Here’s everything we know so far about Halo Infinite – the next chapter in Master Chief’s story.
Halo Infinite is the long-awaited next entry in the Halo series that reboots the franchise and it’s coming to the next-gen Xbox Series X… in 2021.343 Industries and Microsoft announced on Twitter that the game is getting delayed until 2021, long after the Xbox Series X launches in November 2020. That’s a disappointment, obviously, but compared to where we were back when the game was revealed in 2018 we’re now closer than ever to Halo Infinite’s release date and we’re finding out more about the game with increasing regularity: after getting a long-awaited look at Halo Infinite’s campaign in the Xbox Showcase in July, we’re expecting to find out more about other aspects of the game, particularly its free-to-play multiplayer, over the coming months. This is developer 343 Industries’ third mainline Halo game, after Halo 4 and 5, and it’s been described as a « spiritual reboot » by the studio, though it will continue the series’ story. Microsoft has confirmed that Halo Infinite is coming to Xbox One and PC (including Steam!) as well as Xbox Series X, and it’ll be available on Game Pass from day one. The game will support ray-tracing, added in a post-launch patch, and Microsoft has promised Series X players will enjoy an optimized version of the game, with « up to 4k resolution at 60FPS in campaign and greatly reduced load times creating seamless gameplay that ushers in the next generation of gaming. » Here’s everything we know about the game so far. For months, Microsoft and 343 Industries touted a 2020 release date that coincided with the launch of the Xbox Series X (though it will be a cross-generation title). Unfortunately that’s no longer the case. On August 11, Microsoft and 343 announced that Halo Infinite would be delayed until 2021 to give the team more time to polish the game, giving gamers a better experience at launch and preserving the health of the team making the game. Here’s the full tweet for context: The main event of the Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020 was the gameplay reveal trailer for Halo Infinite, which you can watch above. You’ll see a very traditionally Halo-looking game in action, with familiarly verdant environments, as well as iconic weapons and vehicles from the series, including the Warthog. It’s reassuringly Halo-like, but leagues ahead in terms of presentation compared to the older games. Here’s everything we’ve learned about the Halo Infinite gameplay footage so far. As mentioned, this is a more open world-looking Halo game, with an in-game map called the ‘TacMap’ showing how you can explore different parts of this extra-sized Halo ring.343 Industries says the environment in Halo Infinite is « several times larger than that of the last two Halo games combined ». In the menu screen, we see an item called ‘Upgrades’, too, suggesting you can make RPG-style improvements to Master Chief. We also see some of the Banished, Halo Infinite’s main alien antagonists who were previously seen in Halo Wars 2. In the story, the Banished, led by Brute War Chief Escharum, have declared victory over the UNSC forces and taken over a Halo ring. This is Chief’s first encounter with the Banished. Some of the Covenant enemy types here look familiar, but the presence of the Banished means new spins on the Brute enemies from classic Halo games. We see a grappling hook revealed (technically called a Grappleshot), too, which lets you pull Master Chief towards enemies and objects, or help him reach higher ground to deliver fire from above. We glimpse a Drop Shield, too, which offers the Chief protection in the field. These new additions are designed to help you personalize your approach to combat in Halo Infinite. It’s a beautiful-looking showcase of what the console is capable of, and an exciting teaser of more to come from 343 Industries. Halo Infinite is built on 343’s Slipspace Engine and although Microsoft confirmed that the gameplay wasn’t running on an Xbox Series X, it was at least on a PC that’s “representative of the experience players will have on Xbox Series X”. Microsoft began its Xbox Games Showcase for the Xbox Series X with a beautiful-looking CG teaser trailer for Halo Infinite, followed by the gameplay demo above. The first trailer shows Master Chief’s Mjolnir armor being reforged. Check it out below: Check out the Halo Infinite 2019 E3 teaser below too, in case you missed that: Halo Infinite was officially announced during Microsoft’s E3 2018 conference, with the below teaser.
