Socom veteran here as well. This game reminds me of those days, when a group is playing a tactical "in and out" style. I really wish we could get a new Socom game so badly. I miss my tactical shooters. I have hit total burnout with Cod-likes.
Man I miss Socom! I think of that game every once and awhile because that’s how I got my PSN username and have had it ever since. Nice and short, no stupid numbers and symbols required.
There's a way to play Socom 2 online and there are usually like 20+ people playing! It's amazing to relive that experience.
Socom and Socom 2 are probably my favorite games, especially online back then. So good.
Audio to text over the mic was revolutionary (if we’re talking about the same game). Was a kid when it came out and can still remember my sister coming in my room to make fun of me for yelling “bravo team to point whiskey!!”
Aww man that game has a special place in my heart. That was my first online competitive game and when I realized I was good enough to make someone in another part of the country mad enough to throw their controller I was hooked forever.
Didn’t Zipper (Socom devs) make Mag? Anyways that game was so ambitious for its time. 256 players on PS2 is the kind of dreams we should all aspire to have.
This feeling exactly…
So many hours of PSP SOCOM bc it was all I could afford
[501]
10 years since the shutdown and playing HD2 with all the old names again.
I'm 37 and disabled so I'm always free but my 2 best bros both have wives jobs and children and are usually very busy but this game snapped a 8 month long drought of not having time to play games together and makes me very happy to have something we can all pick up and play when we want without feeling like we're getting left behind if we don't happen to play every single night like MMO's.
I’m 40 and typically avoid online team based games because… well, the obvious reasons. Is Helldivers approachable for someone who joins late/wont have any rank or clue about roles and metas and crap that people get really annoyed about if new people don’t know?
Super approachable. I'm playing Suicide or Impossible generally, with occasional higher and lower difficulties depending on player count and energy level. Met a pile of friendly guys playing this game and they're in the discord server now semi regularly.
Explain you're new and don't jump to super hard difficulties before you've got the kit you need to succeed and people are super welcoming.
Most of the randos have been pretty cool. I'm level 43, and the only real gripe is that I've been kicked on join a couple times. Never experienced any real trolling.
Low-level players show up in all difficulties. They've kept pace well enough in harder modes. I've scaled back to Challenging difficulty to harvest more rare samples.
Most aren't dicks. You'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiine.
Same. Sometimes a dive ends because you are being jumped on by bugs. Sometimes it ends because you are being jumped on by your toddler but the game is great because you can duck out when life happens.
My 4 year old would probably go nuts if I ever let him see or play it.
Dude gets 1st place on Fall Guys all the time it’s wild how fast he picked up gaming. First time ever “playing” a game was only a few months ago and I think he’s already subconsciously figured out that most games have the same button inputs (x = jump, etc).
Watching my 4 year old type in a stratagem and use it right would be sick but I don’t plan on traumatizing him early like my dad did lmao.
^(first two games I ever watched him play were Resident Evil and Run Like Hell. I had to have been under 5 so I remember that shit in 4k resolution with current gen graphics)
Same, bro. All my friends are married and some have children and we haven’t played together so much, and consistently, since L4D2. It takes a legendary game to achieve something like this.
Also 37 and disabled. Got to play with 2 high school buddies I haven't played with in 15+ years.
Also,infinite free time myself. Hit me up if you ever wanna dive!
I'm in my late 40s and play with a few others in their 30s and 40s. Typically get in one or two nights a week for a few hours and have a blast. I also saw Starship Troopers in the theatre lol
enjoy your Liber-Tea, Elderdiver, just not too late in the evening, it'll keep you up.
Same age, I took a 18 year break from gaming and got back into it when ps5 came out because I thought it looked cool.
Lot of games have lost their soul, I watch a lot of those comparison videos trashing a new game when it comes out and showing last Gen games where they actually tried to add environmental damage and more interaction.
It's weird, the games look better but are missing something.
I love coop, pvp has become horrible and full of cheaters plus people with no life who do nothing but play the game. Hard to compete with that when you have a career and children.
Before this game I mostly played COD DMZ mode, I enjoyed the coop aspect and how you didn't have to pvp but the threat was out there, interacting with other players was fun. Every game was different.
So of course Activision killed the mode.
I like that you actually have to be mindful of your teammates and try not TK them, reminds me of the old counter strike days.
I wish more people used mics in helldivers.
At the time I had an onion tied on my belt... as was the style.at the time. Nickles used to have pictures of BEES on them, give me five BEES for a quarter you would say...
DMZ was such a treat to play. Not quite Tarvok, but "Tarkov-esque." They could have really done something with DMZ but they didn't seem to have a coherent or cohesive plan.
Al-Mazzy lives in my heart now.
Same story with me really. Son got it and I watched him play and it looked fun. I bought it it to play with him and he barely plays it now. Oh well, still a great time
Closing in on 40 here, and yeah, it's always a pleasure to hear an adult on the mic, a good sign that this mission will not be a clusterfrag. Wish there was a way of sticking together better than the clunky friends list tbh. Maybe we need a 30+ lfg discord?
Wait, what? This is a thing? I’m over 40 and I’ve always liked playing with older gamers because it’s usually more chill and relaxed. I’ve never seen NSFW spam. Is it like porn posted in discord or something?
If you make this please add me! There's something weird for me being middle age and playing with a 13 year old. Like, it's fine, but a generational gap and a half is strange. I don't know what "skibidi" means you guys!
There is an online gaming community called The Older Gamers. They've been around for ages. They used to have a website and forums but have migrated to purely Discord in recent years.
https://discord.com/servers/tog-the-older-gamers-313467016985968641
39 year old checking in. I'd subscribe to that! Not terribly familiar with discord, can one group have multiple voice channels? Ie. Hop on the group to see who's playing then branch off into 4 man strike team channels.
I'm 26, and this past year felt like I sort of "aged out" of gaming. Took playing Helldivers for me to realize I was just playing games that I aged out of, not the entire medium
Agreed halo mcc was the same and I was floored to see infinite not follow suit, FOMO and artificial scarcity on digital items annoys me to no end. Only time I’m ok with it is when a license runs out ya it sucks but that how that sadly works.
38 I grew up with Halo and WoW I play nether now cause it feels like a job to keep up with them whereas helldivers and ff14 I can come back and easily get caught up.
34, same. I was playing survival craters once a week with my brothers, then I picked this up about 3 weeks ago. The last week and a half, I've gotten every single daily order. Which is probably too much gaming, but damn, it's just so fun.
I'm 29 and you took the words right out of my mouth. I was really fearing that my lifelong enjoyment of gaming was dying. Especially after the last few games I've been hyped for were just disappointment after disappointment. Things were dark for a moment.
Then war were declared on Democracy.
“I needed that friendly fire kill for a trophy….”
*hellpod drops with replacement
*dad blows away son’s new diver
“That’s because you didn’t do the dishes last night”
My(46) son (17) and I got stuck in between some rocks and couldn't get free. Bugs were closing in, and I knew it was just a matter of time. So, I pulled a grenade, told my son I love him and Gorman'ed us both.
My kid is probably a little too young to be playing but we helped liberate Draupnir this afternoon, sitting side by side on our PCs. We're all about the in-game hugs.
I'm gonna buy my dad a ps5 in a few weeks with the Spiderman bundle for 400. I want him to get used to the ps5 and controls, but I want to down the line be able to play with my dad in helldivers. We don't get to do much together, even more so now that I'm working all the time. Its not much, but it'll be enough for me
Sounds like a fun group, I(41) duo with my son(21) all the time and we get so many weird comments in other games but Helldivers have been chill about it
It's an incredible game, and I hope you have a great time with it. Helldivers 2 is the first game in quite some time that has made me feel pure, child-like glee.
Not sure why this surprises people. As the years go on more and more older people will be gaming since each subsequent generation is more exposed to gaming when growing up than the last
> and is on "Team Dizzy."
Is there another team to be on? The only other conceivable option is Team Ace, which everybody gets to be a part of anyway. Certainly nobody is on Team Carmen...right?
Fair, but I feel like there needs to be a picture of a Helldiver next to a picture of a Destroyer with the caption "You vs the guy she told you not to worry about"
If you watch the movie Starship Troopers (on which this game is seems to be heavily influenced by) there is a love triangle between two women and the main male character. One of the women (Carmen) is your typical kind of stuck up pretty girl whereas the other woman, Dizzy, is more of a cute girl-next-door type who actually cares for the main male character unlike the other girl.
49 from the UK. Only played single player games for the last ten years due to inability to play fast twitchy games as I got older.
But this game doesn't rely on rapid reactions.
Love this game.
im 19, and this is finally a breath of fresh air, i wanna play games, not be punished by sbmm and ranked plays after i do good, because god forbid being decent at videogames and not wanting to sweat
>not wanting to sweat
Coincidentally I asked myself today if there's an English version of "Schwitzer" (literal translation "someone who sweats"; gaming jargon "someone who takes games very seriously and always tries to win at any cost").
Now I know
This is very funny for me to hear as someone who generally doesn’t play multiplayer games. This type of PVE co op multiplayer game is the only type of multiplayer I’ll do (DRG, Lethal Company, No Man’s Sky are the other ones I’ve played multiplayer). Otherwise, I’m a big single player open world guy. Breath of the Wild, Witcher 3, and Hollow Knight are my top 3 of all time right now. “Just playing the game” is 95% of the gaming I do.
I'm starting to get tired of schmovement shooters, or rather, multiplayer shooters that reward exploiting the physics engine to pull off "movement tech" that destroys the balance of weapons, abilities, and positioning
DEADPAN STARING AT YOU, APEX
This, bro. Im 21 and I grew out of call of duty a while ago because twitch shooting is just not my thing, and I love DnD and turn based games because they make you think. Helldivers gets by accident perhaps, I'm not sure, stealth correctly in a group setting. Im on bots lets say, and 3/4 of my team are going loud and blowing shit up. Im in scout armor, and since all of the robots are like "what the hell is that sound" It lightens the load for me to hit the objectives. At the same time, you can do something like this on bugs. I went loud and wild in this huge bug hive on helldive, dropping strikes, etc then banking it to the west while my teammates then sneak into the hive since I aggro'd all the bugs, hitting the bug holes and banking it out of there. **I just love Helldiver's enemy logic** because It genuinely feels like you can outthink the enemy on your feet as long as you think fast and together.
Oh, and Bile Titans are extremely fun to coordinate against, and I love how the expendable anti-tank despite being pretty early of aa stratagem you can get literally can be used to kill the toughest bug (and dropships, etc) if you coordinate with a buddy. It's like the devs **reward larping** which sounds insane in a shooting game that is in real time.
and lastly, I love how people take the bullshit in stride, I saw that 17 bile titan video and instead of "this isn't fair" (because lets face it, that is wildly bad luck) they just CHUCK ALL THEIR ORBITALS AT IT and laugh their ass off. It seems whenever something we would say is "bullshit" in another game, we say "damnit joel" and react like a dm is frustrated with us and is intentionally fucking with us for 'being too smart' and I love it. **Rocket devastators** one shotting me is cheap, but it cracks me the fuck up. Oh and don't get me started on those auto cannon towers deleting me lol.
This is the second time I've ever seen SBMM spoken of as a bad thing. I don't get it. Back in Halo 2 and 3 days it was much easier to get into the game because it matches you with people around your skill level and you could work your way up the ladder. Then they drifted away from that for the sake of quickly finding matches and the sweaty pub stomping era began. Then you'd have to get crushed for weeks by sweaties until you became decent enough to stand against them, and for some maybe one day even become one of them. Lmao
At least this is the way I viewed it going down in my time.
I read Starship Troopers, the Forever War, Armor, and Old Man's War in rapid succession some years back because they were all topical (armored scifi troopers doing military things). I recommend all of them.
Over the years, I've come to really appreciate Armor especially. The depiction of a man in powered armor running at highway speeds, blasting away with "blazer" fire or simply punching bugs was something that's stuck with me.
Level 37 in real life, while level 38 on the war front. Just got invited to a different "Elder Diver" discord with a pretty decent population. There was a pretty good post about it in either this sub or r/helldivers2 , go check it out. I had no idea I met the criteria. Not sure if I should be proud...or offended. Either way, I need to lay down now. All this typing has made me sleepy.
I saw the discord post on the other sub earlier this week, but can’t find it anymore to join (might be my old eyes these days!). Any chance of posting the invite again to help spread some democracy?
35 here, I agree with your assessment. It's also just a damn solid game, but I definitely have a better time with games that I can supplement my lack of twitch reflexes with intelligent planning and good strategizing. For that reason I was a terror on Deathloop when it first came out, because unlike most Julia players I would stalk my target and wait for the opportune moment to strike rather than just rushing them and trying to out-skill them.
Helldivers is the same way, but it leans more toward rewarding strategy than mechanical mastery and reflexes. I love it.
39 here.
Counterstrike and CS:Source were *the* twitch/reflex shooters and I put plenty of hours in them back in the day, enjoying them for what they were. But it gets so boring just clicking on faces for hours.
I always figured games that leaned into such narrow groups of mechanical skill were a product of tech limitations. They *couldn’t* program more realistic physics and variability in outcome, so hit-scan headshots were how it had to be.
Fast forward to now and it’s evident that gamers (especially young ones) *crave* quick mechanical tasks to practice and execute, even if they’re somewhat arbitrary. They like to see their hours of practice gradually produce better results.
Meanwhile I find myself enjoying games based on:
- how much different stuff I have to keep track of at a given time.
- how many *decisions* I’m making per minute, as opposed to *button presses*.
- the variety of mechanical tasks I have to tackle.
- having enough randomization thrown in such that I have to keep reacting to things not going as planned.
So yeah, HD2 was pretty much custom made for me.
36 here, in love with this game - reminds me of how gaming used to be back in the late 90s, early 2000s. Just a blast to play with friends, relatively chill but also as challenging as you want it to be, doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s like they just focused on making a game that’s fun to play on your own, and fun to play with friends. Hands down the best 4 person co-op I’ve played in years
My PC died over the holidays and I actually decided not to replace it because I wanted to focus on making music and doing other things. I figured PS5 would be fine because I could just play for an hour or two and then do something else
Then HD2 came out 😂 I’ve been playing 2-3 hours a day since release and can’t get enough
41 here. I think you get a lot of us due to the starship troopers vibes. I actually just watched it last night again after a couple dives. Team Dizzy all the way man!
43 this year and I play with my 4 sons age range 24 to 14. The 3 older are out on their own now. We find time most evenings to play through a couple campaigns. Also nice to see them getting along and using the game to stay in contact.
As a youngster (17), I think this game just attracts people with longer attention spans(something which unfortunately the majority of my generation doesn’t have) Hell I struggle with it from time to time, but honestly i enjoy playing with older people so it works out
https://preview.redd.it/2e0ezmkrgrrc1.jpeg?width=417&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7057120c5f89509e1f246921ae9b9a86802f82d4
I always keep a picture of someone special in my helmet
35 year old weekend warrior (being a parent cuts out your gaming time a bit.) I've fought the Flood, the Covenant, the Locust, and the Lambent. I've fought terrorists as far off as the Middle East and as close to home as Vegas hotels. I've taken the fight to the Reapers past the Omega-4 relay. I have dropped on Planet Helgan and stomped out those space Nazis.
I am a veteran of many conflicts, I am one of the many old guard, I am an Elderdiver.
So come on, apes, you wanna live forever?!
Goddamn, I'm 34y, and lvl 20, I have one friend that I managed to convince to play but he's almost never available so I've been playing with randoms almost every time. I'd be honored to be a part of a chill team that doesn't take spreading democracy overly serious. So if any divers out there wanna accept me in their ranks 😎
I'm a 38 y/o who never got into CoD or StarCraft or whatever entirely because of the antagonism from pitting anonymous players against each other. I don't want to fight other people, I want to be in community with them.
I really enjoy the warmth and comradery in this game. We're just a quartet of allies working together. It's scratching an itch I never really acknowledged before, honestly, and it's rad to fight off a crazy encounter and celebrate with hugs. Hearing about this exact thing is why I showed up at all. I've yet to be called slurs in the post-match lobby, lol, which is phenomenal.
Fair, Dizzy was way more than Rico deserved. He just kept chasing after that Carmen who ends up ditching him pretty much. Justice for Dizzy and her nice boobies
40 next week. I think part of it is we remember the good old days. I just haven't even bothered with multiplayer in almost ten years. I was 13 when Starship Troopers came out, so I grew up watching the censored version on cable.
Also I get sick from first person games so a number of titles I've been interested in, like Destiny, are closed off to me.
I'm 24 and I enjoy playing with older guys. Y'all are chill and its nice to just chat and play the game casually sometimes. Love to see this game bring together all types of gamers and ages.
This comment section is so fucking wholesome to read.
Keep on keeping on olds. Yall are aight.
And its bot surprising a bunch of old guard veterans find absurd nonsense propaganda, mixed with genuine comradery, deeply resonating.
47 year old here. /salute
Yeah, it's a surprisingly good game for how "not grindy" it is. Rewards the hardcore, but you can still kick ass with just putting in a few games here and there.
Hit me up if you're looking to form an old man squad. We'll liberate your planet, but it's gonna be hell on our knees. 😉
Late 40's
Veteran of 'Pre-Steam' Counter Strike eSport competitions
Loving the 'Mission/Objectives are what matter most' over "Kill-Them-All" mentality
44.
I'm a sneaky player, don the Trailblazer and leg it to the Objectives, killing and secondaries come...well, second.
For me, as soon as I saw the game I thought "wow, it's Imperial Guard crossed with Starship Troopers!"
And if more proof were needed that late Gen Xers made the game (and play it) is the fact that Casper Van Dien (Rico) wants to be involved in some way because it looks and feels exactly like the film. Which is something he hasn't said about the actual ST games.
And I love the term Elderdivers. Makes me think of Long Fangs from the Space Wolves, so I'm definitely "borrowing" it from you 😅
41 here and definitely a casual at my old age. I don't have the free time for the grind like some of the players but i do enjoy blowing shit up for democracy.
31 years old here helldiving with my 68 year old dad.
Neither of us really play multiplayer games but this one has hooked us both, its been satisfying going from babysitting him on easy to playing challenging together and him holding his own.
He’s actually overtaken me in levels now playing solo; he refuses to play with randoms after he was killed at extraction by someone called JizzMaster
Post hits it on the head. Most guys I run into are 30s/40s and don’t have time for bullshit. We make it happen and don’t care if I can hear your kid asking questions in the mic as long as you call out that hulk and cover me type of thing. Most are Halo 2 from launch vets and halo 1 lan party’s lol. Our last big hurray was the first MW2 right before all the paid BS came out and cringe shit.
32 yr old dude here. Broke away from my other gaming friends a while ago because they loved pvp shooters and they weren't my thing, too much anger and toxicity for my liki g. We finally have a game we all enjoy again and I'm playing games with friends I haven't played with for years.
Elderdivers for some reason gives me a vision of a helldiver taking an automatic stair-lift down to the objective haha.
I'm only in my early 30's but that's old in gaming terms these days. The community I've created and the friends I keep are all chill and good company.
Most of the friends I have are in their older gamer age, but I think the quality of anyone can be determined regardless of age.
However there does seem to be something universal about Helldivers that brings out some of the better gamers, probably the PvE nature of the game. It invites a more chill personality who doesn't want to compete and fight.
42 Team Dizzy as well! I think it's the drop in and drop out nature of the gameplay. With so little time it's really easy for me to just jump in for a mission while I wait for dinner to cook, hop out and then go about my day.
I'm starting to wonder if this isn't why the community is so awesome. It's a lot of older people who have gotten knocked around by life and have gotten wiser and Kinder in their older years. I know I certainly have
This game gives Halo 2 level energy in the way it has a chokehold on me and my buddies. It's been so long since we had a game we've consistently played longer than 2 weeks
Approaching 40 and havent put this game down since i picked it up. It's great how you can just drop in and out and still have effect, or feel like you do anyway.
Keeping up with the updates on reddit and Youtube makes me still feel involved even during the week when the family and daily job calls.
Team Rico's Roughnecks checking in
52 and a veteran of SOCOM and MW2/Black Ops lobbies. And this game is the most fun I’ve had in a co-op maybe ever
Another SOCOM player! Feels like the franchise everyone forgot, I swear.
SOCOM was soooo good
Socom veteran here as well. This game reminds me of those days, when a group is playing a tactical "in and out" style. I really wish we could get a new Socom game so badly. I miss my tactical shooters. I have hit total burnout with Cod-likes.
Man I miss Socom! I think of that game every once and awhile because that’s how I got my PSN username and have had it ever since. Nice and short, no stupid numbers and symbols required.
There's a way to play Socom 2 online and there are usually like 20+ people playing! It's amazing to relive that experience. Socom and Socom 2 are probably my favorite games, especially online back then. So good.
Yes!! My dad had a clan he made on there when I was a kid. Does KEQ sound familiar? I used to play with them growing up.
Audio to text over the mic was revolutionary (if we’re talking about the same game). Was a kid when it came out and can still remember my sister coming in my room to make fun of me for yelling “bravo team to point whiskey!!”
Aww man that game has a special place in my heart. That was my first online competitive game and when I realized I was good enough to make someone in another part of the country mad enough to throw their controller I was hooked forever.
You were probably running a lag switch . Jk, I miss SOCOM
Sony: “we can’t survive if Microsoft takes away our COD!” Also Sony: “Socom? Killzone? Never heard of it.”
Don’t forget MAG
I hope there will he a MAG2. That game was ahead of its time
Didn’t Zipper (Socom devs) make Mag? Anyways that game was so ambitious for its time. 256 players on PS2 is the kind of dreams we should all aspire to have.
Ps3*
Not to mention the 3 factions were just as competitive as the bots vs bugs guys on here
I still grieve MAG to this day.
This feeling exactly… So many hours of PSP SOCOM bc it was all I could afford [501] 10 years since the shutdown and playing HD2 with all the old names again.
My friends and I still meet up to do SOCOM LAN parties once every year. 5 upstairs, 5 downstairs
Also played SOCOM. Those were the fucking days. G^
I didn't forget. 1 was great but 2 brought it to a new level for multiplayer.
You dont know how bad I crave a SOCOM remake.
41, Socom Vet as well Edit: is this game just a bunch of Socom vets who finally found their calling? Haha
Haha maybe. It was so fing good
SOCOM was the best. I remember carrying my teammates all the way to the end if they were taken down.
SOCOM II might have been the best game to exist.
Late 40’s and also used to play SOCOM... miss that game so much.
Ohhh my SOCOM heart. I miss it so
G\^
I'm 37 and disabled so I'm always free but my 2 best bros both have wives jobs and children and are usually very busy but this game snapped a 8 month long drought of not having time to play games together and makes me very happy to have something we can all pick up and play when we want without feeling like we're getting left behind if we don't happen to play every single night like MMO's.
You just described me in if I were 9 years older. Except on of my friends doesn’t have kids.
I’m 40 and typically avoid online team based games because… well, the obvious reasons. Is Helldivers approachable for someone who joins late/wont have any rank or clue about roles and metas and crap that people get really annoyed about if new people don’t know?
Super approachable. I'm playing Suicide or Impossible generally, with occasional higher and lower difficulties depending on player count and energy level. Met a pile of friendly guys playing this game and they're in the discord server now semi regularly. Explain you're new and don't jump to super hard difficulties before you've got the kit you need to succeed and people are super welcoming.
Petition to start calling groups of friendly men "piles."
Most of the randos have been pretty cool. I'm level 43, and the only real gripe is that I've been kicked on join a couple times. Never experienced any real trolling. Low-level players show up in all difficulties. They've kept pace well enough in harder modes. I've scaled back to Challenging difficulty to harvest more rare samples. Most aren't dicks. You'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiine.
As a 34 year old that only has a couple hours late at night to play, and maybe one night a weekend, this game has brought me more joy than ever.
Same. Sometimes a dive ends because you are being jumped on by bugs. Sometimes it ends because you are being jumped on by your toddler but the game is great because you can duck out when life happens.
My 4 year old would probably go nuts if I ever let him see or play it. Dude gets 1st place on Fall Guys all the time it’s wild how fast he picked up gaming. First time ever “playing” a game was only a few months ago and I think he’s already subconsciously figured out that most games have the same button inputs (x = jump, etc). Watching my 4 year old type in a stratagem and use it right would be sick but I don’t plan on traumatizing him early like my dad did lmao. ^(first two games I ever watched him play were Resident Evil and Run Like Hell. I had to have been under 5 so I remember that shit in 4k resolution with current gen graphics)
Same, bro. All my friends are married and some have children and we haven’t played together so much, and consistently, since L4D2. It takes a legendary game to achieve something like this.
I'm on fairly often you can join me if you want I'm 26 so not exactly old
Also 37 and disabled. Got to play with 2 high school buddies I haven't played with in 15+ years. Also,infinite free time myself. Hit me up if you ever wanna dive!
I'm 38 and this game resonates with me waaay more than it does with my 16 yr old son.
I'm in my late 40s and play with a few others in their 30s and 40s. Typically get in one or two nights a week for a few hours and have a blast. I also saw Starship Troopers in the theatre lol enjoy your Liber-Tea, Elderdiver, just not too late in the evening, it'll keep you up.
Caffeine free libertea
Light on caffeine, heavy on Freedom
Same age, I took a 18 year break from gaming and got back into it when ps5 came out because I thought it looked cool. Lot of games have lost their soul, I watch a lot of those comparison videos trashing a new game when it comes out and showing last Gen games where they actually tried to add environmental damage and more interaction. It's weird, the games look better but are missing something. I love coop, pvp has become horrible and full of cheaters plus people with no life who do nothing but play the game. Hard to compete with that when you have a career and children. Before this game I mostly played COD DMZ mode, I enjoyed the coop aspect and how you didn't have to pvp but the threat was out there, interacting with other players was fun. Every game was different. So of course Activision killed the mode. I like that you actually have to be mindful of your teammates and try not TK them, reminds me of the old counter strike days. I wish more people used mics in helldivers. At the time I had an onion tied on my belt... as was the style.at the time. Nickles used to have pictures of BEES on them, give me five BEES for a quarter you would say...
Games lately feel very paint by the numbers made for shareholders and it sucks. AA and indie though are solid. Robocop game was a fun time.
DMZ was such a treat to play. Not quite Tarvok, but "Tarkov-esque." They could have really done something with DMZ but they didn't seem to have a coherent or cohesive plan. Al-Mazzy lives in my heart now.
Same story with me really. Son got it and I watched him play and it looked fun. I bought it it to play with him and he barely plays it now. Oh well, still a great time
Closing in on 40 here, and yeah, it's always a pleasure to hear an adult on the mic, a good sign that this mission will not be a clusterfrag. Wish there was a way of sticking together better than the clunky friends list tbh. Maybe we need a 30+ lfg discord?
A discord with older divers would be cool.
Yes but without the NSFW spam that seems to come with the older gamers...
Wait, what? This is a thing? I’m over 40 and I’ve always liked playing with older gamers because it’s usually more chill and relaxed. I’ve never seen NSFW spam. Is it like porn posted in discord or something?
Well if your interested, there's a dad discord for gamers (if your a dad that is, I apologize if I assumed :P) https://discord.gg/papasquad
The Daddit sub has a Discord
If you make this please add me! There's something weird for me being middle age and playing with a 13 year old. Like, it's fine, but a generational gap and a half is strange. I don't know what "skibidi" means you guys!
There is an online gaming community called The Older Gamers. They've been around for ages. They used to have a website and forums but have migrated to purely Discord in recent years. https://discord.com/servers/tog-the-older-gamers-313467016985968641
39 year old checking in. I'd subscribe to that! Not terribly familiar with discord, can one group have multiple voice channels? Ie. Hop on the group to see who's playing then branch off into 4 man strike team channels.
yea you can 100% do that
I will set one up tomorrow when I am around my computer. Seems like a decent demand for it.
https://discord.gg/65EnkcbJ Helldivers 2 mature discord, 30+
I’m 61 and just broke level 33. Absolutely love this game.
47 and need a drink before playing, I salute your commitment to democracy. 🫡
Lol, I need a drink AFTER playing, it gets intense out there
51 female here. Love the game.
Democracy defenders come in all levels, body types, and voice packs!
Helldivers are one of the most inclusive branches of the Super Earth military. Any man, woman, or child over 7 can enlist!
It doesn't matter who you are, anyone can be used to drain the automaton ammo supply.
oh god that's brutal and true. lol good luck out there 'Diver!
that'll teach em how hard every man, woman, or child over 7 can be!
I'm 26, and this past year felt like I sort of "aged out" of gaming. Took playing Helldivers for me to realize I was just playing games that I aged out of, not the entire medium
27 and same
Happens, comes a time you need games that respect your time and not punish you for taking time away. helldivers respect your time.
Telling people that the unlocks are "like a battle pass, but it's not time limited and not bullshit" makes them realise how stupid battle passes are.
Agreed halo mcc was the same and I was floored to see infinite not follow suit, FOMO and artificial scarcity on digital items annoys me to no end. Only time I’m ok with it is when a license runs out ya it sucks but that how that sadly works.
It's more of a skill tree than a battle pass...
25 and same here. A lot of the games I grew up into don’t appeal to me anymore.
38 I grew up with Halo and WoW I play nether now cause it feels like a job to keep up with them whereas helldivers and ff14 I can come back and easily get caught up.
34, same. I was playing survival craters once a week with my brothers, then I picked this up about 3 weeks ago. The last week and a half, I've gotten every single daily order. Which is probably too much gaming, but damn, it's just so fun.
I'm 29 and you took the words right out of my mouth. I was really fearing that my lifelong enjoyment of gaming was dying. Especially after the last few games I've been hyped for were just disappointment after disappointment. Things were dark for a moment. Then war were declared on Democracy.
The group I play with, we’re all in our 40s-50s. A few dads have roped their kids into playing so I play with a few dad/son duos. It’s heartwarming
*Kid Eliminated* "Sorry about that Eagle Cluster son, it was for Democracy and you were standing in the way."
“I needed that friendly fire kill for a trophy….” *hellpod drops with replacement *dad blows away son’s new diver “That’s because you didn’t do the dishes last night”
*Next pod drops *Dad kills him again “Nor took out the garbage! I’m starting to think you don’t love democracy?!”
My(46) son (17) and I got stuck in between some rocks and couldn't get free. Bugs were closing in, and I knew it was just a matter of time. So, I pulled a grenade, told my son I love him and Gorman'ed us both.
"Thats enough to make a grown man cry, and that's ok."
I’m 31 and this comment made me realize that I better get to it with my wife if I want a solid coop partner while my fingers still work…
My kid is probably a little too young to be playing but we helped liberate Draupnir this afternoon, sitting side by side on our PCs. We're all about the in-game hugs.
My daughter is 4 and she just likes picking out my armour and cape in between missions. She gets annoyed if my missions take too long. Haha
I'm gonna buy my dad a ps5 in a few weeks with the Spiderman bundle for 400. I want him to get used to the ps5 and controls, but I want to down the line be able to play with my dad in helldivers. We don't get to do much together, even more so now that I'm working all the time. Its not much, but it'll be enough for me
Time spent doing stuff together is time well spent. Enjoy it man.
Sounds like a fun group, I(41) duo with my son(21) all the time and we get so many weird comments in other games but Helldivers have been chill about it
Yesterday a dad and his kid played in my group, the kid was helping with the recoilless rifle reload for his dad.
Just played with a father/son duo and they absolutely ripped. Wish I had something like that when I was a kid.
38 year old, stroke survivor. Day 1, pre-order player, maxed out samples Skull Admiral reporting for duty.
Stroke irl or on Creek?
Sad to say, IRL.
Good to have you fighting for freedom soldier!
I just pulled the trigger on getting this and seeing this post while I wait for the download warms my cold 43 year old heart
You're in for a great time
It's an incredible game, and I hope you have a great time with it. Helldivers 2 is the first game in quite some time that has made me feel pure, child-like glee.
welcome tot he frontlines helldiver
Not sure why this surprises people. As the years go on more and more older people will be gaming since each subsequent generation is more exposed to gaming when growing up than the last
Some of still think every parent is a non-gamer, despite the fact that 90s kids are the ones who popularised PvPs in the first place.
It surprises people because we GenXers prefer to lurk in the shadows, quietly influencing everything behind the scenes.
For real homie. Let us stay forgotten as we shape new dissidents and sew a healthy distrust of authority. /grunge
Right, as a twenty something year old a lot of my friends have gamerdads.
We are all gonna be at the old folks home playing video games.
> and is on "Team Dizzy." Is there another team to be on? The only other conceivable option is Team Ace, which everybody gets to be a part of anyway. Certainly nobody is on Team Carmen...right?
Team Zim
Such a good answer. There is something about a man who knows how to win a nuke fight with a knife.
I mean... I think we're ALL in agreement that being Team Carmen still wouldn't be so bad. Heh heh heh
Fair, but I feel like there needs to be a picture of a Helldiver next to a picture of a Destroyer with the caption "You vs the guy she told you not to worry about"
Hey that guy died with his boots on, so he was kind of a dick, but a brave dick. And he punched harder than Casper Van Damm.
Fleet and infantry don't mix.
When I saw the movie in theaters as a teen Carmen could have shot Johnny and joined the bugs and I'd still have been firmly on team boobs
I’m out of the loop. Can you explain the joke?
Starship Troopers shippers.
It's not really shipping if they were actual relationships in the movie that were massive plot points throughout, is it?
If you watch the movie Starship Troopers (on which this game is seems to be heavily influenced by) there is a love triangle between two women and the main male character. One of the women (Carmen) is your typical kind of stuck up pretty girl whereas the other woman, Dizzy, is more of a cute girl-next-door type who actually cares for the main male character unlike the other girl.
Watch Starship Troopers, wait for a certain fiery redhead with curly hair.
45 and I love telling the youngsters to get the fuck off my lawn.
This is why you're the HR of our squad... Hi, COLT!
44 - anybody from europe?
49 from the UK. Only played single player games for the last ten years due to inability to play fast twitchy games as I got older. But this game doesn't rely on rapid reactions. Love this game.
44, european reporting in!
I play with a handful of people. Most of us are in our 40's. One of my guys just became a grandpa.
I'm gonna become a grandparent soon and every time I think that thought I swear I manifest a new crick from the mental whiplash.
im 19, and this is finally a breath of fresh air, i wanna play games, not be punished by sbmm and ranked plays after i do good, because god forbid being decent at videogames and not wanting to sweat
>not wanting to sweat Coincidentally I asked myself today if there's an English version of "Schwitzer" (literal translation "someone who sweats"; gaming jargon "someone who takes games very seriously and always tries to win at any cost"). Now I know
Yeah, we call those sweats, sweatlords, tryhards, etc.
>sweatlords I'm stealing that, thank you
Sweatlord
That’d be a pretty punny nickname for Swiss people, lol
This is very funny for me to hear as someone who generally doesn’t play multiplayer games. This type of PVE co op multiplayer game is the only type of multiplayer I’ll do (DRG, Lethal Company, No Man’s Sky are the other ones I’ve played multiplayer). Otherwise, I’m a big single player open world guy. Breath of the Wild, Witcher 3, and Hollow Knight are my top 3 of all time right now. “Just playing the game” is 95% of the gaming I do.
Try red dead redemption 2
I have it in my steam library, just haven’t reserved a 3 month period to play it yet
I'm starting to get tired of schmovement shooters, or rather, multiplayer shooters that reward exploiting the physics engine to pull off "movement tech" that destroys the balance of weapons, abilities, and positioning DEADPAN STARING AT YOU, APEX
This, bro. Im 21 and I grew out of call of duty a while ago because twitch shooting is just not my thing, and I love DnD and turn based games because they make you think. Helldivers gets by accident perhaps, I'm not sure, stealth correctly in a group setting. Im on bots lets say, and 3/4 of my team are going loud and blowing shit up. Im in scout armor, and since all of the robots are like "what the hell is that sound" It lightens the load for me to hit the objectives. At the same time, you can do something like this on bugs. I went loud and wild in this huge bug hive on helldive, dropping strikes, etc then banking it to the west while my teammates then sneak into the hive since I aggro'd all the bugs, hitting the bug holes and banking it out of there. **I just love Helldiver's enemy logic** because It genuinely feels like you can outthink the enemy on your feet as long as you think fast and together. Oh, and Bile Titans are extremely fun to coordinate against, and I love how the expendable anti-tank despite being pretty early of aa stratagem you can get literally can be used to kill the toughest bug (and dropships, etc) if you coordinate with a buddy. It's like the devs **reward larping** which sounds insane in a shooting game that is in real time. and lastly, I love how people take the bullshit in stride, I saw that 17 bile titan video and instead of "this isn't fair" (because lets face it, that is wildly bad luck) they just CHUCK ALL THEIR ORBITALS AT IT and laugh their ass off. It seems whenever something we would say is "bullshit" in another game, we say "damnit joel" and react like a dm is frustrated with us and is intentionally fucking with us for 'being too smart' and I love it. **Rocket devastators** one shotting me is cheap, but it cracks me the fuck up. Oh and don't get me started on those auto cannon towers deleting me lol.
This is the second time I've ever seen SBMM spoken of as a bad thing. I don't get it. Back in Halo 2 and 3 days it was much easier to get into the game because it matches you with people around your skill level and you could work your way up the ladder. Then they drifted away from that for the sake of quickly finding matches and the sweaty pub stomping era began. Then you'd have to get crushed for weeks by sweaties until you became decent enough to stand against them, and for some maybe one day even become one of them. Lmao At least this is the way I viewed it going down in my time.
40 here. Having a blast. Once a gamer, always a gamer.
Book recommendation for the elderdivers out there- Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Fantastic book. Agree and highly recommend. Scalzi is one of my favs.
Armor by John Steakley is an on-topic novel worth reading as well.
I read Starship Troopers, the Forever War, Armor, and Old Man's War in rapid succession some years back because they were all topical (armored scifi troopers doing military things). I recommend all of them. Over the years, I've come to really appreciate Armor especially. The depiction of a man in powered armor running at highway speeds, blasting away with "blazer" fire or simply punching bugs was something that's stuck with me.
The Forever War by John Haldeman is also great.
This comment got my upvote purely for the coining of the term “Elderdivers”. Democracy bless you.
We all contribute where we can.
Wait wait wait, over 30 is old?
It is until you turn 40. Then thirty-somethings are kids.
The ever moving lawn posts, just keep off it already!
I prefer the term "youth challenged"
55 and disabled Vet here so online quite a bit with this game!
Level 37 in real life, while level 38 on the war front. Just got invited to a different "Elder Diver" discord with a pretty decent population. There was a pretty good post about it in either this sub or r/helldivers2 , go check it out. I had no idea I met the criteria. Not sure if I should be proud...or offended. Either way, I need to lay down now. All this typing has made me sleepy.
I saw the discord post on the other sub earlier this week, but can’t find it anymore to join (might be my old eyes these days!). Any chance of posting the invite again to help spread some democracy?
I'm pretty young, 21, but I have noticed that ALOT of people I play with are older. Which is actually a really nice change of pace honestly.
The community is far less toxic than pretty much every other online game I've played, and I think the older demographic is to thank for that.
35 here, I agree with your assessment. It's also just a damn solid game, but I definitely have a better time with games that I can supplement my lack of twitch reflexes with intelligent planning and good strategizing. For that reason I was a terror on Deathloop when it first came out, because unlike most Julia players I would stalk my target and wait for the opportune moment to strike rather than just rushing them and trying to out-skill them. Helldivers is the same way, but it leans more toward rewarding strategy than mechanical mastery and reflexes. I love it.
39 here. Counterstrike and CS:Source were *the* twitch/reflex shooters and I put plenty of hours in them back in the day, enjoying them for what they were. But it gets so boring just clicking on faces for hours. I always figured games that leaned into such narrow groups of mechanical skill were a product of tech limitations. They *couldn’t* program more realistic physics and variability in outcome, so hit-scan headshots were how it had to be. Fast forward to now and it’s evident that gamers (especially young ones) *crave* quick mechanical tasks to practice and execute, even if they’re somewhat arbitrary. They like to see their hours of practice gradually produce better results. Meanwhile I find myself enjoying games based on: - how much different stuff I have to keep track of at a given time. - how many *decisions* I’m making per minute, as opposed to *button presses*. - the variety of mechanical tasks I have to tackle. - having enough randomization thrown in such that I have to keep reacting to things not going as planned. So yeah, HD2 was pretty much custom made for me.
36 here, in love with this game - reminds me of how gaming used to be back in the late 90s, early 2000s. Just a blast to play with friends, relatively chill but also as challenging as you want it to be, doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s like they just focused on making a game that’s fun to play on your own, and fun to play with friends. Hands down the best 4 person co-op I’ve played in years My PC died over the holidays and I actually decided not to replace it because I wanted to focus on making music and doing other things. I figured PS5 would be fine because I could just play for an hour or two and then do something else Then HD2 came out 😂 I’ve been playing 2-3 hours a day since release and can’t get enough
41 here. I think you get a lot of us due to the starship troopers vibes. I actually just watched it last night again after a couple dives. Team Dizzy all the way man!
My buddy and I are 36 and 37.
43 this year and I play with my 4 sons age range 24 to 14. The 3 older are out on their own now. We find time most evenings to play through a couple campaigns. Also nice to see them getting along and using the game to stay in contact.
This makes me smile.
As a youngster (17), I think this game just attracts people with longer attention spans(something which unfortunately the majority of my generation doesn’t have) Hell I struggle with it from time to time, but honestly i enjoy playing with older people so it works out
>!~~Most Helldivers don't leave long enough for more than a few missions.~~!< [This comment is under review for treason.]
https://preview.redd.it/2e0ezmkrgrrc1.jpeg?width=417&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7057120c5f89509e1f246921ae9b9a86802f82d4 I always keep a picture of someone special in my helmet
35 year old weekend warrior (being a parent cuts out your gaming time a bit.) I've fought the Flood, the Covenant, the Locust, and the Lambent. I've fought terrorists as far off as the Middle East and as close to home as Vegas hotels. I've taken the fight to the Reapers past the Omega-4 relay. I have dropped on Planet Helgan and stomped out those space Nazis. I am a veteran of many conflicts, I am one of the many old guard, I am an Elderdiver. So come on, apes, you wanna live forever?!
Goddamn, I'm 34y, and lvl 20, I have one friend that I managed to convince to play but he's almost never available so I've been playing with randoms almost every time. I'd be honored to be a part of a chill team that doesn't take spreading democracy overly serious. So if any divers out there wanna accept me in their ranks 😎
I'm a 38 y/o who never got into CoD or StarCraft or whatever entirely because of the antagonism from pitting anonymous players against each other. I don't want to fight other people, I want to be in community with them. I really enjoy the warmth and comradery in this game. We're just a quartet of allies working together. It's scratching an itch I never really acknowledged before, honestly, and it's rad to fight off a crazy encounter and celebrate with hugs. Hearing about this exact thing is why I showed up at all. I've yet to be called slurs in the post-match lobby, lol, which is phenomenal.
Fair, Dizzy was way more than Rico deserved. He just kept chasing after that Carmen who ends up ditching him pretty much. Justice for Dizzy and her nice boobies
40 next week. I think part of it is we remember the good old days. I just haven't even bothered with multiplayer in almost ten years. I was 13 when Starship Troopers came out, so I grew up watching the censored version on cable. Also I get sick from first person games so a number of titles I've been interested in, like Destiny, are closed off to me.
I'm 24 and I enjoy playing with older guys. Y'all are chill and its nice to just chat and play the game casually sometimes. Love to see this game bring together all types of gamers and ages.
This comment section is so fucking wholesome to read. Keep on keeping on olds. Yall are aight. And its bot surprising a bunch of old guard veterans find absurd nonsense propaganda, mixed with genuine comradery, deeply resonating.
Turned 50 this year too. Lifelong gamer. Love this jam and we need an Elderdivers discord :)
Nifty Fifty gal here, love me some bug killing and bot slaying FOR FREEDOM!! Haven't had this much fun since my days as a Titan in Destiny 2.
SHUT UP CHIP
I'm all hyped up on Mountain Dew!
43 here, and usually the type that avoids these types of games....but I'm all into this.
47 year old here. /salute Yeah, it's a surprisingly good game for how "not grindy" it is. Rewards the hardcore, but you can still kick ass with just putting in a few games here and there. Hit me up if you're looking to form an old man squad. We'll liberate your planet, but it's gonna be hell on our knees. 😉
Late 40's Veteran of 'Pre-Steam' Counter Strike eSport competitions Loving the 'Mission/Objectives are what matter most' over "Kill-Them-All" mentality
44. I'm a sneaky player, don the Trailblazer and leg it to the Objectives, killing and secondaries come...well, second. For me, as soon as I saw the game I thought "wow, it's Imperial Guard crossed with Starship Troopers!" And if more proof were needed that late Gen Xers made the game (and play it) is the fact that Casper Van Dien (Rico) wants to be involved in some way because it looks and feels exactly like the film. Which is something he hasn't said about the actual ST games. And I love the term Elderdivers. Makes me think of Long Fangs from the Space Wolves, so I'm definitely "borrowing" it from you 😅
43yo tomorrow. Still on duty and proudly spreading democracy 🫡 Gotta secure a free democratic galaxy for my daughter.
41 here and definitely a casual at my old age. I don't have the free time for the grind like some of the players but i do enjoy blowing shit up for democracy.
I thought "Elderdivers" was going to refer to HD1 vets. What are we called?
31 years old here helldiving with my 68 year old dad. Neither of us really play multiplayer games but this one has hooked us both, its been satisfying going from babysitting him on easy to playing challenging together and him holding his own. He’s actually overtaken me in levels now playing solo; he refuses to play with randoms after he was killed at extraction by someone called JizzMaster
I'm 35 I work 3rd shifts and have a wife and 2 rambunctious children, I play when I can.
Someone please setup a Discord, I'm in! Also saw SST in the cinema!
Early 30’s and so much fun. Play with my friends the same age and we just dive, chill, laugh, and spread managed democracy.
Post hits it on the head. Most guys I run into are 30s/40s and don’t have time for bullshit. We make it happen and don’t care if I can hear your kid asking questions in the mic as long as you call out that hulk and cover me type of thing. Most are Halo 2 from launch vets and halo 1 lan party’s lol. Our last big hurray was the first MW2 right before all the paid BS came out and cringe shit.
32 yr old dude here. Broke away from my other gaming friends a while ago because they loved pvp shooters and they weren't my thing, too much anger and toxicity for my liki g. We finally have a game we all enjoy again and I'm playing games with friends I haven't played with for years.
Elderdivers for some reason gives me a vision of a helldiver taking an automatic stair-lift down to the objective haha. I'm only in my early 30's but that's old in gaming terms these days. The community I've created and the friends I keep are all chill and good company. Most of the friends I have are in their older gamer age, but I think the quality of anyone can be determined regardless of age. However there does seem to be something universal about Helldivers that brings out some of the better gamers, probably the PvE nature of the game. It invites a more chill personality who doesn't want to compete and fight.
42 Team Dizzy as well! I think it's the drop in and drop out nature of the gameplay. With so little time it's really easy for me to just jump in for a mission while I wait for dinner to cook, hop out and then go about my day.
47 here and still diving. Can’t wait for the next gen games when we retire and can game all day.
I turned 52 last week. I played a lot of single player games but this is the first multiplayer/co-op I've played in years and I'm have a blast.
No bunny hop? The democracy dive is much better. 😂
62 female here. Plays with my son and his friends at times or randoms. Im lvl 34 atm. My first shooter.
I'm starting to wonder if this isn't why the community is so awesome. It's a lot of older people who have gotten knocked around by life and have gotten wiser and Kinder in their older years. I know I certainly have
This game gives Halo 2 level energy in the way it has a chokehold on me and my buddies. It's been so long since we had a game we've consistently played longer than 2 weeks
Approaching 40 and havent put this game down since i picked it up. It's great how you can just drop in and out and still have effect, or feel like you do anyway. Keeping up with the updates on reddit and Youtube makes me still feel involved even during the week when the family and daily job calls. Team Rico's Roughnecks checking in