I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Craig Lee Thomas, who you might know as the Super Earth spokesperson from the opening of Helldivers 2. Aside from the revelation that Arrowhead has an improvised Super Earth rap tucked away on a hard drive somewhere, Thomas also says he’s been playing the snot out of everyone’s new favourite shooter.
“I cannot get enough of this game,” Thomas writes. “I’ve been hopping on to squish bugs and stomp bots every chance I get.” Like many humble helldivers, he’s also been praying at the altar of the railgun—even in its diminished state.
“I really dig it in Unsafe mode against Hulks and Bile Titans,” though that’s not his only trigger squeeze: “I have to say, I was sleeping on the Arc Thrower as a support, but against a charger with a good coordinated team, you can really peel off those front leg plates and then have your teammates come in with machine guns and chew through them pretty quickly.”
Thomas also says he has a soft-spot for the AR-23P Liberator Penetrator and its three-shot burst mode, which “brings me WAY back to my Halo 3 days when I was a Battle Rifle stan.” In case you need any more proof that he’s a man of fine taste, Thomas also tells me that—while he enjoys a good bug-squishing, he prefers fighting the Automatons, a faction some players shy away from in favour of the more manageable bug hordes.
“One of my favourite things about the game is having that bounce between the two enemy factions, but I have to say Automatons [are my favourite]. Sprinting away from four chainsaw Berserkers as a mortar encampment is obliterating everything around you is like living a movie, every time.”
If you’ve been paying any sort of attention to the community, you might get the sense that it’s in turmoil—what with all the meta build debates and Reddit arguments with devs. However, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind folks that the players who’re happy don’t take to internet forums. Proof being in the pudding as it were, Thomas has had only positive things to say about the community.
“The community of this game, both from the Arrowhead side and the player base side, is absolutely incredible. I unlocked the Hug emote and will probably never take it off,” Thomas adds that you “can’t beat the feeling of achieving an objective and bringing it in for a bear hug of democracy.”
He also says he’s been playing with the voice of your trusty service technician, Sarah Elmaleh: “I follow her into battle every chance I get. It’s hilarious to be on mic with her on one of our ships (mine is the Superintendent of Liberty) and talk to her character while one of my character’s PSA’s is playing on the giant TV screen.”
Honestly, I find it very fitting that the guy who told you to sign up has gone full-bore on spreading managed democracy himself—while the Super Earth spokesperson is probably just some paid actor in Helldivers 2’s hilariously hellish and dystopian lore, the real deal has his boots on the ground, bleeding red against the bugs and bots just like the rest of us.
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