Helldivers players saved the children, so Arrowhead Game Studios is making a donation to the Save the Children charity

Earlier this week, Helldivers 2 were faced with a terrible choice: A major order gave them the option of liberating the planet Marfark, which would grant access to a new strategem, or heading for Vernen Wells to save thousands of survivors trapped in Super Citizen Anne's Hospital for Very Sick Children—with no discernible reward. Despite the promise of new ways to blow things up, massive armies of Helldivers drove on Vernen Wells, forgoing more 'splosions in favor of saving the kids—and I think it's fair to say it was the right call.

«Since the Helldivers2 community chose to save the children, @arrowheadgs does the same,» Arrowhead COO Johan Pilestedt tweeted. «We have made a donation to, well, Save the Children. Great job Divers!»

Founded in 1919, Save the Children is an international charity organization that raises money to improve the lives of children around the world through health care programs, educational opportunities, and crisis aid in war zones. The amount of the donation represents the number of children saved in the Vernen Well operation.

It turns out that Pilestedt pulled the trigger a little early: In a followup tweet he said that Vernen Wells was actually sitting at 99%+ liberated, just barely short of the finish line. «I want to apologize to the team for my blunder,» he said. «Especially the marketing, community and game master teams that dreamt this up. Sorry friends, I'll do better.»

But an hour later, the job was done: Vernen Wells is at peace, and the children are saved!

As noted by GamesRadar, there was a major propaganda push in the Helldivers subreddit urging players to go hard on Vernen Wells after the major order was issued. For some it was a narrative imperative: Helldivers are heroes, so it goes, and Helldivers players are nothing if not committed to the bit.

For some, curiosity was a factor.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Other players seemed to be more into it simply