What you need to know
- Arrowhead Game Studios’ PvE co-op shooter Helldivers 2 is one of 2024’s biggest games on PC and PS5. However, it’s not available on Xbox, and isn’t likely to be in the future since it’s published by PlayStation.
- Soon, however, Xbox fans will have an alternative they can turn to: Helljumpers, an ambitious PvE mode for the free-to-play multiplayer shooter Halo Infinite that’s being made by The Forge Falcons, a legendary team of community Forgers.
- Helljumpers will be a Halo and ODST-themed spin on Helldivers 2 “with procedural objectives, in-game progression, upgrade systems, boss fights, extraction, drop pods and much much more.” It takes advantage of the fact Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries added campaign AI to its level editor tool Forge in Season 5 last year.
- The Forge Falcons team has revealed that it plans to release Helljumpers in June, with a launch early in the month planned. However, it “will push it back a few more weeks if it needs it.”
Gamers on PC and PS5 have been having an absolute blast this year with Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Game Studios’ Starship Troopers-inspired PvE co-op shooter. Since its release in early February, the game has had a consistent presence on Steam’s Top Sellers list, and according to SteamDB data, has also maintained concurrent player counts well over 100,000 on Valve’s PC gaming platform. To say that it’s been an explosive hit is an understatement, frankly — and for Xbox users, that makes the fact it’s a PlayStation console exclusive all the more devastating.
There are hopes that Helldivers 2 will one day come to Microsoft’s consoles, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim. The good news, however, is that a new mode directly inspired by the game is coming to 343 Industries’ free-to-play FPS Halo Infinite in just a month or so. That mode is Helljumpers, a massive project being made in Halo Infinite’s map-making Forge tool by a team of legendary community creators called The Forge Falcons. You might know of it from its popular Battle Royale-style mode Inheritor and the COD: Zombies-like Night of the Undead (that one is coming to official Halo Infinite matchmaking on May 21, by the way), but now the group is hard at work on a Halo and ODST-themed Helldivers 2 experience.
The Forge Falcons first announced Helljumpers back in late February (I covered it then, as well), and since then, have both explained much about how it’ll work and teased snippets of its work-in-progress visual and audio elements on its Twitter (X) account. The recently released reveal trailer for the mode’s map — a dark city reminiscent of Halo 3: ODST’s New Mombasa — confirms that it will launch in June. Its developers are aiming for a release earlier in the month, though “will push it back a few more weeks if it needs it.”
Helljumpers | Reveal Trailer This is your first look at the map for *Helljumpers*. This map is NOT final and is expected to receive new additions, changes, lighting changes and balances throughout the development cycle.Helljumpers will launch in June, we are aiming for early… pic.twitter.com/RE5hhIykAQApril 30, 2024
Helljumpers | MAC Blast ShowcaseThis footage is very early and does not in any way represent the final quality of the stratagems. This also takes place on a test map, not the actual map.The stratagem on display here is the MAC Blast, this one is inspired by the MAC Blast from… pic.twitter.com/fUUfHQp0XWApril 17, 2024
Helljumpers | Airstrikes ShowcaseThis footage is very early and does not in any way represent the final quality of the Stratagems. This also takes place on a test map, not the actual map.The Stratagems on Display here:- Small Kinetic Airstrike- Small Plasma Airstrike-… pic.twitter.com/KxyUiFUQ4TMarch 20, 2024
Like Helldivers 2, Helljumpers will be a co-op PvE experience “with procedural objectives, in-game progression, upgrade systems, boss fights, extraction, drop pods and much much more,” with The Forge Falcons using Forge’s advanced scripting capabilities to recreate things like Helldivers’ throwable stratagem call-ins and airstrikes in Halo Infinite. Though Forge doesn’t support custom audio, it will even have its own soundtrack composed by community member Sgt Avel that you’ll be able to listen to on Spotify while playing.
Notably, since Helljumpers will be playable in Halo Infinite and isn’t a separate game, its structure is a little different than Helldivers 2’s. Instead of being mission-based, the mode will feature a huge custom campaign in which you and your fireteam will deploy and return to your ship for upgrades multiple times, with each playthrough culminating in “absolutely badass battles and expertly crafted cinematic events.” The Forge Falcons say that Helljumpers will take around two or three hours to beat if you mainly stick to main objectives, though “you are probably looking at around 5 hours in total” if you tackle all the optional side content, too.
There hasn’t been any gameplay of the mode shown off yet, but we’ll likely start seeing some soon, as its developers say there’s a gameplay trailer coming in May that will “give you your first in depth look into the gameplay and experience on a bigger scale.” In the days and weeks leading up to its release, you can also look forward to “small teases of gameplay.”
The fact something as ambitious as Helljumpers is even possible in Forge continues to prove that the addition of campaign AI to the level editor in Season 5 was one of the best updates that 343 Industries has ever released for Halo Infinite. It also serves as a testament to how truly remarkable Forge is as a tool, as do some other mind-blowing projects like this Baldur’s Gate 3-style Halo RPG that was built in it earlier this year.
It’s also worth noting that since Halo Infinite multiplayer is free-to-play, you’ll be able to check out Helljumpers without spending any money at all once it’s out. That’ll certainly help Xbox fans assuage the sting of no Helldivers 2, and it means PC players can easily jump into this Halo-themed spin on Arrowhead’s co-op shooter, too.
Make sure you follow The Forge Falcons on social media to keep up-to-date with its progress on Helljumpers, and join its official Discord server as well. Also, give Halo Infinite itself a try if you haven’t — it’s improved a lot over the last few years, and its excellent Firefight mode makes it one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play if you want a fun and easily accessible PvE challenge. I’m also a big fan of its campaign, which you can either purchase or play on Xbox or PC through Xbox Game Pass.
