Helldivers 2 Holiday Event Adds Free Limited‑Time Strategems

Helldivers 2 has officially released its holiday event, the Festival of Reckoning, just in time for the holiday season. The new Helldivers 2 event comes complete with new limited-time Stratagems, which some players speculate is due to Arrowhead Game Studios testing the waters for future updates. The Festival of Reckoning is live between now and December 31.

Helldivers 2 also celebrated the holiday season with the Festival of Reckoning last year, too, albeit in a smaller fashion. Last year, the Festival of Reckoning ran for just three days, which is quite a limited window for players who only have a small amount of time to play the game. However, Arrowhead jokingly justifies the expansion year by saying that “the Reckoning Fund, which finances the yearly event, is bursting with credits, and so this year’s festival is even longer and more joyously explosive.” These types of limited-time events are where Helldivers 2 has thrived as a live-service title, with the developer always giving players a reason to log on and spread a little more Managed Democracy.

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Helldivers 2 Holiday Event Brings Back the Festival of Reckoning

Helldivers 2‘s 2025 Festival of Reckoning event is officially live, giving players the opportunity to “deck the halls with limbs of Super Earth’s foes and deliver peace across the galaxy.” The event runs between December 18 and 31, and will offer some holiday Major Orders, as well as what Arrowhead describes as “new experimental technology.” Players are getting access to a bunch of new limited-time Helldivers 2 Stratagems, completely free. These new Stratagems include a 120mm EMS projectile with stun, a Gatling Barrage with fire projectiles, and an Orbital Walking Barrage with smoke. According to the event announcement, players ” will see in-game dispatches will go out to let you know which celebratory Major Order is active, and which mandatory celebration stratagems are available for temporary festive use.” No Stratagem is off-limits, and the developer says there will be some Premium Warbond Stratagems throughout the event.

Many gamers were calling for the new Stratagems from the Festival of Reckoning to be added to the game on a permanent basis. After all, the content is already complete. Over on Reddit, a thread discussing the event had the same idea, with one user pointing out that customizable Stratagem upgrades “would be a fun addition to late game advancement.” It’s worth remembering that just last month, Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Shams Jorjani claimed he was “100% for” the addition of Stratagem customization to Helldivers 2. So while the feature may not be set to arrive any time soon, it does feel as though the Festival of Reckoning may be testing the waters for what works and what doesn’t with experimental Stratagems.

After a struggling period for Helldivers 2, it finally feels as though players can really see the light at the end of the tunnel for the game. Earlier this year, it felt as though the amount of content in the game was starting to really bog down its performance, with players on some platforms reporting that it was borderline unplayable. This was also seen in the game’s file size, which had bloated to nearly 150 GB on PC. However, the recent Helldivers 2 file size update has resolved this issue, and it feels as though the game’s performance is continuing to improve. Arrowhead Game Studios shifted its development approach to ensure the game’s most significant issues were resolved before it continued adding more content. Hopefully, it can iron out the last major issues early next year, and the focus can then be on delivering more content for players of the chaotic live-service title to enjoy.

Released

February 8, 2024

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact

Developer(s)

Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing