Helldivers 2's latest in-game campaign sees the champions of strategically mitigated democracy supervising the construction of yet another massive wall of pine-scented gas in space. Kicking off with the Frontlines of Freedom update, out now, it's a bid to keep those evil "fascist" Terminid insects away from Super Earth, building on the foundations of the abortive original "Termicide" campaign back in March 2024. It's also a pisstake of US president Donald Trump's dreams of constructing a massive barrier (the best wall! The greatest! Everyone agrees, etc) across the USA's southern border with Mexico.

That brutish and essentially symbolic project began during Trump's first term - Mexico were going to pay for it, remember? Intervening president Joe Biden called it off when he was elected, but Trump ordered the resumption of construction when he regained the keys to the White House in 2025 - which is presumably when Arrowhead started thinking about Termicide 2.0, although events within the game's torturous Verhoevenian lore have a momentum of their own.

I guess the devs could be referring to some other absurd totalitarian megastructure – building massive barricades to keep the wrong 'uns out is an evergreen far-right ideal – but the trailer narration and the accompanying comments make a fairly unambiguous connection to Trump.

HELLDIVERS™ 2 Campaign Brief: Termicide 2.0 Watch on YouTube

“The Ministry of Defense has approved a bold new initiative to make the galaxy safe again,” explains the trailer. “Protecting our citizens from fascism behind an impenetrable barrier of democratic resilience. Construction is already underway on the new TCS 2.0. Bigger. Better. And safer than Termicide 1 ever was.” (For context, Termicide 1 led to the spawning of new, chem-addled breeds of Terminid and the transformation of one planet into a supercolony.) Participate in the defence of the construction effort, and you'll earn an R-4 Hyena Marksman Rifle with which to distribute smoking, hot liberty amidst the buglife.

Arrowhead are currently changing up how they handle Helldivers 2's evolving player-led storyline, swapping the old weekly Major Orders for "longer, multi-week themed campaigns" that offer "clearer stakes and consequences based on player actions".

I think parodying Trump's wall is low-hanging fruit at this point, not that Helldivers 2 has ever really tried for subtlety. I'm interested to know what current Helldivers 2 players think of the game's satire. I haven't played for a while, but given the trajectory of US and European politics at large, the extended riff on Starship Troopers is really starting to feel like wallowing in crapulence. I think the game's writers need to, at minimum, start allowing for the fact that the Trump administration has no problem adopting this kind of shit-eating, irony-poisoned burlesque for propaganda purposes.