In 2011, a small, independent Swedish developer, Arrowhead Game Studios, released a game about a group of wizards going on an adventure together in a bizarre world full of fantasy stereotypes, called Magicka. In this game, you combine different elements using your QWERTY keys to make different spells (for instance, combining water and fire makes steam, etc). Using these spells, players solved puzzles and fought their enemies.
At the same time, the game did not shy away from friendly fire – there weren’t any safeguards to stop you from blasting your friends with eldritch if you weren’t careful. The game was a lot of fun. In 2015, Arrowhead made a new game in a new setting, called Helldivers.
It was a game about a fictional Super Earth that sent its brave soldiers, the titular Helldivers, to different planets to ‘liberate’ them and ‘spread democracy’ there. The game borrowed heavily from Starship Troopers, but cranked up the satire even higher. Gameplay was very reminiscent of Magicka – co-operative play, same top-down view, lots of accidental friendly fire.
Some other Magicka DNA was also present – you used your arrow keys to input combinations mid-combat to call in resupplies or ordnance, while shooting down hordes of enemies for democracy. Helldivers became a niche hit among players, who praised its borderline ridiculous setting and its fun but challenging gameplay. For their next game, Helldivers 2, Arrowhead decided to dial everything up to eleven.
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