Grim Helldivers 2 ad carries suspicious message targeting Super Earth’s elderly

In-game Helldivers 2 ads for the in-universe “bio-repurposer vats” have players fearing what the future holds for old people on Super Earth.

Propaganda floods the world of Helldivers 2 but one advertisement, in particular, has players concerned. While exploring the ship, Divers may hear a short commercial targeting the elderly of Super Earth.

The Ship TV ad says, in part: “Too old to be productive? Consider volunteering for an early trip to the bio-repurposer vats. The bots will stop at nothing to turn our galaxy into little more than steel and code. Unless we stop them first…”

Reddit user Hima_tatsu called attention to the eerie promo in a post, simply wondering, “…what are we doing to old people?”

The function and purpose of bio-repurposer vats remain unknown. It’s also unclear why only old people in the Helldivers 2 universe are being asked to volunteer.

However, the community has decided it can’t mean anything good. And, of course, others (jokingly) think it’s nice that the elderly can take part in the ongoing war effort.

“We’re democratically re-electing their bodies,” one person wrote in the Reddit thread.

Others pointed out the Soylent Green parallels. The 1970s sci-fi film takes place in a dystopian future plagued by overpopulation, scarce resources, and the greenhouse effect.

Because of food scarcity, the Soylent Corporation has developed the eponymous Soylent Green, a nutritious sustenance that’s easily mass-produced. The twist of the film is that “Soylent Green is people,” specifically made from corpses.

Given Helldivers’ obvious Starship Troopers inspiration, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Soylent Green also had an impact on the game’s lore. As one person joked, “You think your soylent green freedom energy bars grow on trees?”

And since Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt has mentioned a love for Warhammer, someone else noted the following: “Maybe inspiration from the WH40K. They eat processed bodies of dead people in there…”

Whatever the case, it doesn’t seem Helldivers 2’s Super Earth is very kind to the older people of its populace.