What you need to know
- Halo Infinite matchmaking has gotten a brand new PvE horde mode directly inspired by Call of Duty: Zombies that’s called Survive the Undead, and you can play it now on Xbox and PC with up to three other players. It will be available for two weeks, from now until June 4.
- Created with Forge by the talented community members at The Forge Falcons, Survive the Undead features two maps (including a remake of the classic Nacht der Untoten stage) and several CoD: Zombies mechanics recreated in Halo Infinite.
- The Forge Falcons are also working on a Helldivers 2-themed mode for Halo Infinite called Helljumpers that’s scheduled to launch next month on June 28, though it won’t be in matchmaking. Instead, it will be playable in Custom Games.
- Notably, Survive the Undead is the first community-made PvE mode ever added to official matchmaking, which has players hoping additional experiences will come in the future.
Creative Halo Infinite players have been putting together some incredible projects ever since its Forge mode — a mapmaking tool that’s frequently used in-tandem with game settings to make community-made modes for Custom Games multiplayer — released in late 2022, and they’ve only gotten more impressive since developer 343 Industries added support for campaign AI to Forge in 2023. Now, one such mode called “Survive the Undead” has come to Halo Infinite matchmaking, and it’s available to play from now until June 4.
Built by the renowned team of community members at The Forge Falcons, Survive the Undead essentially brings Call of Duty: Zombies — a wave-based horde mode in which players fend off swarms of zombies by building defenses and using points to buy weapons and upgrades — to Halo Infinite using Banished enemies from the campaign. At launch, the playlist has two maps: a highly detailed and faithful remake of the first ever CoD: Zombies map, Nacht der Untoten, that’s called Night of the Undead, and a wholly original stage named Installation of the Dead that has a looping circular design. It supports up to four players, so you can play with three friends or matchmade teammates.
Both maps prominently feature recreations of classic Zombies mechanics like special Territory areas that gradually unlock as you complete more and more waves, points earned by getting kills that you can exchange for new weapons and boosts to your health, damage, and movement speed, and randomly dropped power-ups that grant bonuses like full ammo refills or extra points. There are even boss waves, a version of the beloved Pack-a-Punch Machine that swaps your current weapon for one with unique and upgraded effects, and the Mystery Box that gives you a random weapon. Make sure to check out the trailer for the mode below:
You can learn more about Survive the Undead on The Forge Falcons’ official webpage for the mode; it’s been available for quite some time as an unofficial game mode in the Content Browser and has gone through several iterations, with its creators tweaking and refining it over time (the developer’s say a feedback survey will come later this week, so keep an eye out for it). It’s generally considered to be one of the best Halo Infinite Forge creations ever made, so it’s awesome to see 343 Industries partner with the team behind it and bring it to matchmaking.
Notably, Survive the Undead’s addition to an official playlist comes roughly a month before The Forge Falcons plan to release Helljumpers, a Halo Infinite version of Helldivers 2 that aims to bring the thrill of Arrowhead Game Studios’ intense co-op shooter to Xbox and PC players (Helldivers 2 is exclusive to PS5 and PC). It’s scheduled to launch on June 28, with a gameplay trailer coming a week before then “to give players the full in-depth look into the mode before release.” Additionally, it’s been said that a reworked version of the group’s Battle Royale mode “Inheritor” is coming on May 31.
I’ve covered Helljumpers extensively before, and am extremely excited for its release next month. Like the red-hot game it’s inspired by, it will have “procedural objectives, in-game progression, upgrade systems, boss fights, extraction, drop pods and much much more,” including throwable stratagems for artillery and air support call-ins. It will also feature a custom-made campaign “around 5 hours in total,” which is how The Forge Falcons are emulating the feel of Helldivers 2’s mission-based progression structure.
The effort 343 Industries has put into Forge continues to pay dividends; Survive the Undead’s official release marks the first time a community-made PvE experience has been added to Halo matchmaking, and I suspect other highly polished and creative modes from talented Forgers will make their way there in time, too — maybe we’ll even get one soon after Survive the Undead is rotated out. I’ve certainly got my fingers crossed.
Keep in mind that Halo Infinite multiplayer is entirely free-to-play, which means that you can jump in and play Survive the Undead in matchmaking without forking over a penny. Forge and Custom Games are included in this, too, so you can enjoy Helljumpers, the overhauled variant of Inheritor, and any other custom experience made by the game’s community for free as well.
The only thing you can’t access in Halo Infinite without a purchase is its campaign, though it’s definitely worth getting, and one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play if you enjoy single player shooters. If you don’t want to buy it directly, you could always play it through Xbox Game Pass.
