No filler, all…not quite killer, but pretty good! The levels are well designed for a quick drilling and thankfully never get a chance to outstay their welcome. Although I can't help but feel as though Pepper Grinder is missing that last bit of oomph that could have taken it to the next level, like a better use for all the gold you’re collecting on your adventure. Even still this is a very cool debut and I’ll be interested to see how the dev learns from this experience. I’ll be there day one for whatever they do next! …also…damn I miss the Vita…

I enjoyed Helldivers 2 quite a bit at launch, but eventually the technical problems that I experienced after that first week and the lack of any sort of carrot-on-the-stick leveling kinda killed this game's momentum for me. Now that being said, I did put in 30 hours and enjoyed the majority of the time I put into Arrowhead's runaway success, I just wish I had the same love for this as everyone else seems to. I understand where the gaming community at large is coming from though, because there's a goofy joy that is hard to define when you group up with friends and continually blow each other up with rouge stratagem drops..."accidentally" of course. I just feel as though Helldivers 2 is missing a system that improves your firepower in a vertical sense, in addition to the more lateral stratagem unlocks. I understand that would come at the cost of not being able to easily play with anyone regardless of level, but without it I found it hard to feel any real sense of meaningful progression session to session. Of course, as with any games-as-a-service, the experience is expected to change with time, and I'd be interested to see what unpatriotic horrors befall Super Earth in a few months' time, but for now I'm content to hang up my Breaker and let my fellow Helldivers fight these wars for me.