The initial Halo Infinite campaign trailer shown off last year left a lot to be desired. That showing set 343 Industries back in attempting to regain trust after Halo 5. Not only was this set to be one of the first big games to grace the Xbox Series X|S (while still being cross-gen), but it was set to be the jumping off point for what the new Halo could be. Sadly, all we really received from that showing was terrible memes and a delay. But now, 343i revealed over six minutes of nearly straight up gameplay. Did it deliver?
The recent Halo Flights have proven that 343i has nailed the multiplayer aspects, but questions have still remained about the campaign. It feels like they have finally answered those questions with the best showing of the game with Halo Infinite Campaign Overview .
We finally received a look at a newly-expanded mission structure allowing for that special “sandboxy-Halo” we’ve always wanted. There were also glimpses of some upgrade paths for the following: grappleshot, shield core, threat sensor, drop wall, and the thruster. These upgrades seem ideal for a game that is going to allow the player to tackle mission objectives as they see fit.
While this new direction feels very new to Halo, it seems a bit less so for gaming overall. The mission structure really invokes the feel of what was once a close competitor, none other than Killzone: Shadow Fall. There are also some similarities of it being sort of Far Cry-esque. None of these are inherently bad things, and I truly do think it is a great push forward for a franchise that absolutely needs to be a hit.
Many games that have come out (or will be very soon, like Forza Horizon 5) are great games to showcase Xbox’s further strength of development studios. But make no mistake, this is Microsoft’s most important franchise and will be a bellwether for Microsoft’s future.