Speaking at the Nordic Game conference in Sweden, Johan Pilestedt, the game director on Helldivers 2, shared the original pitch for the hugely popular co-op shooter, which he admits players were originally “put in the shoes of ‘evil side’ grunts of pop culture,” having been inspired by a classic moment from Star Wars.
“We wanted to do a realistic take on what it would be to be in one of those squads of stormtroopers,” before mentioning the scene in Star Wars: A New Hope where the Stormtrooper steps into the Death Star’s cell block — “he, of course, gets shot in the chest by Han Solo. And that’s the question: Would you do better climbing into that room trying to capture the bad guys that are trying to take over your lovely Death Star?”
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The Star Wars inspiration is interesting, although there’s obviously something else that’s undeniable about Helldivers 2 that it was proudly on its sleeves, and that’s Starship Troopers. In fact, Casper Van Dien, who portrayed Johnny Rico in the film, described Arrowhead Game Studios’ title as ‘such a tribute‘ to the classic sci-fi franchise.
[Source – Games Radar]