9 Action-Packed Books Like Helldivers 2
Book Riot | Leah Rachel von Essen | June 28, 2024
Mizuki title included in Book Riot wrap-up
On February 8, 2024, Arrowhead Game Studios released Helldivers 2, a co-op shooter that has taken the gaming world by storm. A month after its release, the game was still watching its sales increase as more and more gamers signed on to battle in a relentless co-op style gameplay with bug-like aliens (including the shudder-worthy bile titans) and horrifying robot armies. Developer Arrowhead Games has achieved something extremely special, with players from around the world on Playstation and PC fighting together to achieve common goals. No wonder more people are looking for games and books like Helldivers 2 now.
The reason for the success of Helldivers 2 isn’t just the satisfyingly difficult, impressively real-feeling gameplay and big fun weapons. It’s also how far Arrowhead is willing to push the game’s brilliant satirical tone, reminiscent of sci-fi classic film Starship Troopers (1997), that critiques heavy patriotism, imperialism, and militarization. Helldivers are intensely replaceable cogs in a relentless war machine.
Players are called into this galactic army to protect their Super Earth loved ones from bile-spewing invasion. Their only task? Be a perfect soldier, die for the cause, and don’t question the mission. You don’t play an individual character in Helldivers, but instead play an ever-rotating series of dying soldiers tasked with destroying planets, farming resources, and killing, killing, killing—all in the name of “spreading managed democracy.”
So when I put together this list of books like Helldivers, I kept that in mind. There’s relentless action and fast-paced battle scenes in these books, but there’s also a lot of needed questioning of authority. A lot of wondering if you’re being given the real story or fed endless propaganda meant to convince you that you’re dying for a good cause when really you’re just giving your body for a bloodthirsty empire.
Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki, translated by Jocelyne Allen
In this graphic novel based on real events and experiences, a Japanese infantry unit is struggling to stay alive and do their duty in New Guinea. It’s a scathing account of the nonsensical bureaucracy and rules of the Japanese army. For example, when a team of soldiers is told to go fight with impossible odds, the leaders tell the bureaucracy they’re dead. When they come back alive, instead of being congratulated, they’re told to go find a way to die on duty. Helldivers will enjoy the bleak, bitterly funny mood.
Check out the rest of the list here.
The reason for the success of Helldivers 2 isn’t just the satisfyingly difficult, impressively real-feeling gameplay and big fun weapons. It’s also how far Arrowhead is willing to push the game’s brilliant satirical tone, reminiscent of sci-fi classic film Starship Troopers (1997), that critiques heavy patriotism, imperialism, and militarization. Helldivers are intensely replaceable cogs in a relentless war machine.
Players are called into this galactic army to protect their Super Earth loved ones from bile-spewing invasion. Their only task? Be a perfect soldier, die for the cause, and don’t question the mission. You don’t play an individual character in Helldivers, but instead play an ever-rotating series of dying soldiers tasked with destroying planets, farming resources, and killing, killing, killing—all in the name of “spreading managed democracy.”
So when I put together this list of books like Helldivers, I kept that in mind. There’s relentless action and fast-paced battle scenes in these books, but there’s also a lot of needed questioning of authority. A lot of wondering if you’re being given the real story or fed endless propaganda meant to convince you that you’re dying for a good cause when really you’re just giving your body for a bloodthirsty empire.
Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki, translated by Jocelyne Allen
In this graphic novel based on real events and experiences, a Japanese infantry unit is struggling to stay alive and do their duty in New Guinea. It’s a scathing account of the nonsensical bureaucracy and rules of the Japanese army. For example, when a team of soldiers is told to go fight with impossible odds, the leaders tell the bureaucracy they’re dead. When they come back alive, instead of being congratulated, they’re told to go find a way to die on duty. Helldivers will enjoy the bleak, bitterly funny mood.
Check out the rest of the list here.