What is Halo Infinite
We don’t know much about Halo Infinite’s story and most of what we do know is mostly speculation. Judging from the dates shown in both of the released trailers, we know the game takes place 2-3 years after the events of Halo 5 and after The Created (Cortana’s group of Loyal AI) took control of numerous human planets.
We can assume the game will at least partially take place on a Halo ring, likely Zeta Halo, and that Cortana will continue to be a central plot point. Humanity is on their backfoot again and it’s evident they’re not doing well in this new war.
Will the plot revolve around destroying Cortana, curing her, or something entirely different? Will The Flood return? We don’t know yet, but at least there isn’t too long left to wait.
343 industries has said that Halo Infinite is a “spiritual reboot” of the series, going on to say that Infinite is “a game with a vision set firmly in the future, but a foundation rooted deeply in the things our team and our fans have fallen in love with – the scope, the scale, the heroism and the moments of spectacle and wonder that brought players together on couches, at basement LAN parties, on Xbox Live and in esports arenas for years.”
Who is leading the development of Halo Infinite?
Chris Lee is the current studio head at 343 industries. Lee previously worked on Halo 4 and Halo 5, and replaced previous Studio Head Dan Ayoub in 2017.
New Engine
Halo Infinite is being developed on the “slipspace engine”, a brand new engine for the Halo series. 343 has said that “Slipspace not only empowers our creative teams to reach detail and performance no Halo has ever delivered, but also provides technology and tools – from cameras to facial capture that will let us tell intimate stories like the moments you witness in “Discover Hope” — and the ability to iterate and update those experiences to compliment gameplay. By harnessing the power of our new Slipspace Engine and combining it with the power and promise of Project Scarlett, we plan to build the Halo game we’ve always dreamed of – and share it with even more players, competitors, adventurers, and creators than ever before.”
Art style
Halo Infinite features a new art style, that mixes the old with the new. 343 noted that “Halo Infinite will feature Sparth’s (Art Director, Nicolas Bouvier) new art style that draws significant inspiration from the most iconic and historic parts of the Halo franchise and your feedback, all while modernizing and taking advantage of the full power of the Xbox One family. The new Master Chief helmet directly showcases our new art style.”
343 has also said that “Halo has always been a graphically exciting universe to explore. From the epic sci-fi settings, unforgettable alien threats, and the iconic hero in the Master Chief, there are so many amazing things to discover. You can see glimpses from the video how the team has continued to embrace the art direction we touched on last year, envisioned by our Art Director Nicholas “Sparth” Bouvier. The new design for the Master Chief is, by far, the highest fidelity we have ever created to leverage the power of next generation platforms, but with a design that is Master Chief to the core and takes inspiration from the past, with color and texture and detail unavailable to us till now. This same attention to our design for the Chief is true of everything in Halo Infinite. You can see examples in the interior of our UNSC Pelican, the design of our pilot, and even details down to the UNSC logo on his flight suit. Halo Infinite is intended to embrace all that our fans have grown to love in our franchise, while evolving it to something even more visually stunning for players.”
Music
Music is a big part of the Halo series. The work of Halo’s original composer Marty O’Donnell is legendary and his work is still celebrated to this day. 343 has put together a new staff to tackle the behemoth that is composing Halo, and they seem to be a talented bunch
343 has said that “Given the enormity of the score’s importance and scope, we wanted to hire a team with a specific working sensibility and skillset. More importantly, a team of talented composers of original music that could work seamlessly with existing melodies and themes to blend the classic and the new – music that will sometimes map to familiar characters and ideas, but also introduce brand new threats, wonders and discoveries in dramatic and immersive ways.”
Game Features and Customizations
Halo Reach levels of customizations have been confirmed for Halo Infinite. Halo: Reach is widely considered to have the best customization in the entire series. In Halo: Reach, you unlocked armor via credits. You earned credits by playing any game mode and those credits could be spent as you please. There were no loot boxes, no micro transactions, you simply unlocked armor by playing the game.
Black under suits have also been confirmed and it is a welcome sight considering their absence from Halo 5.
Splitscreen?
Confirmed to be in the game. Split screen was missing from Halo 5 and that was one the biggest fan complaints. Split screen is incredibly popular, especially for co op campaign. While split screen is not as prevalent at it once was, it is great to see it back for Infinite.
Cortana?
Twitter user @xepyal found an audio clip in the Discover Hope trailer by combing images found in the trailer to make a QR code.
This is how I got it, took multiple screenshots of the red bars and put them all together, then I had to make the QR code pic.twitter.com/Rjitz6W2Sw
— 𝕏epyal 🇨🇾🇬🇷 (@xepyal) July 29, 2019
The QR code links to this audio clip. Take a listen.
Toy leaks
Funnily enough, we know a lot about this game via leaked toys. These leaks have not been confirmed yet, but they seem too good to be fake.
Originally spotted by a ResetEra user via a now deleted tweet, two toys that look to be part of the confirmed Halo Infinite-Mega Construx partnership seem to have been leaked out.
The first toy is a Brute Warrior. Brute’s have long been rumored to return in Halo Infinite, and this toy seems to confirm these rumors. The weapon he is holding seems to be a new weapon, as it doesn’t match any previous Brute weapons.
The second toy is a Spartan Gungnir, wearing the Gungnir variant armor. It is unclear what weapon the Spartan is holding, but it does look reminiscent of a mauler. The only question is why would a Spartan be using a Brute weapon?
Recently, even more images of these toys leaked, as well as other armor variants.
Grappling Hook
Late last year it appeared that a still shot of very early gameplay of Infinite was leaked. The game was very clearly not anywhere close to its final form and it even was using the same sniper as Halo 5 (assumedly as a place holder.)
The part of the leak that caught everyone’s attention was what looked like a grappling hook. This has yet to be confirmed or denied, although 343’s Frank O’connor said that what we saw isn’t “necessarily” something we will see in Infinite.
While we can’t say for certain whether a Grappling Hook will definitely appear in Infinite, it seems like it is at least something they were testing.
Possible Gameplay? (HEAVY grain of salt)
Over a month ago first gameplay images of Halo Infinite might have leaked.
There are a lot of questions about this leak. The images are incredibly blurry and it is difficult to make out exactly what is happening. The Assault rifle also looks very similar to Halo: Reach (although the Halo Infinite AR looks incredibly similar to the AR in Reach). The map that is being played on also looks like a near 1:1 replica of a portion of the Halo: CE single player map The Silent Cartographer.
Could this be legit? It’s hard to say, but the images do have a lot of small details that would seem difficult to fake. Judge for yourself.
Trailers
Well, there you have it. That is everything we know so far about Halo Infinite. We hope everyone enjoyed and is excited to learn more next month when we will FINALLY see the game in action. Is there anything you think we missed? Make sure to let us know in the comment section below, or on YouTube!
