Ever looked at the chaotic, bug-infested landscapes of Helldivers 2 and wondered what's actually under the hood? You'd probably guess Unreal Engine 5 or maybe a custom Sony-funded powerhouse. Honestly, the reality is way weirder. It’s almost a miracle the game even runs as well as it does, considering it’s built on a foundation that the rest of the world basically threw in the trash years ago.
What engine is Helldivers 2 on? The short answer is Autodesk Stingray, which was originally known as Bitsquid.
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If that name doesn't ring a bell, don't worry. You're not alone. It’s a bit of a ghost in the industry. But for Arrowhead Game Studios, this "ghost" is the engine they’ve been haunting since the days of the original Magicka.
The Engine That Time Forgot
Most modern blockbusters rely on massive, constantly updated platforms like Unreal. Arrowhead took a different path. They stuck with Bitsquid because they knew it. They used it for the first Helldivers back in 2015, along with Gauntlet and The Showdown Effect.
But here is the kicker: Autodesk discontinued Stingray in 2018. Think about that for a second. Helldivers 2 launched in 2024. By the time you were dropping your first 500kg bomb on a Bile Titan, the engine powering that explosion had been officially "dead" for six years. No updates. No customer support line to call when things broke. Just a team of Swedish developers and a whole lot of coffee.
Why Stick With a Dead Engine?
You’ve gotta wonder why they didn't just switch. When development on the sequel started around 2016, Stingray was still a thing. It was Swedish-made tech—originally built by the founders of Fatshark (the Vermintide devs)—so it had a lot of local love in Stockholm.
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By the time Autodesk pulled the plug in 2018, Arrowhead was already deep in the trenches. Switching to something like Unreal at that point wouldn't just have been a "delay"—it would have been a total teardown.
- Familiarity: The team knew every quirk of the code.
- Specialization: Bitsquid was always great at handling massive amounts of "stuff" on screen, which is sort of the whole point of Helldivers.
- The Sunk Cost: They’d already built their custom tools on top of it.
CEO Johan Pilestedt famously tweeted that their "crazy engineers had to do everything" to bring the tech up to modern standards without any external help. They basically had to become engine architects themselves, duct-taping new features onto an old frame to make it look like a 2024 masterpiece.
The Technical Debt Dilemma
This choice explains a lot of the "jank" players have dealt with since launch. Have you noticed how long it takes to fix certain bugs? Or how the game occasionally chugs when too many stratagems go off at once?
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When you're on a dead engine, you can’t just download a plugin for the latest FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) or DLSS version. You have to write the integration yourself. It’s why the game felt a bit behind on certain technical features like modern upscaling at launch. They were playing catch-up with tech that had no roadmap.
Who Else Uses This Thing?
Arrowhead isn't the only studio that refused to let go. Fatshark used it for Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. If you play those games, you’ll notice a similar "feel"—great physics, amazing lighting, and a certain "crunchiness" to the combat that Bitsquid seems to excel at.
But even those studios are moving on. Recent reports and job listings suggest Arrowhead is finally eyeing Unreal Engine 5 for their next project. It makes sense. Trying to keep a discontinued engine alive is like trying to keep a vintage car running as a daily driver; eventually, you just want something with a warranty and parts that aren't out of production.
What This Means For You
So, does it actually matter what engine Helldivers 2 is on? For the average diver, not really. The game looks stunning. The planetary lighting is some of the best in the business, and the way terrain deforms under explosive fire is genuinely impressive.
But it does explain the "why" behind the development cycle. It explains why some patches break things in unexpected ways. The developers are essentially working in a house they built with tools that aren't sold in stores anymore. Every time they want to add a new room, they have to forge their own nails.
Next Steps for the Curious Diver:
If you're interested in how this tech affects your actual gameplay, you should check out your in-game graphics settings. Since the engine is custom-modified, certain settings like "Space Quality" and "Vegetation Detail" have a massive impact on your CPU because of how the engine handles object density. Try lowering "Volumetric Fog" first if you're seeing frame drops—it's a notorious resource hog in the Bitsquid lineage.