The peak online of Helldivers 2 on Steam has significantly increased after the release of a major update

Cover: screenshot of Helldivers 2

Yesterday's update pulled a lot of people back into Helldivers 2 — Steam's peak online players shot up. Where the count had been sitting around 30–40k, it jumped to about 146k simult. A big bounce; the only better showing this year was in Feb, when peaks nudged past 170k.

The patch itself adds a fresh biome and some teeth: enemy types named "Crushers" and "Scoundrels" show up, and you can now call in reinforcements. Devs also bumped the max lvl and made a raft of balance tweaks — small and large adjustments alike.

Oh, and FYI: the game has become available to extended PS Plus subs, plus it scored a warbond tied to Warhammer 40,000.