'Farewell, battle brother': Helldivers 2 players honour a late soldier with thousands of salutes, Arrowhead Games' CEO says he'll work with the dev team on a fitting tribute

A helldiver, obscured by a halo of white light, stands victorious against a Super Earth flag in Helldivers 2.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Games)

A Helldivers 2 player by the name of OkamiCheems has died—and in a touching tribute, a thread posted by his former friend to the game's subreddit has received an outpouring of support tens of thousands strong.

At the time of writing, the post has 43,800 upvotes, and the thread itself is flooded with both heartfelt sentiment and an entire battalion of salutes—enough that my browser started to have trouble scrolling through them all.

A series of salutes to honour a fallen comrade in Helldivers 2. — (Image credit: The Helldivers 2 subreddit.)

"Today I woke up to the news that my best friend passed away yesterday on his birthday," writes user Fine-Clothes-1209. "He loved this game and he grinded it out daily." Fine-Clothes-1209 then recalls being taught how to kneecap chargers and headshot bile titans by their comrade-in-arms. They then ask: "I was wondering, would it be possible to export his game data? Me and my other friends wanna make a memorial with his game stats."

Arrowhead Games' CEO, Johan Pilestedt, then appeared to pay tribute and promise the appropriate honours: "I am so sorry for your loss. My battle brother of 20 years passed away three years ago. To this day I still see his username on Discord, Steam and other platforms and fondly remember the many fond gaming memories we shared.

"I will speak to the team on how to remember one of the fallen. As my grandma said: 'Sorgen är för de som lever kvar,'" which translates to "grief is for those who are still alive"—a heartfelt sentiment similar to an English equivalent, "funerals are for the living".

After a massive outpouring of support, Fine-Clothes-1209 writes: "I'm so amazed by the camaraderie of this community … seeing this many strangers come together to celebrate him is so awesome. I wish to the bottom of my heart he’d only known how much he was valued, even by strangers."

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (US), Crisis Services Canada (CA), Samaritans (UK), or Lifeline (AUS). If you are outside of these regions, check this list for a hotline in your country.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.