Normal Horde mode can't return soon enough imo

I'm a console player and have been playing Mordhau since it's console debut. About half the time I've put into the game has been grinding out Horde, as it's a pretty chill, causal friendly, soloable mode. Very recently, I convinced a friend of mine to buy Mordhau on sale with the promise that Horde would be a great place to show him the ropes and play sweat-free. The problem is, ever since the crossplay update, the only version of Horde available online is Demon Horde, which is extremely hard without a full lobby. Try as I might to help him, he kept dying and getting frustrated with the lack of downtime for buying gear. Neither of us enjoyed it. We tried going to an empty Deathmatch room so I could duel him in a controlled environment, but that was quickly invaded by people looking to get cheap kills on us. Finally, I asked him to play a local match of normal Horde. He seem to really enjoy it like I did, even if he was still dying a lot. The problem is, local matches can't be played as a party, and even if they could, they offer no reward, making them useless. After a couple local matches of various modes, he said that if local matches had progression or normal Horde returned he could see himself enjoying the game, but otherwise didn't like the first impression laid out for him.