Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed that the Helldivers 2 Automaton scourge has returned, and a new update for the game has arrived that should fix some of its most egregious crashes.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Arrowhead says "somehow, the Automatons returned", poking fun at Poe's infamous line in The Rise of Skywalker.
The previous bot force was, according to Arrowhead, merely a vanguard, and the main bulk of the invasion force has now seemingly arrived, wasting no time in reclaiming many planets, including the Cyborg homeworld of Cyberstan.
The Cyborgs originally appeared in the first Helldivers game. They're the creators of the Automatons, and although their planet has been under Super Earth control since the beginning of Helldivers 2, that control now looks a lot more precarious.
A new Major Order has also been introduced alongside this fresh bot invasion, and players have already begun speculating regarding what will happen when that Major Order is completed.
Earlier this week, a leaked video broadcast pointed to an Automaton invasion of Cyberstan, which now appears to have happened, while another video leak seems to point to what might have happened if players had managed to liberate Terminid sectors as well as Automaton sectors.
Perhaps the most interesting leak, however, is a series of audio files that seems to point once again to the return of the Illuminate, the super-advanced and super-sneaky faction from the original Helldivers. Note lines like "the squids are back" and "the tentacles", which gel pretty well with the Illuminate's design.
While we wait and see what this new Automaton invasion will bring, there's something altogether more concrete to chew on as well: a new Helldivers 2 update that comes with some much-needed crash fixes.
This update should fix crashes that occur during deployment, extraction, and weapon drops, as well as various other miscellaneous crash situations. You can read the full patch notes for that update right here.
Helldivers 2 is available right now for PC and PlayStation 5. You can take a look at our review of the game here, and if you're in need of some help defending Super Earth, be sure to check out our guides on all things stratagems, weapons, and ship upgrades.
