Halo Infinite has finally been given a proper showcase at Microsoft’s Xbox 20/20 game showcase. And it’s coming “Holiday 2020” alongside the launch of the Xbox Series X.
We knew it was coming, but until today Microsoft hasn’t actually shown Halo Infinite in action. But this new footage has given us a glimpse at how it’s not just the cover art of Halo Infinite that will hark back to the glory days of Halo Combat Evolved, but also the gameplay.
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While Microsoft didn’t give too much detail on the story of Halo Infinite, it did show how the open environments and action of the original Halo, Halo 3 and Halo Reach are back. In the demo, we saw how Master Chief had a rather open environment to combat classic enemies such as the Grunts, Elites, and Jackals, as well as the Brutes from Halo 2.
See the footage for yourself:
We see everything from Master Chief bringing the classic Halo assault rifle to bear on these enemies and sticking grenades onto armored foes, to running enemies down in the iconic Warthog jeep and bouncing around wide spaces to flank and take down groups of mixed enemies.
Halo Infinite also brings in some new features, most notably a grappling hook that can not only allow Master Chief to quickly get into an elevated position, but also haul explosive canisters into his hands to then throw at packed together alines. It also allows Spartan 117 to pull himself towards an enemy and deliver a brutal melee attack; we’re interested to see how this grappling hook will be used to navigate what appears to be a pseudo-open-world Halo.
We get that impression as Master Chief brings up a topographical map with various objectives and points of interest markers on it. We’re hoping this will allow for different ways to tackle missions and enemy encampments.
Speaking of Halo, it looks like Halo Infinite is taking palace on a damaged Halo ring that did have the human UNSC force on it before they got savagely defeated by the Banished, a mixed group of alien races that split from the Covenant before it was defeated in Halo 3. Players of Halo Wars 2 will remember the Banished as the enemy faction lead by a Brute called Atriox.
The leader of the Banished didn’t feature in the demo as he was last seen stuck on the Ark installation in Halo Wars 2. But another Brute leader popped up with a zealous devotion to Atriox, and seems set to be someone Master Chief will need to deal with.
How the end of Halo 5: Guardians ties in with Halo Infinity has yet to be seen. But we’re pretty sure the Guardian forces lead by AI Cortana will make an appearance.
And with the power of the Xbox Series X, Halo Infinite not only look rather good but also runs at a smooth 60 frames per second. For Halo fans - that includes us - Holiday 2020, which translates to November, can’t come soon enough.
