Arrowhead has celebrated Helldivers 2's first anniversary by releasing the first part of an interview that gives us our best look at Joel the enigmatic Game Master.
When Helldivers 2 launched one year ago to this day, no one expected it to become one of PlayStation's biggest hits of all time. And yet, despite some major bumps in the road like the infamous PSN sign-in requirement and flamethrower nerfs, that's exactly what happened, as Helldivers 2 is still making waves after one trip around the sun.
Helldivers 2 was once an uplifting and collaborative live-service gem, but since launch, the community has become a hotbed of outrage.
There are a lot of reasons for Helldivers 2's success, but no doubt one of the biggest is its use of Joel the Game Master, who is basically the Helldivers equivalent to a Dungeon Master. Joel is a real developer at Arrowhead who is in charge of controlling Helldivers 2's flow by deciding which orders are active, where Terminids, Automatons, and Illuminates attack, and even giving players bonus stratagems.
We've known about Joel (often referred to as J.O.E.L.) for about as long as Helldivers 2 has been around...
