After leaking some aspects of Destiny 2: The Final Shape back in May and then leaking a new Helldivers 2 Stratagem in June, Sony is keeping the streak going with another apparent Helldivers 2 update leak. Oops!
The spoiler took multiple PS5 players by surprise: a PlayStation notification nominally about the Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond inadvertently informed them that an unreleased premium Warbond called Freedom's Flame will include "fiery weapons, life-saving armor, cool capes, fresh emotes, player cards, and patterns." The cape detail seems especially relevant given the last update on Helldivers 2's 'review bomb' cape, which is very real and waiting in the wings.
"Dial up the temperature to cremate our enemies of justice, Helldivers!" says the notification. "The Freedom's Flame Premium Warbond is deploying to your Destroyer's Acquisitions panel." Developer Arrowhead Game Studios has neither announced the Freedom's Flame Warbond nor publicly acknowledged the leak.
This leak seems to be older than Sony's blunder, anyway. In June, a data miner shared the contents of what appears to be the same Freedom's Flame Warbond, full of distinctively "fiery" file names like "Torcher," "Crisper," and "FLAM-66." Players seem eager to get their tan on, with many hoping for truly fire-resistant armor as well as more weapons weapons to sit alongside the flamethrower.
As recently as July 4, Arrowhead said there was "no new Warbond yet," reaffirming its commitment to slow the rewards down and focus on update quality over quantity. But if this leak is accurate, we may see this fiery Warbond relatively soon.
Sony, Helldivers 2's publisher and IP holder, has already made this summer difficult for Arrowhead. It went through a confusing mandate that forced players to link their PlayStation Network Accounts to PC before this was later reversed, which resulted in vicious review bombing on Steam.
There's more to come either way — the Helldivers 2 CEO promises "our intent is to add more stuff for long term progression," and he's turning to the community for ideas.
As Helldivers 2's new Democracy Space Station guns down the divers who helped build it, one dev says Arrowhead need to "own that and adapt" but warns that "things are rarely crap or fantastic" at first
Helldivers 2's new Democracy Space Station is killing so many Helldivers that the devs are giving out free shields and extra lives in a "temporary" emergency fix
