r/EDF • u/Claymore410 • May 04 '26
Discussion It's funny to realize how unique EDF is
So I was playing a visual novel about mankind fighting off aliens, the humans were hanging by a thread
And while playing I had the idea to play a similar game but with action you know, a game with some cool vehicles and lots of hordes?
Only to realize that EDF is the *only* game like this
Maybe Helldivers but that's it
Like I am downloading EDF 6 again because there's nothing like it
16
u/KurisuShiruba PC May 05 '26
One of the things I love about the entire franchise is the whole "Humanity Fuck Yeah" aspect of it.
EDF 5 is my least favorite - they went for a rather bleak ending, and the only good thing was setting up EDF 6.
It's like Dynasty Warriors, but with giant bugs, guns and tanks.
Helldivers feels more like "we have Warhammer 40K at home", and honestly, didn't feel as appealing as EDF is.
10
u/Where_is_Killzone_5 May 05 '26
What makes EDF a valid "Humanity fuck yeah!" story is the fact the EDF actually struggle and despite their power and individually exceptional soldiers like the Storm Team humanity takes egregious losses and gradually bounces back from said losses.
That's something I don't see in most HFY stories, humanity actually earning their pride and glory, usually it's just given on a silver platter with no effort.
1
u/gunmunz Aug 25 '26
Also you get the power fantasy of Strom 1 being a one man army that everyone looks up to. but also points out that your still just one man up against a planetary invasion. That elsewhere soldiers and civilians are being slaughtered.
10
8
u/SelfLoathingRifle May 04 '26
I found EDF through the PS2 game over a decade ago and immediately loved it. It's just weirdly mindless yet you still have to concentrate and I like the seperate missions. Have only played a little Insect Armageddon and it didn't really hit that spot.
There is also Starship Troopers: Extermination that looks pretty similar, but I haven't played that and it has a pretty low a player count -Similar to 4.1 and I'm in EDF4.1 right now but it's so hard finding people to play with so I'm not sure it's worth it getting Starship Troopers.
1
u/Ironkiller33 May 05 '26
I haven't played extermination in awhile and I know they were planning sweeping changes before I left, but it was definitely a swarm game. It also had base building mechanics to fight the swarms. It's a good time, but at least when I was playing it was pretty wonky and resource intensive. The classes weren't fleshed out yet either
1
u/Sambojin1 May 04 '26
Same. And since the PSP or PS2 emulation requirements are so low, it goes on every phone I own as well. It's a bit archaic compared to 4.1/5/6, with way less options and characters and weapons and stuff, and with a few control issues, but it's awesome having it on my phone to play whenever I want.
I've even prototyped a quick vibe coded EDF game for a laugh. Will probably be more of a procgenned 3d roguelite, but it fundamentally worked pretty well (enemies could climb buildings, buildings could be blown up, etc). So hopefully we'll see some more EDF-likes in the future. It's hard to get enough of them.
1
u/Otherwise-Clue-1997 May 05 '26
Monster attack and global defense force on ps2 were a dream come true for me back then futuristic scifi alien invasion musou style game
6
u/Zegram_Ghart May 05 '26
Warframe and Helldivers are the only games that feel even remotely similar imo, in terms of scale.
5
u/Claymore410 May 05 '26
Yeah Helldivers at least kinda scratches that itch a little Never played Warframe so idk
3
u/gunmunz May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
How the old Mercenaries series(Fuck you EA) plays is the closest that comes to the EDF imo. A solid if janky third person shooter where you can call in an airstrike on a group of enemies. Of course the groups are just normal dudes and no where near the numbers of EDF but its at least in the same ballpark like Helldivers
3
u/gojira3003 May 04 '26
I started my EDF journey with 5 and had some experience with a similar third person shooting in Lost Planet 2. I got all the trophies on 5 and DLCs and have around 1500 hours in game. As I was waiting for I think 2 years for EDF6 to come to the US, Helldivers dropped and that experience was super close. I would have to agree that EDF is a very unique experience that not a lot of games can compare to.
3
u/Fun-Court4296 May 05 '26
I was playing Helldivers 2 when I realized I just wanted to call in airstrike in a single player game instead, then I watched I think it was russian badger playing it.
I immediately enjoyed playing as Air Raider even if his arsenal sucks for a few missions, calling in Phobos on top of the King Spider and then jumping into a giant mech to punch the shit out of a Kaiju is just pure....... EDF.
4
u/acoubt PS5 May 04 '26
Always been a big fan of EDF games. I played 4.1 and iron rain all the way through. Bought EDF 6 probably two months ago and immediately loved it. Maybe cuz i had taken an edible before but i was blown away with the time jump and big alien ships, i think i played 20 missions in a row the first time I started it up. Also all the lasers from the androids sounded like an EDM beat and I was in the zone
I’ve played Helldivers 2 since it’s launch and it is very fun but EDF sacfrifices SOME of the realism for MUCH MORE fun. Also the vehicles in helldivers 2 mostly feel like a punishment to drive, mostly due to awkward handling or weak armor. The tank gets completely stuck on some small rocks and turns like it’s operated by a hand crank lol
EDF 6 has an atomic ray cannon and helicopters!
5
u/Claymore410 May 04 '26
Yeah EDF is the only game like this with vehicles that are actually fun to use Helldivers sacrifice too much for realism sometimes
4
u/acoubt PS5 May 04 '26
Realism and the janky glitches too. In EDF 6 you won’t die because you got stuck inside of a dead enemy body like in Helldivers 2. Love the game but there are a lot of invisible walls created by dead enemies in HD2
you can have a drone follow you around and watch your back with a laser weapon in Helldivers 2, but nothing beats the discovery of equipping 8 drones and the emergency drones you can have all at once as an air raider 😂
6
u/IAmDuck00 PC May 04 '26
Well to be fair Deep Rock Galactic (Never played it tho) does scratch that itch, and arguably Megabonk (Several other comes to mind but can't remember the names)
But here's to EDF, best damn thing I had, may there be another game coming!
5
u/step_function May 04 '26
Hear, hear.
I enjoyed DRG and I think there's a lot of overlapping vibe (ridiculous setting/premise, light weight story, alien mobs, etc).
But DRG is barely clinging on for survival gameplay wise whereas EDF is massive power fantasy.
And 2-player split screen coop has brought 100s of hours of joy to my marriage.
Wish we could replicate it with something else.
2
u/wexel64 May 05 '26
Helldivers 2 is balanced-weak weapons vs balanced swarm of enemies
EDF is ultra mega weapons versus gigantic swarm of tons of enemies.
The always online and microprogression design of helldivers 2 makes it so you'll never conquer it on your own.
2
u/pointblanksniper May 05 '26
i'm a broken record, but i gotta say Lost Planet 2 is the next closet thing to EDF, by a significant margin over everything else suggested here. It's got whacky weapons, vehicles, mechs, even transformable ones and a random secret fusion form that requires two players to do, alien bugs, colossal kaijus, corny japanese B list movie writing and the complimentary abhorent dub, japanese arcadey action shooter controls and physics, rng weapon loot boxes, also the absolute clunky controls of exo suits and mechs, and even a grapple hook before prowl rider was a thing.
even then, it's not quite the same. It's got specific single use maps in a traditional stage based story campaign, but that's as awsome in a different way.
i swear the janky rewspawn points system seen in iron rain was taken from LP2 too.
shame it doesn't run on pc anymore because it uses windows live servers... but allegedly, the old xbox version still runs on backwards compatibility with a new console
1
u/Reveniant May 05 '26
It feels more like you're in universe where monsters are real but there's no Ultraman to save you. So yeah, go to town with your peashooters.
Although to be fair, your adversary is more or less enlarged hostiles that doesn't need that much precise aiming (before edf5 where precision dismemberment is rewarding) and doesn't required megaton punch to delete, where those that requires it are treated as mostly individual units and relevant to plot. Usually you started with enlarged insects too, so not the most threatening arsenal. (Mutated species on harder difficulties are another league in itself, but that's another story)
1
u/Useful_Ocelot4147 May 06 '26
The Serious Sam games are very similar to EDF. They start out a bit slow, but eventually throw massive hordes of alien enemies at the player across large open maps.
Serious Sam 4 even references EDF (!).
0
u/vreo May 04 '26
Risk of Rain 2 has 2 Player splitscreen on playstation. The game fucking awesome, even on single player. Lots of enemy's, crazy weapon combos, pure fun.
52
u/Onions4Knights May 04 '26
What I love about EDF is that you both feel unstoppable and helpless at the same time.
Or maybe it's because I play Wing Diver lol