Halo Infinite Flights begin - What you need to know

For many Halo fans (at least those that got an invite for this first wave) the time has finally arrived. Hands on with Halo Infinite Multiplayer.

Here’s our own Jesse “Doncabesa” Norris giving the flight a go when it went live!

Now, it’s worth reiterating that this isn’t a traditional ‘beta’ that you might gain via pre-orders or as a marketing run up to the launch of your average AAA video game. No, this is a proper technical test, thoroughly giving the back-end and good shake down at scale (that means lots of people playing).

The primary goal of this first test is to actually pit us mere mortals against 343’s new bots, starting us with Marine difficulty, before bumping it up to Spartan as the weekend progresses. Those of you hoping for full on 4 v 4 matchmaking against other humans, don’t lose hope – 343 might turn something on of that nature for the final session this coming Sunday, but that’s a maybe.

How do I install it?

If you’ve been selected, either check your emails or head to Halo Waypoint and check your inbox. If you’re on PC, you’ll need a Steam beta code, which you can directly redeem through Steam to install and play.

On Xbox, you’ll need to download the Xbox Insider app, and join the Halo Infinite – Insider. It might sit at ‘pending’ for a while, so you can either be patient, or keep restarting your Xbox until you get in. Once you’re through, you can install and play on Xbox.

When Can I Play?

The good news here is the tech test is up all weekend, but 343 have scheduled some play sessions where they’d like the most amount of people online at once, taking it to their AI spartans. The ability to matchmake will always be present, but you might have a better time of it during the following times:

Thursday, July 29: Tech preview is officially live! Go wild, Spartans.
Friday, July 30 Scheduled Play Times: 12-2 PM PT, 7-9 PM PT
Saturday, July 31 Scheduled Play Times: 12-2 PM PT, 7-9 PM PT
Sunday, August 1 Scheduled Play Times: 12-2 PM PT, 7-9 PM PT
Monday, August 2: Tech preview closes at 10 AM PT

What Can I Play?

As mentioned, right now, the focus is on man versus machine, but there are some extra bits and pieces to play around with. Outside of Bot Slayer, there’s an open invitation to play around with 343’s new version of Halo Waypoint. You’ll be able to edit your Halo Infinite Spartan here, as well as access all your stats and other Halo goodies.

There’s also Weapon Drills (where you’ll be able to test out a few of the new guns available in Halo Infinite, and go get that high score for bragging rights! The following toys you’ll have to play with are listed below.

MA40 AR
BR75
MK50 Sidekick
CQS48 Bulldog
Needler
VK78 Commando
S7 Sniper
Plasma Pistol
Pulse Carbine
Ravager
Heatwave
Skewer

You’ll also have the opportunity to mess around with the UI and Battle Pass systems within the preview, and 343 have gifted all participants with some in-game credits to utilise, so go play dress up with your super soldier.

I like it! I hate it! I have things to say, I must be heard!

If you have feedback, 343 have put some threads up to gather all of your thoughts – they’ll also be sending out surveys after the tech test closes, but these are under an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement). The links to share feedback via the Waypoint forums are below:

Bot Slayer Feedback: Waypoint | Steam
Weapon Drill Feedback: Waypoint | Steam
UI Feedback (Battle Pass, Challenges, and Store): Waypoint | Steam
PC Feedback: Waypoint | Steam
Xbox Feedback: Waypoint | Steam

Known Issues

As of writing, I have access to both PC and console versions of this flight. While my Series X performs admirably, performance on PC is a little shaky, with my modest 2070 Super struggling to hit a locked 60FPS. Be prepared to tweak some of your settings on PC to get it to where it needs to be for smooth gameplay.

A list of other known issues are below, and you can check this link for more detail.

AMD players should make sure the AMD Graphics Driver is version 21.6.1 or later. Earlier versions are not compatible with this version of the game and may result in significant performance and/or stability issues.
We have a pesky bug related to Matchmaking that can result in a player being unable to join into a session, timing out, and then returning to the main menu. When this occurs, the match will proceed but you might be missing a player from your game for a brief period until another player joins-in-progress.
We’re aware of and tracking a few different crash scenarios though the overall average failure rate is well below our targets. We’re particularly interested in getting more crash logs from a wider breadth of platforms as stability work continues internally.
Various situations can cause stuttering, de-sync, warping, and other abnormal behavior.
Occasionally, player scores will not appear during the victory screen at the end of the match and/or the post-game carnage report may not load after some matches.
Rarely, a player may begin a match unable to see their own weapon and have reduced audio.
Rarely, a player’s melee attack may not register as expected.
Sometimes after pressing A at the title screen, Challenges, Customization, and Commerce screens take a while to appear on the main menu.