What is HALO Infinite

So, a couple of weeks ago Xbox fans were hit with a bang. A brand-new trailer for Halo Infinite to open the Microsoft E3 show.

As a long tern Halo fan, myself I was Speechless, it’s gorgeous but it confirmed that after 3 years 343 Industries where finally bringing us a new entry into the main Halo franchise.

We later find out that this was a demo for 343s new slipspace engine, and from what we have seen it looks stunning.

The trailer did not reveal much other than a title (Halo Infinite) and that it was running on a new engine.

However, if you take a closer look we can actually pull quite a lot out of it, granted this can only be taken with a pinch of salt this early on but either way it is all we have.

If you take a good look at the chief’s helmet and the general styling around the trailer it looks like 343 are stepping away from the forerunner art style and coming back to a much cleaner Halo 3 esq appearance.

Second to that, we are on a Halo ring! Again, this to me is hinting that 343 are returning to Halo’s roots, something many fans have wanted ever since 343 took the reins after Bungie’s departure to work on destiny.

And lastly as we have mentioned this was a tech demo showing the power of the new engine, 343 have already commented on this stating “we have a long way to go before launch” but that doesn’t stop us from looking at what Halo Infinite could be and the sprawling environment filled with life shown in the trailer would be amazing to see in a Halo game.

Story wise nothing was revealed during the E3 conference, but we have it confirmed that Halo Infinite will be a sequel to Halo 5 following on from the events that took place during Halo 5’s story but this will be a much more chief centred adventure. 343 have heard the fans, and as it happened in the past sharing the spotlight with the arbiter, so it happened with sharing it with Locke. We want chief, they have heard us and are giving us what we want.

That not all, there is a new Halo novel called Halo: Bad Blood and this carries on the story from Halo 5, we can’t say yet that Halo Infinite will follow this as it has been reported that there is a 2-year gap between Halo 5 and Infinite so I’d say the novel will either fill that gap or Halo Infinite will follow that story.

Halo as a franchise has never been one to stray too far from their cannon so as much as this may not be the exact story that we will see when Halo Infinite launches it could give some fans a way to tide themselves over until then, and regardless of that it will expand on the Halo universe.

On to the statement that lit up every Halo forum on the web, “New and unexpected Directions”.

That scares me, last year or any number of years before that I would have loved to hear that statement but not in 2018. All that pops into my head when I hear new and unexpected directions is, Halo Battle Royale. It’s the trend right now, everyone is doing it, trying to grab some of the success that games like PUBG and Fortnite have found.

I don’t think this would be the right direction for Halo, but I can’t blame anyone for thinking of it. Is it new, yes, is it unexpected, yes would it be a disaster and a huge sellout, I personally say yes.

There are however some other rumours flying around that are not so scary, one is that Halo Infinite’s story mode will release in 2019 but be followed years later in 2022 by its multiplayer, coming as 2 separate releases. Could this be the new unexpected direction?

Or could it be something else like an open world Halo, I would be lying if I said that I haven’t dreamt of having a Halo ring to myself to explore. This would also fall in line with the stunning living world we saw in the tech demo, just imagine an open world Halo ring full of wildlife and different ever evolving terrain. That to me would be a dream come true.

Now off of speculation and on to some things that I think are a must for the next Halo game.

First and an absolute necessity, split screen needs to make a comeback, it has been a staple and a huge selling point for Halo for years and I think taking it away was a huge mistake on 343s part. The memories we all have of buying that 360/Halo 3 bundle setting it up and spending all night split screen with your best friend to Finish the fight I think is something a lot of Halo fans still look on dearly as one of the best experiences in gaming.

Second is more chief, we get it sometimes we need another side of the story, and it’s great to get games like Halo 3: ODST I personally loved it, but enough of the arbiter and his religious backstory hassle and Locke with is more righteous than thou attitude If it’s not a gap filler game or a spin off I want john 117.

Third and final in my opinion is spartan customisation, I’m not saying that the system in Halo 5 is bad I actually love it, I am a big fan of the random loot style they have, I think it forces variety into the game. But I think they need to go back to reaches style, where you chose not only helmet and armour but, helmet, chest, shoulders, arms and legs. That was my favourite system, and I think a mix of that depth of customisation with the random loot crate system they have now would be awesome, so if you got recon and mark vi armour you can choose the mark vi chest recon arm s and say like a ODST helmet.

That is all I have to say about Halo Infinite at present, please understand that a lot of this will be speculation and rumours and Halo Infinite is a long way off release and a lot can change between now and then.

If you have any ideas or predictions yourself be sure to let us know in the comments and to stay tuned for all the latest news and reviews keep an eye on the website and subscribe to our YouTube.

-Andy Miranda (OMA Monster)