Helldivers 2 players have succeeded in their mission to destroy a Terminid supercolony by turning the host planet into an all-consuming black hole, but now they’re increasingly worried about what might pass through it.
The creation of the black hole grows out of Helldivers 2’s first big order – large-scale missions that shape the game’s overall narrative – as players “liberate” a series of planets from the clutches of a bug-like alien race known as the Terminids.
This mission, called Operation Valiant Enclosure, allowed the creation of a network of towers to distribute termiticide, which were later activated in a campaign in March that also appeared to be successful.
These scientists boasted that they had removed an entire planet from space
But what about after that?
It is artificially created and there is a good chance that it is not even a black hole!
It can be a passage or even a door to endless horrors!
The planet may have been moved, not destroyed!
— Rokirtech (@Rokirtech) June 2, 2024
But the introduction of the termicide forces the aliens to evolve and create a super colony on the world of Meridian, where they multiply at an uncontrollable rate. Super Earth’s smartest man has decided that the only measured and sensible way to destroy the colony is to inject masses of weaponized “dark fluid” deep into the planet’s crust, where it will coalesce to turn the world into a newly created black hole .
Many in the community took to social media to celebrate the birth of their new space child, but others were left wondering if their latest win would come back to bite them in the long run. After all, Super Earth campaigns have a nasty habit of hastening the arrival of an ever-larger, previously hidden threat, and some even question whether the dark space is a black hole at all.
These unsettled players pointed out that the putative black hole lacks some elements seen in its real-life counterparts, such as a ring of glowing debris known as an accretion disk or photon ring. Others theorize that the black hole or n may even be a portal through which a new enemy may emerge.
It’s impossible for anything to emerge from the event horizon of a black hole in real life, of course, but the existence of legions of killer robots, instantaneous travel between star systems, and countless other sci-fi elements indicate that developer Arrowhead Studios and its galaxy master Joel are not necessarily tied to realism.
The portal theory seems entirely plausible in this regard, and even more so when one considers that the “dark fluid” used to create the black hole was a form of synthesized exotic matter recovered by a technologically advanced alien race called the Illuminati, who was featured in the original 2015 Helldivers title, but has yet to appear in its sequel. Many in the Helldivers 2 community are adamant that the reveal of the Illuminate is inevitable following the appearance of mysterious blue beams shooting players out of nowhere (and a series of leaks revealing enemy models).
Joel only knows what will happen next, but for now the Helldivers will likely be asked to return to Automaton-controlled space to reclaim the planets lost last month. Meanwhile, Super Earth scientists are working on a new and improved termiticide formula, because why learn from the mistakes of the past?
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video game news for IGN. He has over eight years of experience covering groundbreaking developments in multiple scientific fields and has absolutely no time for your antics. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
