HELLDIVERS™ - Pilot Pack

I'll say this plainly: the Pilot Pack is the most mechanically specific DLC Arrowhead shipped for the original HELLDIVERS, and that specificity is both its strength and its ceiling. What you are buying here is three things: the EXO-48 Obsidian Exosuit stratagem, the AC-5 Arc Shotgun, and a cosmetic set (helmet, armor, cape). If any one of those three pieces doesn't appeal to you, the value proposition gets thin fast. The Obsidian is a single-use stratagem that drops a walking exosuit with twin arm-mounted autocannons, each loaded with 250 rounds for a total reserve of 500 shots. Against Illuminate missions it genuinely shines - the autocannons chew through shield-bearing units quickly and the suit's armor-ignoring stomp lets you destroy Illuminate Beacons and Cyborg AA Guns without burning through your guns. The community consensus is pretty clear though: the Obsidian is a situational pick, strong at lower difficulties against Bugs and Cyborgs, and the go-to mech for most Illuminate content, but it has no real anti-vehicle capability. Against IFVs and tanks you are a sitting target, and your teammates need to cover that gap. That is not a flaw exactly - it is a design choice that rewards squad coordination, which is the entire point of HELLDIVERS. But if you solo-queue at higher difficulties, you will hit the Obsidian's ceiling fast. The AC-5 Arc Shotgun is a close-range arc weapon with a notably faster charge-up than the base AC-3 Arc Thrower. It fires a wide cone of static discharge, which makes it respectable crowd control at short range. The tradeoff is that it is near-useless at clearing distant patrols, which is one of the more important things to do quietly on harder missions. Pair it with the Gun Drone stratagem if you want to cover its dead zone, but that is a separate DLC expense. On its own, the Arc Shotgun is a fun off-meta sidegrade, not a must-slot weapon. Context matters here. HELLDIVERS (the original, top-down twin-stick co-op shooter) received generally favorable reviews when it launched on PC in December 2015. The base game runs up to four players in local or online co-op, features full friendly fire, stratagem-based support calls, and a community-driven galactic campaign across procedurally generated maps. The gameplay loop was broadly praised for its co-op mechanics and satisfying chaos, while critics noted that mission objectives grow repetitive and the solo experience is markedly weaker. The Pilot Pack fits squarely into that ecosystem - it is an add-on for players already invested in building varied loadouts for different mission types, not an entry point. If you already own the base game and are enjoying the stratagem-building side of things, the Obsidian is a legitimate addition to your roster for Illuminate and lower-difficulty Bug/Cyborg content. If you are hunting a single DLC that plugs a strategic gap at all difficulty levels, the Pilot Pack is not that.

Fred · Scout Team

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