A video game has reinvigorated a long-running debate about fascism and satire

Helldivers 2, a hit video game from Arrowhead Game Studios, challenges players to work together as an elite team of soldiers to save Earth by pushing back invading hordes of space bugs, cyborgs and robots.

It’s a simple enough premise, a classic good-versus-bad tale — except for one particular wrinkle. As many people have pointed out since its launch, some of the propaganda-style in-game content and the plot ofHelldivers 2 bears a striking resemblance to “Starship Troopers,” a 1997 science fiction film about humanity’s future war against alien bugs that has come to be seen as a tragic case of satire that initially went unappreciated.

The game lays it on thick, with cutscenes bordering on comedy that tout Earth’s united and militaristic regime, having already plundered the galaxy.

“I would say most of the people understand it to be satirical,” said Christian Divyne, 29, a content creator and gamer who posted to TikTok about the Helldivers 2 discourse. “I think because it’s so overt in nature that people kind of get that it’s meant to be a bit and a joke.”

Where people are butting heads, Divyne said, is in conversations in which players say if they were in the Helldivers’ position, they would have no choice but to defend themselves and their country.

“They’re sort of just missing the point of what is an entirely fictional story,” Divyne said.

That’s led to a surprisingly fervent and meta debate about the video game: Is it actually a satire of fascism? And if so, is it worrying that some people don’t seem aware of that? Or don’t care at all?

Or, in terms more relatable to people who spend a lot of time on the internet: “Are we the baddies?”

It’s a discussion that has spread on X, TikTok, YouTube, gaming message boards