What you need to know
- Helljumpers is an upcoming community-made game mode for Halo Infinite that uses its Forge mapmaking tool to create a PvE experience similar to Arrowhead Game Studios’ popular co-op shooter Helldivers 2.
- The mode was originally scheduled to launch in June, but its creators delayed it in order to rework some aspects of the mode and free up more Forge budget (there are limitations for objects and scripts).
- Now, its developer — a team of Forgers under the banner of The Forge Falcons — has released a new overview video that goes over the mode in detail. It, along with a summary of that video, can be found below.
- The Forge Falcons will have a panel at the Halo World Championship 2024 esports tournament running from October 4-6, and plans to share Helljumpers gameplay and a release date during the event.
First announced earlier this year in February, one of the most exciting upcoming Halo projects is Helljumpers — a brand new game mode that’s heavily inspired by 2024’s explosively popular co-op shooter Helldivers 2. The mode is being developed with Halo Infinite’s powerful Forge mapmaking tool, and the team behind it is The Forge Falcons — a group of incredibly talented community Forgers behind fan-favorite releases like Halo Battle Royale and the CoD: Zombies-inspired Survive the Undead that appeared in official matchmaking in late May.
Helljumpers has been in development for seven months now, and much like Helldivers 2, it will feature “procedural objectives, in-game progression, upgrade systems, boss fights, extraction, drop pods and much much more.” Originally scheduled to launch in June, The Forge Falcons ended up delaying it to rework aspects of the project and give themselves more Forge budget to work with (the level editor has a limit to how many objects and scripts it can handle). Now, however, the team has released an official overview video for Helljumpers that covers every feature in the mode while also teasing when we’ll get a new concrete release date.
You can watch the video with the link in the previous paragraph or through the embed beneath this text. Note that while I’m going to summarize the overview below, I recommend watching the deep dive itself since it explains Helljumpers in detail, features some helpful visuals to illustrate how it works, and even includes a cinematic trailer for the mode at the end.
Since Halo Infinite and Forge doesn’t support progression between sessions, The Forge Falcons have designed Helljumpers to be a longform campaign-style experience with multiple missions in a single sitting (it’s estimated to be 3-5 hours long). When it begins, players will designate someone in their party as their squad leader, with that player then able to ping a map to determine where everyone will land and choose a faction to fight. At launch, there will be two: the Covenant — made up of Elites, Grunts, and Hunters — and the Banished, which will consist of Brutes, Jackals, and Skimmers. Regardless of which foe you pick, though, you’ll also have to contend with rogue Spartans that aim to take you down.
Before dropping into a mission, everyone can use points to get stat-boosting perks, stratagems, and weapons for their loadout. Much like actual Helldivers 2 stratagems, Helljumpers stratagems can be used to clear away large swathes of enemies or assist their team with aid or crowd control, with the former being offensive stratagems and the latter being support ones. Every player in the squad can carry one of each, though you’ll need to be careful with some of them since stratagem firepower can kill you and your teammates (I can’t wait to experience this mode’s equivalent of a poorly thrown Eagle Cluster Bomb beacon).
Perks can give you up to four tiers of boosted damage, health, and movement speed, while loadout options determine which weapons you’ll spawn and respawn with as you play. Notably, unlike Helldivers 2, Helljumpers will allow you to trade your loadout weapon for arms dropped by fallen combatants — a fun part of the Halo combat loop that will help distinguish the mode from Arrowhead Game Studios’ game.
Once everyone drops into the sprawling cityscape below your ship, you’ll be tasked with completing a story objective and two main objectives before you can be extracted by a Pelican. Story objectives are randomized but have a consistent difficulty throughout the game, while main objectives are also randomized but get progressively more challenging the longer you play. Once all three are done, you can call for extraction, return to your vessel, and choose a new round of upgrades before dropping back in and repeating the process. As you progress, the likelihood of more difficult enemy units spawning will increase, and you’ll have to adapt to Skulls that modify moment-to-moment gameplay as well.
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What The Forge Falcons is putting together here is ridiculously ambitious, and given that it’s been confirmed it requires over 4,000 scripting nodes and 100% of the Forge budget, it’s safe to say that the mode is pushing the level editor to its limits. In fact, the team says Helljumpers is “the most advanced, feature packed Forge experience ever made,” and that “it has roughly 2x more scripts then our Battle Royale and Survive The Undead experiences, combined.” The Forge Falcons also plan to expand Helljumpers with “more content and changes up until and after launch to make this experience as good as it could possibly be.”
I absolutely cannot wait to play this, and soon enough, we’ll know exactly when we’ll be able to. That’s because The Forge Falcons will have a panel at the Halo World Championship 2024 esports event running from October 4-6, and plans to share more gameplay of Helljumpers and a release date for it there. With any luck, it’ll be in our hands sooner rather than later, though above all else I’m glad that its developers have taken the time they need to polish the experience and make their vision for it a reality.
Once it does come out, it will be completely free-to-play, as only Halo Infinite’s story campaign costs money to access (it is on Xbox Game Pass). Custom Games multiplayer and Forge creations have no barriers to entry whatsoever, giving Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S players a way to experience something similar to the PS5 and PC-exclusive Helldivers 2 without spending a penny. Forge in general makes Halo Infinite one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to check out if you enjoy community-created content, as fans have made thousands of amazing maps and modes with it.
