Johan Pilestedt, General Manager of Arrowhead Games Studios and Game Director of Helldivers 2, has spoken about his game, its story, and how he wanted the immersion of the adventure to be something special. By the way, our review made it clear that we are facing a true great game.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Pilestedt talked about how he was inspired by tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons to design Helldivers 2.
“We all imagine it together and then talk about it as if it were real life,” says Pilestedt when talking about his experiences with TTRPGs. “We can joke about it decades later: ‘Do you remember when you made me fly through the air with that spell?'”.
“In [Helldivers 2…], it’s still the same type of tight-knit group that had the shared experience and it’s going to be something that connects those four [players] who were there with a very special moment.”
The emergent storytelling that arises from playing with friends in shared missions
Pilestedt refers to the emerging storytelling possibilities offered by the cooperative science fiction action of Helldivers 2. The missions of this third-person shooter are procedurally generated, ensuring that each deployment has the opportunity to be fresh and unique.
In addition, Helldivers 2’s open physics engine offers many possibilities for strange and wacky things to happen. Just like a good game of Dungeons and Dragons, Helldivers 2 is almost an improvisation.
The game director fondly remembers one of those moments with his team, where he hit a rag doll with a heavy anti-tank weapon, making it fly into the sky. “We’ll be able to tell this story over and over again while we’re having beers.”
This is, in part, thanks to the varied weapon design that Helldivers 2 offers. “We try to be at least authentic, if not realistic, and celebrate the differences in weapon systems, in the ways things can develop,” Pilestedt says.
“We believe that when we do that, things inevitably become cinematic, and they become immersive, instead of locking that behind a scene. Let the player take the action, and we’ll see what happens.”
In other Pilestedt news, the CEO has spoken out against petty disputes between video games, urging fans not to unleash a “rivalry” with Halo games and instead “let players love and enjoy both.”
