Home News Helldivers 2 Board Game: Exclusive Hands-On Preview

Helldivers 2 Board Game: Exclusive Hands-On Preview

Author: Nathan May 28,2025

One of last year's breakout successes in the multiplayer game-space was Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2, which aimed to spread democracy across the stars by shooting aliens and robots with an abundance of bullets. Now, following the successful release of their monumental board game adaptation of Elden Ring, Steamforged Games is bringing the fast-paced, frenetic experience of Helldivers 2 to the tabletop. The board game is now available for backing on Gamefound. IGN had the opportunity to play a prototype and sit down with the designers Jamie Perkins, Derek Funkhouser, and Nicholas Yu to discuss this new tabletop rendition.

Helldivers 2: The Board Game

17 ImagesDevelopment of Helldivers 2: The Board Game began shortly after the video game's launch last year. It captures the essence of what made the video game so popular and exciting, including tense firefights, chaotic surprises, and a teamwork-centric experience, while adding its own unique tweaks to the formula.

Helldivers 2 remains a cooperative, objective-based skirmish game where one to four players (with the designers recommending solo players use two characters) work together to complete selected objectives while surviving waves of enemies and unexpected events. Each player assumes the role of a different class of Helldiver, each with a unique perk, a set of action cards for their turn, and a powerful one-per-game "Act of Valor" ability. The demo included the Heavy, Sniper, Pyro, and Captain classes. Players outfit themselves with a kit comprising primary, secondary, and support guns, a grenade, and three strategems they can call in, with recommended loadouts listed on their class cards, though experienced players can customize before the game begins.

Gameplay occurs on grid-based boards that expand as you explore, requiring new boards to be placed down, revealing various sub-objectives and the locations of primary objectives, such as Terminid hatcheries to destroy. As you progress, more challenging enemies spawn, and the mission timer adds a round limit, keeping games tense and fast-paced.

The prototype I played had one objective: destroying a certain number of Terminid hatcheries, but the final release will include multiple options. Regarding enemies, Jamie explained that the base game will feature two of the three main factions – the Terminids and the robotic Automatons – each with 10 unit types. While they couldn’t confirm anything, given Steamforged Games' history with stretch goals, it's likely we'll see the Illuminate faction in an expansion.

A key aspect of the video game-to-board game adaptation is capturing the feeling of being overwhelmed and outnumbered. Helldivers opts for a tactical approach with progressively more challenging enemies rather than overwhelming numbers, akin to games like Nemesis rather than Zombicide.

Turns involve players and enemies adding their action cards to a pool, which are shuffled and placed onto the initiative tracker (similar to Steamforged’s Elden Ring game). Combat is based on dice rolls, and every four action cards played trigger a random event, often disrupting plans by spawning more enemies.

On the Helldivers' side, combat is determined by dice rolls, with each weapon providing a type and number of dice. Damage is calculated based on the total value of the roll, with every five points inflicting a single wound on an enemy. This straightforward approach simplifies combat, as players always hit – the only variable is the damage dealt. Friendly fire is possible, especially with area attacks, but reinforcements mitigate the risk of losing a Helldiver permanently.

A unique feature of the board game that the designers are particularly proud of is the ‘Massed Fire’ mechanic, which replicates the feeling of teamwork in the video game.

"In the video game, you're encouraged to work together as a team," Nic explained. "For heavily armored enemies, you need to flank and target weak points if you don't have a support weapon. We implemented 'massed fire,' so when anyone shoots at a target within range of another Helldiver's primary or secondary weapon, they can join the attack, incentivizing group play."

Players can choose to go solo, but the ‘Massed Fire’ mechanic reduces downtime and increases engagement during others' turns, a welcome feature for any board game.

Enemies, however, have more straightforward mechanics, simply dealing set amounts of damage or effects as dictated by their cards, causing players to draw wound cards. Each wound has a detrimental effect, and three wounds result in a character's death. Respawning depends on the chosen difficulty level, allowing players to return with full ammo and resources.

One aspect of the Helldivers 2 experience not included in the board game is the galactic war. The designers considered it but ultimately dropped it to ensure the board game felt unique and not merely a simulation of the video game.

Jamie shared a fun piece of "lore" about the board game: "We're positioning it as a training simulation. So, you would receive this board game as a Helldiver to learn how to be a better Helldiver." It's an amusing touch that adds to the game's immersive experience.

Thanks to Nic, Jamie, and Derek's talent, this latest release from Steamforged Games already feels promising. Their focus has been on ensuring that, despite the new medium, it still feels like a Helldivers game.

"We wanted to ensure that, despite different mechanics, it felt like Helldivers," Nic said. "We included unexpected events, strategems that can misfire, and a dwindling pool of reinforcements, which are uniquely Helldivers."

Derek added, "We knew we needed to keep the core loop of Helldivers with mission objectives and the thrill of chasing new targets, while dealing with enemies that want to eat you."

Currently, the core mechanics and gameplay are about 75-80% finalized, a sweet spot for Steamforged when launching campaigns. This allows for flexibility based on community feedback and potential new ideas. Despite recent concerns about tariffs impacting the board gaming space and worries developers are facing, Jamie assures that these won't slow down their plans. If adjustments are needed, the studio has experts to guide them.

After playing the prototype, I found the systems in place to be fun, especially the random events and the Massed Fire mechanic, which created epic moments. However, I wish there were more smaller enemies to clear out, similar to the video game's style of less thinking and more shooting. Additionally, enemy attacks currently feel static compared to the rest of the game's chaos. Introducing varied outcomes for enemy attacks based on dice rolls could enhance this aspect.

I'm excited to see what other surprises Steamforged Games has in store for Helldivers 2. What I've played so far has me eager to try new Helldiver classes, explore different game types, and mix them with various enemies and biomes. My friends and I are already planning our next drop.