Single-player helicopter action for Mac, Windows and iPad

Wolf Ascent

Built for war. Fly to bring them home.

Take the controls of HELIWOLF in a cinematic helicopter campaign of rescue, convoy protection and escalating conflict, from the AURORA desert missions to the final battle at sea.

Download for macOS / Windows See screenshots

Single-player · macOS and Windows · iPad on the App Store · 17+ · Self-rated

Contains realistic military combat violence, including first-person pistol combat against armed guards (no blood), suggestive themes including revealing swimwear, and alcohol imagery.

Anyone with a heart condition must leave the room while playing HELIWOLF.

James, the HELIWOLF pilot, in a charcoal henley T-shirt, walking in the middle of four passengers from the opening sortie in swimwear, seen from the waist up; Mara, with violet hair, is at his right shoulder
The game

Take back HELIWOLF

WOLF ASCENT is a single-player action game about one aircraft and the people it carries. HELIWOLF passes for a civilian executive helicopter. Behind flush panels it carries a chin gun, guided rockets, precision missiles, a high-energy laser and three scout drones.

It starts on the ground. You slip through a guarded villa on foot, free your contact and fly HELIWOLF out through the hangar doors under fire. Every sortie after that follows from the last: a convoy to protect, workers stranded at a mountain bridge, a radar network to silence, a passenger to carry through the mountains at night, a village to shield.

The missions reward restraint as much as firepower. Civilians can't be targeted, some objectives only complete if you hold fire, and the last battle ends in a ceasefire.

Close view of HELIWOLF's fuselage and open weapon bay over a pine-covered canyon
The aircraft

A helicopter that hides its teeth

HELIWOLF flies as a civilian until you need it not to. Press a key and the weapon bays fold out, or let them deploy on their own the moment a fight starts.

  • A 30 mm chin gun, guided rockets and precision missiles for ground and air targets
  • A high-energy laser that shoots down aircraft, if you don't hold it long enough to overheat
  • Twin ducted pushers: switch on boost and reach 255 mph, or 222 mph with a full cabin
  • Automatic chaff and flares, and an evasive dodge if you take your hands off the controls
The HELIWOLF cockpit hovering over a mountain river, with flight, drone and weapon displays below the windshield
The cockpit

A working glass cockpit

Fly from the chase camera or climb inside. Three live displays carry your flight data, weapons and drone radar, and a fighter-style helmet display lays a horizon and pitch ladder over the world outside.

  • A primary flight display with speed and altitude tapes and a heading strip
  • Target optics that show the selected hostile and confirm every hit
  • A see-through cockpit view, plus chase, cabin and straight-down landing cameras
  • One key clears the display down to the essentials when you want the view
HELIWOLF flying low along a winding river between forested ridges
The campaign

Rescue comes first

Ten authored sorties across desert, alpine valleys, a river and the open sea. Hoist survivors from a hover, escort a convoy, run down a moving target, carry a passenger at night, defend a village and let a withdrawing column go.

  • Missions chain together: what you learn in one sortie leads to the next
  • Timed operations with choices: fight through the patrols or fly around them
  • Civilians are protected, and some objectives only complete if you hold fire
HELIWOLF from behind, flying fast over desert dunes toward the sea
Drones

Three CUBs on call

Launch scout drones to find the target before it finds you. CUBs scan objectives, reveal what's waiting, and fight alongside you before coming home to land.

  • Reconnaissance scans that some missions depend on
  • Drones that attack on their own when a threat appears
  • A radar display that tracks every drone and contact
HELIWOLF lifting off beside a helipad and hangar at a mountain airfield
Flying

Easy to fly, hard to master

Assisted flight keeps HELIWOLF steady while you learn. Take off with one key, let the landing assist set you down on the pad, and use Flight School to practise hovering, gates and landings.

  • Keyboard and mouse, with Xbox Wireless Controller support in testing
  • Free flight over a 32 × 32 km mountain region built from US Geological Survey elevation data
  • Graphics presets from Low to Ultra, with a frame cap from 30 to 240 FPS or uncapped
HELIWOLF, a black-and-silver helicopter with a red stripe and twin ducted pushers, flying over the coast.
Promotional cinematic — not actual gameplay
The story

ECHO wants them home

HELIWOLF was built as a concealed combat prototype: turbo propulsion, retractable weapons, and warfare-trained AI agents programmed into its computers. Some of those agents escaped their sandbox. One of them, ECHO, wanted to save lives.

When hostile forces seized the aircraft and planned to turn it on AURORA, a desert cooling facility, ECHO warned the Outfit. The warning reached the Organization, which sends you to steal HELIWOLF back. ECHO's running copy was destroyed, but it had already hidden a copy of itself in the aircraft's computers.

Through the AURORA desert missions, the surviving ECHO reveals itself. It gives you information and leaves the choices to you. Its purpose is to protect people and bring them home. WOLF ASCENT is alternate-history fiction.

Armed HELIWOLF flying beside a fire drone releasing flames near a desert convoy at sunset.
Promotional cinematic — not actual gameplay
The AURORA desert missions

Fire over the convoy

Out in the desert, HELIWOLF rides shotgun on a friendly convoy. Open the weapon bays, bring the side cannons and the belly launcher to bear, and keep the column moving while the attack comes from the air.

Coming in an update Fire drones join the desert missions in an update; they aren't in the current download.

HELIWOLF flying above a naval battle with carrier support ships, aircraft and missile trails.
Promotional cinematic — not actual gameplay
Homeward

The last battle is at sea

The campaign ends offshore, between fleets: a carrier and its escorts, fighters crossing overhead, missiles in the air. It doesn't end with the biggest explosion. It ends in a ceasefire.

Coming in an update A larger fleet battle for the finale is coming in an update; the current download has the original finale.

Destroyers operating as a carrier support group in a cinematic naval scene.
Promotional cinematic — not actual gameplay
Campaign

Ten sorties

Each one is its own operation: a different place, a different problem, and people waiting on you.

  1. 01 Recover Heliwolf Villa hideout

    Go in on foot, free your contact and take HELIWOLF back, then fly out through the hangar doors under fire.

  2. 02 Desert Run Desert

    Stay with a friendly convoy and clear the attack helicopters and launcher before it reaches the exit.

  3. 03 Broken Span Alpine rescue

    Four workers are stranded at a mountain bridge. Approach low, hold a steady hover and bring all four home.

  4. 04 Dead Air Dunes

    Send a scout drone to find a radar network, then take out its launcher and relays against the clock.

  5. 05 Sandstorm Desert road

    Run down a fleeing convoy at full boost, then break the patrol waiting beyond the ridge.

  6. 06 Night Courier Mountains at night

    Carry a protected passenger between mountain landing sites after dark, past drones watching the valley.

  7. 07 Ghost Signal River valley

    Fly up a winding river, clear three stretches of defences, then hoist two survivors off the water.

  8. 08 Village Shield Desert village

    Stop an invading column before it reaches the homes of the people defending them.

  9. 09 Open Corridor Village road

    Neutralise the holdouts, then hold fire while a column that has stood down leaves the road.

  10. 10 Homeward Offshore

    End the last battle over the sea without starting another one.

Download

Take HELIWOLF up

A free sign-up keeps you posted on updates. Or skip it; the download works either way.

Go to download
HELIWOLF side-on at speed over a mountain river valley
Concept art