Helldivers 2 APC video surfaces, showing Joel personally delivering the unreleased vehicle

One of my favourite things about Helldivers 2 is the fact it's home to a human game master, known as "Joel", who controls the narrative. Joel's been known to leave surprises, namely mechs before they officially launched a while back. And now he's seemingly granted a group of lucky players the chance to ride about in an armoured truck outfitted with guns. Maybe, just maybe this signals their imminent release?

In the clip posted on Xwitter, a group of three players are seemingly greeted by a player named [AH] Joel, who says "Hey guys i need to get back to work. Please take this", before dropping an armoured truck (APC) on the map and leaving the mission.

We see one player hop into the driver's seat briefly, potter around a tiny bit and then that's our lot. But it's clear that there are four seats in total, one driver, one passenger, and two at the back outfitted with machine guns for some mounted shootybang.

This isn't the first time APCs have been sighted, as previous Reddit posts from a couple of weeks ago show players in what looks like early versions of the vehicle. And another Xwitter clip shows the APC in greater detail, with two players clearly using the mounted guns to mow down some bots.

It's perhaps unsurprising that APCs could be on the way soon as, like the mechs, APCs were a staple of the original Helldivers. They made for easy traversal, had a four-person setup with two mounted machine guns and an autocannon. You could upgrade the APC up to three times, increasing its onboard ammunition, adding a laser sight to the autocannon, and further upping its movement and turret rotation speeds.

I'm really looking forward to the APC, mainly because I've been wanting a faster way to traverse the planets as I move between bug nests and robo-fortresses with my pals. And also because my friends and I have a habit of splitting up, so when things get a bit hectic we all sort of die awkwardly and then bemoan not sticking together. I like to believe a four-person vehicle that forces us into close proximity will solve our issues… or just make it so we all squabble for the fun gunner seats.

I'm making my way through the game's new Cutting Edge warbond, which adds fresh new debate about the Illuminate faction. While I'm not tuned into the meta of what's super strong or anything, I can attest to the LAS-16 Sickle, which I've found to be a strong assault rifle alternative.