The tone and storyline of "Helldivers 2" are heavily inspired by the 1997 Paul Verhoeven movie "Starship Troopers". Humanity now lives under a "managed democracy" aka fascism in disguise, and there is a heavy coating of political satire draped over the whole thing.

The third-person shooter burst onto the scene in February 2024, with screenshots of armor-clad shock troops fighting robots on a tropical-looking world that made many commenters liken the game to a kind of “Space Vietnam.