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Helldivers 2 Board Game: Exclusive Preview

Author：Kristen Update：May 01,2025

Last year, Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 became a standout success in the multiplayer gaming world, captivating players with its mission to spread democracy across the galaxy through intense battles against aliens and robots. Following the successful launch of their Elden Ring board game adaptation, Steamforged Games is now bringing the fast-paced and thrilling experience of Helldivers 2 to the tabletop. The board game is currently available for backing on Gamefound. IGN had the opportunity to try out a prototype and discuss the game with designers Jamie Perkins, Derek Funkhouser, and Nicholas Yu.

Helldivers 2: The Board Game

17 ImagesDevelopment of Helldivers 2: The Board Game began shortly after the video game's launch early last year. It successfully captures the essence of what made the video game so popular—tense firefights, chaotic surprises, and a strong focus on teamwork. The board game introduces its own unique twists to the formula, enhancing the overall experience.

Helldivers 2 remains a cooperative, objective-based skirmish game, playable by one to four players. The designers suggest that solo players control two characters. Each player assumes the role of a different Helldiver class, equipped with a unique perk, a set of action cards, and a one-time-use "Act of Valor" ability. The prototype featured classes like the Heavy, Sniper, Pyro, and Captain. Players customize their kits with primary, secondary, and support weapons, grenades, and three strategems, with recommended loadouts provided on their class cards. As players gain experience, they can tailor their loadouts before each game.

Gameplay unfolds on grid-based boards that expand as players explore, revealing sub-objectives and locations of primary objectives, such as destroying Terminid hatcheries in the prototype. As players delve deeper, more challenging enemies spawn, and a mission timer adds urgency, maintaining the game's frenetic pace.

The prototype focused on a single objective of destroying Terminid hatcheries, but the final release will offer multiple options. Jamie explained that the base game will feature two of the three main factions—the Terminids and the Automatons—with each faction boasting 10 unit types. While not confirmed, the Illuminate faction might be introduced through an expansion, given Steamforged's history with stretch goals.

One intriguing aspect of the adaptation is how it manages the feeling of being overwhelmed and outnumbered. Unlike games like Zombicide, which rely on sheer numbers, Helldivers 2 opts for a more tactical approach with fewer, but progressively stronger enemies.

Turns involve players and enemies adding their action cards to a pool, which are then shuffled and placed on an initiative tracker, similar to Steamforged's Elden Ring game. Combat relies on dice rolls, and every fourth action card triggers a random event, adding unpredictability and excitement to the gameplay.

For Helldivers, combat involves rolling dice based on the weapon's type and number of dice, with damage determined by the total roll value. For every five points, a wound is inflicted on the enemy. This straightforward damage system eliminates the need for complex modifiers and defense values, emphasizing the players' role as elite soldiers who always hit their targets, though friendly fire remains a risk.

A standout feature is the 'Massed Fire' mechanic, designed to replicate the teamwork seen in the video game. Nic explained, "In the video game, obviously, you're encouraged to work together as a team. You have a heavily armored enemy, you need to kind of flank around and shoot at the weak points if you don't have a support weapon to deal with it. But there wasn't a really good way to do that in a board game without going to a lot of facing and armor mechanics. So what we implemented was what we called 'massed fire,' so when anyone shoots at a target, if that's within range of another Helldiver's primary or secondary weapon, they can also fire at that time, and so you're kind of explicitly rewarded or incentivized to work as a group."

This mechanic not only encourages teamwork but also reduces player downtime, allowing more involvement during other players' turns. While players can explore independently, the 'Massed Fire' system fosters group play.

Enemy attacks are straightforward, with set damage or effects causing players to draw wound cards. Each wound imposes a negative effect, and three wounds result in a character's death. However, players can respawn based on the chosen difficulty level, returning with their full load-out.

One element missing from the board game is the galactic war from the video game. The designers considered including it but decided against it to ensure the board game felt unique and not just a direct simulation of the original.

Jamie shared an interesting piece of lore: "We're positioning it effectively as a training simulation. So you would get this board game as a Helldiver as a training simulation to learn how to be a better Helldiver." This adds a fun narrative layer to the game, and fans might one day see Helldivers in the video game playing this board game.

Thanks to the talents of Nic, Jamie, and Derek, the game already feels authentic to the Helldivers experience. Nic emphasized, "We wanted to make sure that even though it had different mechanics, it felt like Helldivers – like we want to have unexpected things that you have to deal with from turn to turn. We want to have stratagems that could go awry and actually blow up your friends in addition to the enemies. The pool of reinforcements that dwindles as you go through the game and calling in stratagems, those are things that feel uniquely Helldivers."

Derek added, "We knew we needed to keep the core loop of what Helldivers is with the mission objectives, and just being able to chase the shiny, right? We've got points of interest and sub-objectives and the objectives to uncover and find, while also having to deal with enemies that are, you know, trying to eat you."

Currently, the game's core mechanics are about 75-80% finalized, leaving room for community feedback and potential adjustments. Despite recent concerns about tariffs affecting the board gaming industry, Jamie assures that their plans remain on track, with the studio ready to adapt if necessary.

My experience with the prototype was highly enjoyable, with the random events and 'Massed Fire' mechanic creating memorable moments. However, I felt the game could benefit from more smaller enemies to increase the sense of chaos and excitement, similar to the video game. Additionally, the enemy attack system feels somewhat static compared to the rest of the game, and introducing more variability could enhance the experience.

I'm excited to see what other surprises Steamforged Games has in store for Helldivers 2. The prototype has left me eager to explore new Helldiver classes, different game types, and various enemies and biomes. My friends and I are already planning our next drop.