Halo Infinite [Fall 2021] [XO, XBSX|S, PC, XGP]

more shots:

 

Still a long way to go, but it's an improvement from what was shown. Certainly getting closer to the initial reveal trailers. I'm still not sure what to make of the art direction. lol I guess futuristic armor/aliens is not typically something we would have an understanding of what to compare it to.

DOF here is looking nice

 

They still need to mix in the MS Flight Simulator 2020 engine for the sections where you have to pilot the vehicles.

Or at least release a Halo DLC for Flight Simulator.

 

Not much to go off. Im expecting something better than that gameplay video but not dramatically so.

 

Looks like the Halo Infinite mega update. Visually looks a LOT better from the July showing IMO, tho the pillar-things still stick out artistically to me. Can't they just get rid of those?

Anyway, looking more on par with the recent advert shots, just wondering how the fidelity is in motion. Maybe the game can actually release in the first half of 2021 after all (might have a bigger impact in the Fall though).

EDIT: Also at least from what's here, does it seem like the art style's changed a bit? Looks a lot less "bright" with less primary colors from the July show? Seems closer to the color palette of say Halo 3 or 4 in that regard. Personally I prefer the change in the color palette.

 

I think they're going for more a middle ground between the original game as accents and Halo 4/Reach (more in terms of the color grading and palettes for the CG cutscenes, if not quite that level of detail or fidelity in gameplay) for it. Which honestly I think suits it better than the more hard-lean into Halo 1 style the original gameplay reveal had going.

If it could serve as even slightly towards a hint they've acquired Asobo, I'd be 100% for it. Studio would be a fantastic fit for XGS, honestly could care less stuff like the WB Games acquisition talk from earlier.

 

Looks very good for a mp focussed game at high frame rates and resolutions. I dont think you should expect AAA sp graphics like those of demon souls and godfall.
Infinite should be more in competition with CoD cold war etc. And then it looks better to me in those screens, in special the ones iroboto linked, looks really good.
They have still a year left also.

 

It's funny to me thinking back, but I always thought that the best looking prerelease screenshots for Halo 1-3 were from the multiplayer levels. They've definitely managed to capture that vibe, which is a positive sign.

I've always liked those! /Shrug

 

It certainly looks a lot better. Although I didn't think the gameplay reveal looked *that* bad anyway. Sure, it wasn't as handsome as it should've been, but it wasn't nearly the mass grave atrocity that the histrionic internet masses made it out to be.

That being said, those sorts of dramas can work out pretty well sometimes, and this one - like the kerfuffle over Killzone 2's trailer - should lead to some rather lovely eye candy for all the Halo fans out there.

 

I am just glad they are taking their time with it. Rushing it out after delaying it would have achieved nothing.

 

Luckily here at B3D we can have dithering opinions, as I do think it was bad, especially when you watch the slipspace halo engine trailer. Don't show that with the implied this is what to expect, then be surprised when you get backlash. If it wasn't meant to be that, then they should've made sure to give a lot more context.

It was bad enough that they themselves decided to delay by a year.

This is looking a lot better though, so glad their on the road of fixing it.

 

I like that they have a focus on fine texture detail. It's a must have for good Halo graphics. Not sure what this Spartan has been doing to his crotch to scuff it up so much though.

 

Come on, of course you know.

 

Exactly. There is nothing I hate more than promising one thing and showing something else.
Anyway, in so much as I have said that I am glad they are pushing this to fall next year, they have to knock it out of the park. Its been five years since Halo 5 and 343 hasn't exactly had a great Halo game; 4 had a cramp if decent campaign and a terrible multiplayer, 5 has a horrible campaign but a really good multi, MCC had a disastrous launch but it is on its way to becoming a great package. They really need to knock Halo Infinite out of park.

 

I liked the new art direction. Looks like 30% fortnite 70% reach.

Unlike the original showing that looks like 90% fortnite 10% halo 4

 

Agree, very glad they pushed the release date back. At first I was disappointed (obviously) and wanted them to release it and fix the graphics later, but this is for the best. The new screenshots they released have a much darker tone than what we saw in the June video. Much closer to the original Slipspace Engine teaser video. I'm guessing they're putting in a really strong effort to update Craig as well .

 

the delay to fall is even better than I thought. They were content complete for a nov 2020 release so they will have a year to add additional content while they continue to improve the graphical side.

One thing I am consistent on is that no GAS game has enough content and when a company thinks they have enough content they should sit on the game another 6 months while making more content. Well hopefully 12 months is enough time for this game to avoid the GAS curse

 

If they are going to delay, it's best to delay long and fix long standing pain points. IIRC leadership made a promise to 343i that they would address the content tooling (way too long to make changes) as this is the major crunch and pain point for them. Bungie went through the same pain for Destiny. So if this is a GAAS, they better fix their content tools if they want to have a chance at actually releasing content, otherwise there's not going to be much going on after release. And I suspect employees won't want to stick around for another 6 years of crunch.

 

if they were content complete and it is a graphical issue they are now working on then if i was management i would work another 6 months on content for launch adding as much as I could and then with the remaining 6 months work on post launch content

 

Just been pondering something.
If they had pushed it back to first half of 2021 I would say they had to support last gen, only made sense.

But all the way to the fall is that really necessary now.
They should be rolling out Anaconda based xcloud by then. So it could be a positive on many levels.

• Stream to previous gen consoles
• Engine, tools, focused on next 7-10 years
• Don't need to worry about jaguar, and hdd.
• Some of the issues they have highlighted would be resolved by SFS and not worrying about previous gen.
• Could be the first 1P current gen exclusive
• Console, PC, Streaming should give a decent size addressable base market by then
• Say "obviously you all know we tried really hard to make it cross gen, but the scope and target was just to high" people would lap that up.

Did consider split i.e. Current gen only campaign, cross gen multi player. But not sure if that would be worth doing.