491 Words About: Fire Tornadoes in Helldivers 2
I laughed when I spotted the first twister.
As an Orbital laser carved my name across the canyon, obliterating the automatons that had just dropped from their ship and were now charging in my direction (along with the two dudes who were busy grabbing samples) the first twisters were forming. I didn’t care; I had my guard-dog-robot shooting lasers, my Scythe-laser rifle was shattering these wannabe-Terminator to scrap, and the dudes I was playing with were three times my level and thus had strategies that could level factories from half a mile away.
A second twister formed.
I continued on my merry way.
It didn’t take long for the squad to purge the region of every automaton and pick up every sample in the vicinity. We began chugging towards the evac point.
A third twister formed, and by now I realized these weren’t colorful tornadoes, they were composed entirely of fire. My patriotic sensibilities said, “That’s flippin’ rad,” and I kept running with my fellow Helldivers.
One of my compatriots triggered the evac, which triggered squads of automatons to begin attacking our landing sight, and it was about here that the tornadoes which had been distant weather patterns were now completely encompassing, and entering, the landing zone. I spent the next two minutes actively avoiding Meat Saw Automatons and leaping out of the trajectory of the fire twisters that were now in the space where the drop ship was going to land. Somewhere to my left a Helldiver was immolated, her screams reverberating in my ear. Before I could call another Helldiver down I watched in slow motion as a fire twister curved directly into me, and like my compatriot I was burned alive before imploding into dust.
I laughed so freaking hard dude.
I actually started feeling dizzy.
Helldivers 2 has numerous instances of weather and natural events impacting play whether it be tremors, acid rain, unbearable cold, or even fire tornadoes. Unlike some games which often employ weather simply for environmental aesthetic effect, Helldivers 2 uses weather in its design to directly impact players’ ability to move, shoot, and maintain footing. Action never stops in Helldivers 2, and depending on the difficulty setting of the mission that’s been chosen, being distracted by rain can be the difference between surviving to extraction, or being blindsided by a Meat Saw. Fire Tornadoes are a painful struggle because apart from just staying out of their path, they spread fire which stays burning for minutes leaving little room for maneuvering the battlefield.
Just like the rain in Death Stranding, Fire tornadoes are a unique structural and narrative design. They remind players that the planets they’re fighting on are just as capable of destroying them as the automatons and terminids. The fight for liberty comes at a tremendous cost, and while the Ministry of Truth warns citizens of the threat of insect invasion, they conveniently forgot to mention tornadoes literally made out of fire.
Joshua “Jammer” Smith
6.23.2025
Like what you’re reading? Buy me a coffee & support my Patreon. Please and thank you.