Helldivers' creative director doesn't want crossovers to 'dilute it', but his list has some real deep cuts

The creative director for Helldivers 2 does not want to do many crossovers. It already has enough personality and flair to stand on its own, and has barely begun to retread cool stuff from the original game. Johan Pilestedt, the CCO of Helldivers 2, has a laundry list full of his favorite things that he would be open to a crossover if it was the right vibe.

Pilestedt tweeted in response to an article noting that he had floated a crossover wish with tabletop game Trench Crusade late last week. He made it clear that he would like to avoid too many crossovers and that if they were all done, it could dilute the IP, making it a "not Helldivers" experience.

• Aliens
• Starship Troopers
• Terminator
• Predator
• Star Wars
• Fifth Element
• Blade Runner
• Warhammer 40k
• Trench Crusade
• Mutant Chronicles
• Dropzone Commander

The list is quite long, starting off with the usual sci-fi classics of the '80s/'90s like Aliens and Star Wars - and you could argue that there was already a Predator cross-over in the Viper Commandos Warbond which was a very homage to the original - but then taking a hard left turn and turning into tabletop geek stuff for the last four. It's not surprising that Arrowhead hasn't been afraid to show their love for wargames and tabletop roleplaying. They went so far as having Helldivers 2 story campaign overseen Helldivers 2 by a gamemaster whose job it is to make the narrative more sophisticated with time.

These four tabletop options for crossovers are really cool. Warhammer 40k may be familiar to PC players, but you might not know the other games. Mutant Chronicles takes place in a far future tabletop world where megacorporations are battling to survive against existential evil. Dropzone Commander is an action-packed miniatures skirmish that features troops and tanks thrown into battle by fast-deploying dropships.

Trench Crusade is the last game, and it was this crossover idea that prompted PIlestedt to give his speech. It's a concept art world tabletop game. It's an extremely horror-inflected World War 1 in which a portal to Hell opened during the Crusades and has frozen the continent of Eurasia for eight hundred years in a terrifying industrial war. The designs are stunning.

Pilestedt also made it clear that he doesn't think these crossovers are specifically or particularly suited and compatible with Helldivers. "Just my personal preferences and joys of life :)."

Check out the deliberately horrible, crusty 1903 rifle that players love for its ability to bayonet-charge bugs like sci fi Waterloo.