Who Are The Illuminate in Helldivers? Everything We Know about Faction Threatening Super Earth
You better do your homework from the first installment, if you want to be ready for anything. We explain who the psionic aliens are.
Speculation arose within the Helldiver community a few days ago about a potential threat from another faction that hasn't been previously introduced. Flying insects and increasingly advanced automatons are certainly not the only enemies of Super Earth - the second installment of the galactic shooter neatly announces the return of an old adversary.
Teleportation, shields, and even more
If you've played the original Helldivers, you're probably familiar with The Illuminate faction. We are talking here about a water-based alien race known for their psionic powers, also known as Squi'th. Unfortunately, their contacts with Super Earth were far from peaceful - they served as the third hostile faction, after the insectoids and cyborgs.
At their initial encounter with humans, they sought to live in harmony with them, but the government of Super Earth rejected this offer and declared war on them.
The Illuminate were famous not only for their exceptional skills but also for their advanced technological development. This combination made them extremely dangerous adversaries, equipped with not only long-range electric attacks and shields but also teleportation.
Following the canonical line of thought, The Illuminate were defeated between the first and second Helldivers, with no specific explanation for what is happening to them now. Some players believe that the Squi'th race still exists, just without any armed forces; others, on the other hand, fear impending revenge.
Fans came across specific leaks
The Illuminate are moving towards the helldivers, and the mysterious deaths on Super Earth aren't the only indications of this. For several days now, players have been discussing leaks presenting the possible appearance of the new-old faction in Helldivers 2.
Reddit users with the nicknames FroRaut and IronS1ghts are known among the Helldivers community for their "detective" skills, so no one will be surprised by the fact that they were the ones who dug up the game models presented in the above material from the game files.
Each of them presents antagonists already known from the first installment of Helldivers, including Apprentices famous for their invisibility. Most Illuminates have a humanoid stature, two pairs of hands, and tentacles hanging from their faces - some also use technological innovations, an example of which is Fyer.
Of course, there were also non-standard enemies that differed from the usual characteristics. Among them, we will encounter flying Illuminates used for calling in reinforcements, a mutated member of the species, and a massive three-legged structure (possibly a ship/vehicle).
IronS1sghts even developed his own theory based on the leaks found, according to which The Illuminate could have made contact with a certain deity. This could account for the presence of torn garments and models depicting prayers.
This 'deity' then bestows weapons/magic onto the Illuminates, in exchange for their full Loyalty. It seems that the Illuminate have started using some sort of dark magic in conjunction with their high tech weaponry.
-- IronS1sghts
Did the developers comment on this matter in any way? Of course not. As the previously cited video explains, the devs of Helldivers 2 openly publish posts stating that "blue lasers aren't real and cannot harm us." Similar to before, we are once again keeping fans in suspense - because every suspicious change is a form of propaganda, isn't it?
If you want to take a closer look at possible Illuminates models, we encourage you to watch this video, where each opponent is presented in a little more detail.
