Oh god: Helldivers 2 doubles down on horror with an Automaton human processing plant in the Escalation of Freedom update

The Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom update introduces new enemy outposts, including Automaton human processing plants where players can discover the robots' sinister operations.

In a terrific double down on its more horrific aspects, Helldivers 2 has new 'Automaton human processing plants' as part of its Escalation of Freedom update.

The Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom update is live right now for all troopers to suffer through, and one of the key headline features of the new update is that it's introducing new types of enemy outposts. For the Automatons, for example, there's the new 'human processing plants,' which sound nothing short of a bloody great time.

"Two new secondary objectives will soon be active on a planet near you!" the Escalation of Freedom patch notes read. "These faction-specific optional objectives will have you assaulting Automaton human processing plants to destroy their evil Bio-Processor, and venturing deep into Terminid territory to extract with a living larva sample that the bugs will do anything to get back!"

That first new optional objective sounds incredible. The Automatons have always been the more imposing of the Helldivers 2 factions, but getting a small peak behind the curtain to understand what the robots actually to do every human they claw from Super Earth's clutches is a great little storytelling beat on Arrowhead's part. 

We already knew about the latter of the two new optional objectives. When Arrowhead revealed it last month, we wrote that the new Helldivers 2 Terminid-specific objective basically sounded like Death Stranding, except you're transporting a kidnapped bug baby while its parents presumably try and carve you and your comrades into tiny pieces.

Take a look at our guide on the Helldivers 2 TR-40 Golden Eagle armor for how to bag the new livestream-exclusive armor set today.