Helldivers 2 players celebrate victory over Sony as the ‘review bomb’ cape finally appears in the game: ‘We won the biggest and longest running Major Order in the game to date’

Helldivers 2 has, generally speaking, been a massive success for Arrowhead Game Studios and publisher Sony. But it did have one early and notable misstep. Shortly after release Sony made a PSN account a requirement to play, and removed Helldivers 2 from sale in 177 countries and territories that didn’t have access to PSN: sparking a review bombing campaign that saw the game receive over 200,000 negative Steam reviews.

The then-CEO of Arrowhead, John Pilestedt, managed the PR crisis as best he could but, before Sony eventually backed down in May 2024, the one thing that mollified the community was a dose of gallows humour. Pilestedt shared a fan post that pitched a cape featuring a design based on the Steam review graph, with the lines going down, which swiftly became known as the “review bomb” cape (this accessory is one of the game’s customisable cosmetics).

It instantly became a focal point for the Helldivers, and in June last year Arrowhead said it had made the cape, but was just waiting for the right time to release it. Now, the time has come.

The cape, named “Pillars of Freedom,” has now been added to the game. The official Helldivers account tweeted:

“In honor of their unquestioning commitment to the defense of Managed Democracy, the Helldivers have been awarded a commemorative cape. The new uniform piece will be available in all Super Destroyer Armories as soon as the rollout is complete.

“This cape will be awarded to all existing players. As with our previous item rollouts, please allow some time for the item to arrive in your inbox.”

The Helldivers are for the most part jubilant at their democratic triumph. “We won the biggest and longest running Major Order in the game to date,” says InitiateXal: “‘Subdue Sony.'” And props to the guy (it’s definitely a guy) who just responded with a gif of Stone Cold Steve Austin bashing some cold beers together: now that’s patriotism.

Why has it taken so long to get here? Arrowhead seems to have waited for the great Sony climbdown to be complete: it might’ve been a year since Sony said it would fix things, but it was only earlier this month that the publisher dropped regional restrictions on Steam for four of its biggest games, including Helldivers 2.

As for the game itself, Helldivers 2 is in incredibly rude health, with players having recently fought back against the Illuminate to save Super Earth, valiantly turning evil brain squids into commie calamari. It just goes to show that some languages are universal: Chinese Helldivers 2 players were equally valiant in holding the line to save “Super China,” then got mad and began another review-bombing campaign after Arrowhead capped their liberty rating at 99.9783%.