Anyone who’s played a contemporary Halo title can attest to how cool the Assassinations have looked, especially since it’s a nice reward for effectively sneaking up on and surprising an enemy players. However, 343 Industries has opted to temporarily disable them in Halo Infinite following the recent technical preview. Senior mission designer Tom French told Eurogamer that it’s because most players just switch them off.
“[Assassinations] are not in for launch. We actually really love assassinations… but what happens at a lot of levels is people just turn them off because there’s a gameplay disadvantage to it.” That doesn’t mean they’re gone forever though. The team is only taking “a step back” for the time being and will look to re-add them when it “really just feels meaningful so that they’re always an accessible tool”.
Halo Infinite is currently slated to release this holiday season for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. A release date could be announced soon following its rating by the Australian Classification Board. A new multiplayer map called Launch Site that’s seemingly based on Halo: Reach’s Countdown has also leaked in addition to three previously unannounced maps. Stay tuned for more details – and a potential beta – in the coming days.