Watch this: Halo Infinite gets a new and improved campaign gameplay reveal

Polycount

Posts: 3,017   +590
Staff
Recap: When Halo Infinite got its first gameplay reveal in June of last year, it's safe to say the community reception was not positive. The lighting and character models, in particular, were criticized for being flat and cartoony. Though harsh, the good folks over at 343 took the feedback on board and decided to delay the game from its initial holiday 2020 release window and push the launch date into 2021.

Now, a full year later, it seems like the studio has been on the right track. Halo Infinite just got another campaign gameplay reveal, and it looks incredible.

Before we get into that, we should note that playable versions of Halo Infinite's multiplayer (which will be free on release) have been available in some form for a while now to testers. As such, the world has already gotten a slight glimpse of how the game has improved.

However, those test "flights" were short in duration and took place in relatively small maps (compared to the full open-world campaign). They were also entirely PvP-focused, so players never got to see whether NPC models had been updated.

With today's gameplay reveal, we're finally able to fill in those gaps. For starters, it's clear that the graphics have received an overhaul. Lighting, textures, materials, and surfaces all look a little grittier; a little more grounded. Master Chief's armor itself is perhaps the best example of this. It was smooth and unblemished before but now it's dented, scuffed, and generally battle-worn, which is precisely what you'd expect from a hardened combat veteran's gear.

Enemy models, particularly the Brutes, now look more, well, Brutish than ever. Instead of having malformed potatoes for heads, Brutes look more like they did in previous Halo titles. They have rough-looking beards, eyebrows, mohawks, and even facial adornments like scars and warpaint.

So, improvements over past reveals aside, what else does Halo Infinite's "Campaign Overview" show us? It teases new vehicle designs (as well as a vehicle summoning system to make getting around the open world easier), Far Cry-style outposts, dynamic rescue events, and, of course, a handful of epic-looking boss fights.

We'll let you discover the other feature changes and additions in the video above -- we wouldn't want to spoil your fun. After you give it a look, feel free to head to the comments and let us know what you think of Halo Infinite's new gameplay or even the game as a whole.

Personally, after participating in several of Infinite's multiplayer test flights, I'm much more confident in 343 Industries' vision for the game than before. I was concerned last year, but now... Everything from the gunplay to the equipment roster and visuals just feels right. Make no mistake: it is still a distinctly Halo experience, but it feels modern and fresh.

Halo Infinite launches on December 8 for PC, as well as both Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X consoles. Game Pass customers can play the game on day one as part of their subscription, but everyone else can snag it for the standard $60 retail price.

Permalink to story.

 
I’m a huge halo fan and actually recently completed the entire master chief collection single player campaigns in correct order.

However I still haven’t played Guardians solo as there is no PC release. Was it that bad? I’d still like to play it, the Halo saga is one of the greatest I’ve encountered in the gaming world and it’s annoying to have to buy an old console just to experience a chapter of it.

I actually wasnt entirely sure if infinite single player was coming to PC, I guess it is then, awesome.
 
It definitely looks better now, as it should have looked 1 year ago from the start.

That saying, anyone can see how the cross-gen thing is holding it back to look even better, more so than Horizon FW on PS5 for example (another game with big open world), which despite being cross-gen too, looks even better than Halo Infinite.

Xbox still has catching up to do...
 
The skin on the human character looks bad like it's using indirect light from other halo games. I'm not saying its all bad just some which could be fixed
 
Last edited:
Back