Highly-anticipated third-person shooter Helldivers 2 has received an official rating from the ESRB, the official rating body in the United States.
The game is to have a 'Mature/17+# rating attached to it, and the rating on the ESRB website goes into detail about why - and it's mainly down to "intense violence". As spotted by Eurogamer, Helldivers 2 getting a rating isn't unexpected - and neither are the details that it contains, given what we know about the game already - however, a rating usually comes soonish before a release date, so we could be in for an imminent announcement. For example, a game wouldn't be in a state to receive a rating from the ESRB if it were still deep in development, or even many months from release.
Fleshing out its rating, the ESRB description describes that "players layers use pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, flamethrowers, turrets, grenades, and rocket launchers to shoot and kill enemies (e.g., robots, cyborgs, giant insects). Players can continue to attack defeated enemies, causing additional blood-splatter effects and dismemberment. Players can also shoot and kill human civilians during rescue missions." Nice.
The first Helldivers was an enjoyable, top-down co-op shooter, and a particular highlight was the game's novel ability to be played with friends across the PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. As a result of the latter's inclusion, it often features among the best PS Vita games conversation too.
Ditching the top-down view of the first game, Helldivers 2 embraces the third-person, over-the-shoulder this time around to get us closer to the action. It's a co-op game with a committed fanbase and is already one of the most anticipated upcoming games. It's still slated for release sometime this year, but we have no more information on a firm date aside from this rating coming now.
Helldivers 2 is likely to be one of the best co-op games of the near future, and certainly one of the top multiplayer PS5 games of the generation too.
