Terran Federation. All of humanity is united in the war effort against the bugs, and all other distinctions have gone by the wayside - or have they?
4 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Both Include Incentives For Military Service
Citizenship In Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers
But the real class divide, in both Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers, is between those who serve in the military and those who don't. Civilians are considered second-class citizens - in fact, in Starship Troopers, they're not citizens at all. Military service isn't compulsory, but people must serve in order to vote, run for office, or have more than two children.
Helldivers 2 Is Already Teasing A Game-Changing New Feature
Helldivers 2 teases a new feature from the original game that may be added in the future and would likely change the state of the game forever.
Citizenship in Helldivers 2 operates on a slightly different set of rules with a similar effect. Instead of a black-and-white system, Super Earth has tiers of citizenship in what's effectively a government-enforced caste system. Citizens are divided into lettered classes, and completing a term of service or dying in battle can move them up the ranks - and presumably, certain crimes can move them down. People can also earn "citizenship points" through service, which may then be expended to buy certain rights.
3 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Parody Nationalism And Imperialism
Spreading Democracy Through Violence
In their depictions of ostensible unity, Starship Troopers and Helldivers 2 each make a case against unchecked nationalism, and the damaging imperialism it excuses. of the Terran Federation and Super Earth both believe they are the idealized form of life. They believe that no other species could rival the perceived equality, democracy, and intellect they've achieved. Thus they justify their campaigns of intergalactic violence: they're not forcibly converting others to their way of life, they're spreading democracy to those too ignorant to accept it.
In Starship Troopers, humans fail to recognize the very qualities they claim to embody in their enemies. Arachnids are implied to be intelligent in their own way: their armies have specialized units and use advanced tactics, while the humans simply run out in front of them and shoot. There's an essential paradox in how Terran propaganda portrays Arachnids: they're described as unintelligent, yet cunning; weak, yet strong. The result is that humans feel secure enough to justify their superiority, yet threatened enough to justify their mass murder.
2 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers' Bug Wars Have Dubious Origins
Conquest & Oil
Although they portray themselves as victims, the humans in both Starship Troopers and Helldivers 2 directly caused their respective bug wars. In Starship Troopers, the Arachnids first came into with humans trying to conquer worlds they had already settled. After a meteor decimated Buenos Aires, the Terran Federation blamed the bugs and launched its first counter-attack. However, there was little to no evidence of Arachnid responsibility for the meteor strike - it simply came from the same region of space as the Arachnid homeworld.
Treasonous radio transmissions found in Helldivers 2 suggest a similar, albeit more sinister, justification for the war against the bugs. Super Earth runs on a rare type of oil, obtainable only from the bodies of dead Terminids. As a result, it's implied that the Super Earth government manufactures the war, breeding and spreading Terminids throughout the galaxy, then sending humans to die in the process of harvesting them.
1 Helldivers 2 & Starship Troopers Both Cause Controversy
Glorifying Fascism, Or Satirizing It?
So Helldivers 2 portrays a harmful ideology, but does it do so in an effort to legitimize, or to satirize? Helldivers 2 isn't subtle: it clearly presents a propagandized vision of a fascist future, with all its aspects heightened to expose their absurdity. It's easy, however, to get lost in all the camaraderie, excitement, and proclamations of democracy, and take it all at face value. Read the reviews, and it's clear that many players are split on Helldivers 2's outlook.
Likewise, Starship Troopers isn't subtle in its satire. But look back on contemporary reviews (or any number of social media retrospectives provoked by Helldivers' popularity), and it's clear that some people just didn't get it. It's hard not to be drawn in by its charismatic lead cast, thrilling action sequences, and epic score. However, that's precisely how both Starship Troopers and Helldivers 2 challenge the audience: can they recognize the underlying violence of the philosophy they're presented, or will they be distracted by the appeal of its aesthetics?
Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers are cut from the same cloth. They tell the same kind of story with similar morals, and the only major differences are in their presentation, with minor differences in the lore. Starship Troopers' cult following has always drawn new players to the Helldivers series, and with Helldivers 2's unprecedented success, more fans than ever before have been drawn to Starship Troopers. Helldivers 2 may not be an official adaptation, but it's clearly one of the best takes on the Starship Troopers story to date.
Helldivers 2
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Engine
- bitsquid
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC & PS5
Helldivers II is the follow-up to the 2015 multiplayer top-down single-player/co-op shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios. The sequel, which has shifted gears to a third-person shooter format, drops players into the boots of elite super-soldiers who fight to protect Super Earth from invading alien forces while taking the fight to those who threaten the "democracy of Super Earth."
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5
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