What you need to know
- Helljumpers is a player-made PvE mode in Halo Infinite that’s directly inspired by Arrowhead Game Studios’ hit co-op shooter Helldivers 2. It was built using the game’s advanced mapmaking tool that’s called Forge.
- First announced seven months ago in March, the mode has finally now been released in Early Access and is available to play now in Halo Infinite Custom Games. An explanation of how you can access Helljumpers’ map and mode can be found below.
- Helljumpers works across Xbox and PC, and since Halo Infinite multiplayer is free-to-play, anyone on either of these platforms can install it and check the mode out without spending a penny.
- The mode is particularly beneficial for Xbox users, as Helldivers 2 is exclusive to PS5 and PC right now. Though Arrowhead’s game could come to Xbox at some point, Helljumpers looks to be the best alternative currently available.
Microsoft’s live service Xbox and Windows PC shooter Halo Infinite has gotten plenty of updates since its 2021 release that’ve improved the game substantially, but one that’s proven to be one of the biggest boons is the addition of Forge mode. Since the latest iteration of the series’ beloved mapmaking tool came out in late 2022 and was improved in 2023 with the ability to spawn campaign AI, creative fans have been using Forge to make everything from Pokémon battle arenas to a Baldur’s Gate 3-style tabletop RPG experience. What may be the most impressive project yet, though, is a custom mode derived from one of this year’s biggest games — and several months after its development was announced, it’s finally out.
That mode is Helljumpers, a mammoth-sized PvE experience built by the renowned community development team The Forge Falcons. Heavily inspired by Arrowhead Game Studios’ popular co-op shooter Helldivers 2, Helljumpers aims to bring the thrill of the 2024 hit to Halo with custom-made stratagems, randomized objectives, an extraction system, a mid-match progression system that emulates unlocking upgrades in Helldivers, and a gigantic, highly detailed urban map that looks straight out of Halo 3: ODST. With 4,000+ scripts, every bit of Halo Infinite’s generous Forge budget used, and a full playthrough length of 3-5 hours, it’s arguably the most ambitious Forge project to date (this overview video goes into extensive detail about how it works).
For that reason, it’s taken seven months for The Forge Falcons to build and polish the experience. At long last, though, you can finally check it out, as it’s released today on Xbox and Windows PC. To play it, you’ll first have to either bookmark both the Helljumpers map and the mode to play on it on Halo Waypoint while signed in with your Microsoft account or bookmark these in-game with Halo Infinite’s Content Browser. Once that’s done, you can select these in Custom Games to get a session running (you can also look for public Helljumpers lobbies with Halo Infinite’s Custom Games Browser).
Something important to know about Helljumpers is that it’s been released in Early Access, with The Forge Falcons stressing that players may encounter bugs. The team does eventually plan to fully launch the experience with a 1.0 version, but first wants to let fans test it out and report any issues they run into.
“Early Access allows us to release the experience for you all to play whilst it still being in a development phase,” wrote the group on social media. “We want to work with players and use their feedback to make Helljumpers the best it can be, before launching into 1.0.” Note that The Forge Falcons has a Discord server where you can report bugs and organize sessions with other players, so make sure you join it.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Helljumpers — much like Helldivers 2 itself — has a strict team size limit of four players. The creators say trying to play it with more than that will “break the mode,” but you can play it with less if you’d prefer to drop into battle by yourself or with a smaller squad.
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I’ve been following this project since it was revealed in March, so it’s awesome to finally see it get a public release. I can’t wait to try it out soon with my friends, because if it plays as good as it looks, it’s going to be an absolute blast. I’m confident that it will be, too, as The Forge Falcons are known for making excellent, well-polished Forge experiences; its CoD: Zombies-inspired Survive the Undead mode recently came to Halo Infinite matchmaking permanently after a test run earlier this year, and its battle royale mode is the most advanced take on that genre I’ve seen made for the game.
Though it’s available on both Xbox and PC, Helljumpers is particularly great for users of the former, as Helldivers 2 isn’t on Microsoft’s consoles right now and there’s not really an alternative out there to fall back on. Helldivers 2 could come to Xbox at some point if Sony and Microsoft work something out, but until there’s news on that front, Helljumpers is a great way for Xbox players to get a taste of its high-octane action.
Best of all, though, is the fact it’s completely free-to-play since Halo Infinite multiplayer doesn’t cost a penny. That means you can jump in regardless of whether you already own and play the game or not, which is fantastic (the campaign costs money, though it’s excellent and also available with Xbox Game Pass).
