Why Helldivers 2 Might’ve Hit a Ceiling with Ship Module Upgrade Customization (2024)

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Helldivers 2’s Ship Module Customization is Lying Dormant as a Backdrop Helldivers 2’s Ship Module Customization May Not Be So Easy to Improve

Customization is and always will be a prevailing discussion as long as Helldivers 2’s live-service efforts in the Galactic War are ongoing. Helldivers 2 has never had poor customization when it comes to players’ democracy-loving avatars, and player expression has been honored with tons of emotes, victory poses, and even color palettes for the shuttle, Hellpods, and Exosuits. Customization is also available within players’ ships, but not nearly to the same degree. Ship module progression is currently the only customization players can toy with in the outer space hub, and it might not be so easy to buff it out any further in a truly meaningful way.

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Helldivers 2’s Emote Wheel is One Small Step for Gameplay, One Giant Leap for Camaraderie

Helldivers 2 recently debuted an emote wheel, which isn't Super Earth-shattering for live-service gameplay but an admirable addition nonetheless.

Helldivers 2’s Ship Module Customization is Lying Dormant as a Backdrop

Between the Patriotic Administration Center, Orbital Cannons, Hangar, Bridge, Engineering Bay, and Robotics Workshop, there’s actually a lot of customization being applied to the ship that players might never acknowledge or register given its subtlety and insignificance in general. Plus, with Helldivers 2’s ship module upgrades becoming astronomically costly as players progress through them, it’s likely only after a massive time sink that players will get to see the fruits of their labor represented visually, and the difference might not always be as immediately noticeable.

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Upgrading from the Superior Packing Methodology to the Payroll Management System in the Patriotic Administration Center is certainly a huge change given its workspace expansion adding more real estate to the ship. Likewise, the visual difference in upgrading from the spacious and deflating Liquid-Ventilated Cockpit to the abundantly stockpiled Advanced Crew Training module in the Hangar is unmistakable.

The Orbital Cannons ship module customization being represented is a neat touch, too, since it demonstrates that Helldivers 2 doesn’t neglect the ship’s exterior and players can observe these upgrades as they peer out from the flight deck’s viewport. That said, intermittent upgrades such as the transition from the Rapid Launch System to the Circuit Expansion in the Engineering Bay can be difficult to discern when the corner of the ship it occupies is so small to begin with and not much is done to give it a substantial visual overhaul.

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Helldivers 2’s Ship Module Customization May Not Be So Easy to Improve

Color is probably one of the most striking ways that personal ship preferences could stand out, not unlike how shuttles, Hellpods, and Exosuits are colored depending on the host whom players accompany on a mission. Therefore, because Helldivers 2’s shuttle, Hellpods, and Exosuits have been given colorway palette options, it wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibility to imagine the ship adorned in various coats of paint.

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That said, it could be tough making interior palettes look as nice or natural as they do elsewhere, not to mention if such palettes would be applied to the entirety of the ship.

It would be great if additional ship exterior modules could provide unique customization, but while the Orbital Cannons upgrades are easily viewable it might be counterproductive to have exterior module customization that players only see during brief cutscenes. It could help expand customization options if whole appliances or areas of the ship were to be debuted in Helldivers 2, though that wouldn’t be a thoughtless effort and presumably require brand-new module branches to progress through as well, and that would take it far beyond mere ornamental customization.