What you need to know
- Helldivers 2 is one of 2024's most popular new games and a terrific co-op shooter, but sadly, it's exclusive to PS5 and PC and can't be played on Xbox.
- However, it looks like Xbox gamers will soon have an enjoyable alternative to Helldivers 2 to play thanks to the hard work of talented Halo Infinite Forgers.
- A sizable team of Forgers called The Forge Falcons is creating a "Helldivers 2 experience for Halo Infinite" called Helljumpers. Notably, the group is known for previously making popular modes such as the battle royale experience Inheritor.
- Helljumpers will have "procedural objectives, in-game progression, upgrade systems, boss fights, extraction, drop pods and much much more," and is "coming soon."
Arrowhead Game Studios' new third-person PvE co-op shooter Helldivers 2 is the talk of the town right now, and has been putting up some seriously impressive numbers ever since it released on February 8. Sadly, though, it's not on Xbox, as it's been kept exclusive to Sony's PS5 console and the PC platform Steam. That means that unless they happen to have a solid gaming rig that's up to Super Earth standards, users of Microsoft's console aren't able to enjoy what is undoubtedly one of the best co-op games in recent memory.
That's a huge bummer, and one day, I hope Sony decides to bring Helldivers 2 to Xbox after all (pretty much the game's entire community seems to be asking for that, including many PlayStation players). There is good news, though: thanks to a team of talented Halo Infinite Forgers, hopeful fans may soon have an enjoyable alternative to play while waiting to see if the pipe dream of a Helldivers 2 Xbox release ever comes true.
That team is The Forge Falcons — best known for creating the popular Halo Infinite battle royale mode Inheritor and the COD: Zombies-like Night of the Undead game type — and the project they're working on is Helljumpers, a "Helldivers 2 experience for Halo Infinite" that's now "in active development with a team of nearly a dozen extremely talented forgers working on it." The group revealed it was starting to build Helljumpers on February 21, and has begun to share additional details about the mode in the days since.
"Helljumpers is by far our most ambitious project and we intend to see it through to the fullest extent, with procedural objectives, in-game progression, upgrade systems, boss fights, extraction, drop pods and much much more," wrote The Forge Falcons in a post on X (Twitter). "A new flawless Halo PvE experience, is what we're aiming for and it's coming soon. Prepare to step feet first into hell, Helljumper."
Given that it's built in Forge and will be playable through Halo Infinite, a few of Helldivers 2's mechanics will have to be reworked for Helljumpers. For example, the team has explained that extracting from the battlefield won't end the game like it does in Helldivers; instead, you'll get flown to your ship and can use points you earned by completing objectives and extracting to "purchase weapons, upgrades or orbital assistance" before dropping in again and starting a new mission.
This is the extent of what we know about Helljumpers at the time of writing, though The Forge Falcons say more details are coming soon. "We will share more details soon on how the game is set up every time to make it different with procedural objectives, dynamic events and more," the group confirmed. As for its release, that's said to be "coming soon," too.
343 Industries' decision to bring campaign AI to Forge mode when Halo Infinite Season 5 launched last year continues to pay dividends, and even though I'm having a blast playing Helldivers 2 on PC, I'll definitely be checking Helljumpers out whenever it becomes publicly available. The team behind it is stacked with some of the best community Forge talent there is, and after seeing someone make Baldur's Gate 3-style tabletop RPG gameplay with Halo Infinite Forge last month, I'm convinced that pretty much anything is possible with enough scripting.
Something that's also important to note is that since Halo Infinite multiplayer is free-to-play, Xbox players won't even have to spend a cent to dive into this alternative Helldivers 2 experience. And hey, free is about as good as it gets, so there's zero reason to not check Helljumpers out when it drops.
Personally, I'm just happy to have more PvE content in Halo to enjoy, especially after the recent, rather depressing news that tons of ODST games were pitched but never saw the light of day. The flagship Xbox franchise is home to some of the best shooter AI in the biz, and every chance we get to do battle with them is one I treasure.
Halo Infinite multiplayer is free-to-play (its campaign costs $59.99, but is also on Xbox Game Pass), and Helldivers 2 is available for $39.99 on both PS5 and PC. Both are some of the best PC games available for shooter fans, and Halo Infinite is one of the best Xbox games as well.
