Helldivers 2 devs turn to the power of democracy as 84% of the community votes to finally add a feature that's been requested since launch

Helldivers 2 intro cutscene helldiver thumbs up
(Image credit: Sony)

The Helldivers 2 devs have turned to the democracy-loving fanbase with a simple but important question about a gameplay mechanic idea that players have been begging for since launch, and unsurprisingly, a whopping 84% are in favor of it. 

Proposed to the official Helldivers 2 Discord server yesterday, Arrowhead Game Studios asks: "Would you like to be able to stim while at full health to replenish your stamina?" With two hours left on the poll, over 26,000 fans have voted at the time of writing, with almost 22,000 of those giving an enthusiastic "yes." 

While stims are primarily used as handy heals in the hit shooter, helping you avoid death if you've taken a beating from an aggressive Charger or Hulk, they have the added bonus of giving you infinite stamina for a short amount of time. This is massively helpful, as it allows you to get a head start sprinting away from danger, or towards it if you want to swoop in with a dramatic display of bravery. Other than using stims, there's no way to instantly recover your stamina like this – you generally just have to stop sprinting occasionally to make sure you don't run out, because since launch, it's been impossible to use stims if you're already fully healed. 

The demand for full-health stim usage is something that dates back all the way to February – one thread on the Steam Community forum sees players suggesting this exact thing: "I want to be able to stim myself for tactical stamina recovery," one wrote. Similarly on Reddit in March, players desperate for instant stamina boosts were sharing ways to get around the limitation since they couldn't use stims like they wanted to: "I literally take fall damage before I start heading across the map just to stim and regain stamina," one stated

It's worth keeping in mind that Arrowhead hasn't explicitly stated that the feature will be added to the shooter as a result of the poll, but it seems pretty obvious that the developer is gauging interest in it. Who knows, 84% may not even be considered favorable enough for it to pass the test, so we shouldn't assume that it's definitely happening. Even so, Arrowhead always seems to listen carefully to its community, so we'll just have to wait and see what the studio does.

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Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.