Recent Helldivers 2 Termicide Update Has Serious Implications For The Soldiers Of Super Earth

There's a conspiracy deep at the heart of , and the recent update only complicates the matter. announces in-game events via Major Orders, transmissions from the development team that direct players to complete certain types of missions on certain planets. Major Orders track the progress of players worldwide, allowing Helldivers everywhere to share a common goal, and promoting further unity among the people of Super Earth.

The most recent Major Order instructs players to "," in , prioritizing missions in which players must find and turn on giant, anti-Terminid towers throughout the Umlaut Sector. These spray a substance known as Termicide on the planet below. Helldivers the world over have answered the call, with at least one planet fully liberated at the time of writing, and the remaining three well on their way. But there's just one small problem.

It's not entirely clear what Termicide is made of, but many players are concerned it could be harmful to humans in the long run. It's designed to kill bugs, after all, which means it's probably toxic. However, Super Earth's government — the developers of — make no bones about using it.

Compare it to the real-life pesticides used by the average exterminator. They're toxic by default — that's why they work. However, exterminators use such small amounts of it, and apply it in places where it's so unlikely to be directly ingested by humans, that it doesn't usually pose a problem. The toxicity of a substance is usually informed by the weight of the organism that ingests it. The amount of pesticide needed to kill a cockroach, which weighs about a tenth of a gram, wouldn't even have a noticeable effect on a human.

All that is out the window in, though. For one thing, the average Terminid is significantly larger than the average roach, and for that matter, the average human. If it is toxic, the amount of Termicide needed to kill a Terminid would be more than enough to kill a human. What's more, Termicide isn't being applied at a