Helldivers 2 gives players a deliberately rusty, old-fashioned rifle from 1903, but they love it for the bayonet charges they can make on bugs.

In Helldivers 2, another liberty day has passed. The developers of Arrowhead Game Studios have rewarded the patriotic citizens in Super Earth with a throwback of the first Helldivers, the game's original melee weapon and the 2124 Constitution rifle. The Constitution, a thinly-disguised M1903 Springfield rifle, was the weapon of choice for Americans in the First World War. In the game, it is described as the rifle that all citizens of Super Earth receive at the age 16 and is nearly 300 years old in the timeline of Helldivers 2. It is enough to say that its bolt action and five-round magazine, which can be reloaded by one bullet at a given time, make it a terrible gun. But unlike any other gun in the series, it comes with a bayonet.

The community loves it, because they can bayonet-charge a line of murderous bugs or robots like they were American Marines at sci-fi Belleau Wood 1918. One poster said, "This is a gun my brothers." Another poster said, "This is the greatest weapon ever." "You can even stab tank!" A third said. "Constitution Rifle at its peak," said a third, posting a TikTok comparison of the weapon and its famous use by a sniper in Saving Private Ryan.

It's the gaming community's equivalent of a thunderous round of applause, because the self-imposed Helldivers challenge-heads absolutely love when something is bad but not so bad they can't still use it. Everyone else? Everyone else loves bayonnetting things. This is not surprising, since they've been craving melee weapons ever since Helldivers 2 was released.

In April, Arrowhead gave their opinion about a Melee-type weapon. They said it was "plausible", but that it would need to be realistic to fit with the rest Helldivers' grounded weapons. Here it is. This is an old bayonet from the last era when having more men with bayonets made a real difference in combat.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, here’s the thing: They deliberately made the Constitution bad. As a joke. It's worse than many of the secondary armament guns in the game. In the first Helldivers, it was considered an armament you would only use to challenge yourself.

It's not surprising that Arrowhead is behind this game. Their breakout hit was Magicka, a wizard-themed comedy where you can blow yourself up and your enemies as well as blowing up your friends. The first Helldivers had a similar feel, and even though Helldivers 2 has a more serious mechanical design, the comedy of blowing up yourself (and your buddies) is still present.

You can watch a lot of elaborate videos on YouTube where a YouTuber compares stats to determine that the gun is indeed a bad one. These videos will vary in their level of humor depending on whether or not the person who is being joked at gets it.

The developers of Helldivers are planning to go "full baddies", with the jackbooted footsoldiers of Super Earth, by dropping the Truth Enforcers Warbond. This is a set of weapons that would be worn by the Ministry of Truth of Super Earth.