Halo Infinite will come out later this year after a long wait, and it’s obvious that the team behind it has ambitious ideals about what they want it to be. It’s been referred to as a spiritual reboot for the series, with promises of lots of open-ended experiences. The game’s Head of Creative also has some bold words about what this game is.
In a lengthy update at Halo Waypoint, the team talked about various aspects of the game. At the end, the recently minted Head of Creative for the game, Bungie and Halo alumni, Joseph Staten, gave a closing statement about what the game was. It’s a big one, so I’ll let his words speak largely for itself below, but he promises a bigger and freer Halo game than we’ve ever seen before. He says Infinite is the game that was dreamed to be made back when the franchise first began.
“As you read this month’s update and look at the screenshots, you might have the same question I did when I joined the team last Fall: What kind of game is Halo Infinite?
“Infinite’s world is incredibly large, and its vast combat zones connect seamlessly to each other. Its vistas are filled with adventures that entice you to stray from the golden path story missions. From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.
“For example, if you zoom into some of this month’s screenshots, you’ll catch glimpses of the wildlife that inhabits the ring. Halo Infinite’s campaign doesn’t have a crafting system, however, and you won’t spend time hunting and skinning animals to make better gear for Master Chief. Spartans wear Mjolnir assault armor. They don’t need leather boots.
“What you will spend time doing is plummeting from a rocky overlook into the heart of an enemy patrol, eliminating their leader with a well-stuck Plasma grenade, using your Grappleshot to pull his power weapon off the ground and into your hands, and then empty its magazine into the rest of the patrol, scattering the nearby wildlife back into their burrows.
“Which is to say, we’ve designed Halo Infinite so that you’re freer than you’ve ever been to do what Spartan super-soldiers do best: survey a battlespace, plan your attack, engage the enemy, deal with whatever surprises the sandbox throws your way, and then rearm for the next battle.
“What’s different this time is that you have more freedom than ever before to choose your path through the world. Follow a hidden cave system into a well-guarded fortress, wind your Warthog through a fog-filled mountain pass, capture a Banshee and fly to a floating ring fragment across a gap of stars. A strong narrative remains at the heart of the Master Chief’s adventure, and your journey between story missions is entirely up to you.
“So then, what kind of game is Halo Infinite? It’s the most open and adventure-filled Halo game ever. It’s the Halo game we could only dream about making 20 years ago. And we can’t wait for you to explore it.”
Halo Infinite will release this Fall for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.
