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

jayco · Dec 10, 2020

With the proper lighting looks like a completely different game. Seems like they rushed the reveal to have something to show, the third party showing in May + PS5 showcase in June probably forced them to show a game which was not ready to be shown.

Halo open world is a very, very promising concept.

Jay · Dec 10, 2020

jayco said: ↑

With the proper lighting looks like a completely different game. Seems like they rushed the reveal to have something to show, the third party showing in May + PS5 showcase in June probably forced them to show a game which was not ready to be shown.

Halo open world is a very, very promising concept.
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If it was that simple that it was just an early reveal, they wouldn't have delayed it.
Much less delay for a full year, regardless of what the majority of the net thought. As the final product would have spoken enough for itself.

Johnny Awesome · Dec 10, 2020

I'm glad to see these promising developments. My son and I are playing through MCC co-op campaign and hope to finish before this comes out.

TheAlSpark · Dec 10, 2020

I wonder if the multiplayer poses there are for the victory screen ala Overwatch since they're on pedestals.

liams · Dec 10, 2020

They mentioned that there will be flightings now, I wonder when the first one will be?

Could be that the flightings are basically just a multiplayer preview with progress that carries over to the release game

SmooTh · Dec 24, 2020

I think we have now the date.
Was up for 1 hour or so

TheAlSpark · Jan 29, 2021

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-january-2021

Some weapon renders there. There's a lot to read so......

Another gameplay element mentioned in the team’s Combat Doctrine was damage types. I’ve always loved Halo weapons and vehicles with these unique traits, so this is great to see. How is the Sandbox Team embracing damage types in Halo Infinite?

QD: As I said above, Halo has always had damage types to some degree from the very beginning. Early on when we were planning on sandbox areas to improve, damage types was one of the feature sets that the weapons team decided to really go after. We felt that in order to achieve stronger weapon identity than previous titles, having another category of attributes that we can fold into our designs creates a stronger choice for players. For example, if we had the damage type system in Halo 4 when the Light Rifle was created, instead of having the DMR and Light Rifle be similar minus different visual effects and damage tuning, we would have weapon traits unique to the Light Rifle because it shoots Hardlight. Rather, all Hardlight weapons would have unique attributes to them that aren’t shared with your typical UNSC weaponry or what we call kinetic damage type weapons. Players should now have stronger choices presented to them. Instead of using the weapon that you like because of how it shoots or handles, in Halo Infinite you might want to grab a certain weapon because of how it affects other players, the environment, or vehicles. In essence, the ambition for damage types is to better integrate weapon types, ammo types, faction tech, etc., into the gameplay loops in a way that is easily understood by the player. That way the player can make better combat decisions based on the scenario. In addition to further clarity and purpose to the legacy damage types – i.e. kinetic and plasma – the team has also been pursuing new surprises for players that we’re eager to talk about in the months ahead. I’ll let Dave chime in as he’s leading the charge on all weapon design for Infinite.

DP: We want to keep the rules for damage types simple, understandable, and sustainable. Halo has already had a loose rule set with plasma weapons. We wanted to further define this ruleset, so players can have expectations of a damage type. Keeping the rules simple and understandable allows us to still have weapons with unique behaviors and roles. If they want to quickly strip personal shields they can use Plasma for example. But this doesn’t dictate a weapons playstyle, class, or power level. I could still have a shotgun-style weapon that is any one of these damage types. This approach allows us to still make multiple weapons that feel unique within a damage type. We want weapons to feel diverse even if they share the same damage type.
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Changing gears a little now, after the campaign demo last year we saw plenty of questions emerge about the weapons. The addition of the CQS48 Bulldog shotgun, which appeared at the end of the demo, garnered some attention because of its unique characteristics. Would you or someone on the team be able to speak to the Bulldog’s role in Halo Infinite’s sandbox?

QD: The Bulldog is an exciting new shotgun weapon that is fast-firing and fast-loading. We have felt that the shotgun playstyle has been underrepresented in previous Halo titles, particularly in Multiplayer. We’ve found that there are a lot of players that want to be that “in-your-face CQC front-liner” but have never had a more readily available, less powerful, but still effective, shotgun that allowed them to play that role frequently across the multiplayer experience. That is essentially the player story genesis of how the Bulldog came to be.

DP: What Quinn said is spot on. We wanted to have a shotgun that was not a power weapon. The Bulldog is a versatile weapon that provides the player the role of a shotgun and up-close playstyle more frequently in multiplayer than previous Halo titles as it is lower on the lethality scale of weapons and is thus more prevalent. Similar to that, we wanted a shotgun that embraces the rapid-fire/dish out multiple shots quickly. That’s where the Bulldog excels.
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Still can't say I like that they made the bulldog a human weapon. Sure drum barrel auto shotguns exist conventionally, but it sounds more in-line with a Brute and would allow for more visual variety.

QD: Sandbox is super busy. We have everyone fixing bugs on our launch content and some exciting efforts kicking off for future updates – like new vehicles, equipment, etc. But we’re pretty much playtesting a ton and looking for ways to polish and improve everything. All of our launch content is in-game and being played daily but it takes a strong effort to get something from 90% to a full 100% ship quality. So, we are pushing hard to squash bugs and tune our toys so they are in a good spot as we get closer and closer to launch (and public flighting before that). Additionally, we are taking time to evaluate the visuals of certain sandbox items with the goal of ensuring everything is landing the way the art directors envisioned. As a result, some sandbox items we’ve previously shown might be getting a facelift here and there by the time you see them again.
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QD: One of my favorite sandbox items is a vehicle that we haven’t shown yet, but I’m sure I won’t be alone with my favoritism once we do reveal it to the community. This vehicle isn’t totally brand new, but it has received a fresh coat of paint while awaiting its triumphant return to Halo.

TT: We have some really exciting equipment we haven’t shown yet, but the Grappleshot is probably my favorite of the bunch that we have shown. Not only does it just feel fun to use, but there’s additional functionality that hasn’t been revealed yet that adds some more… offense-focused gameplay that I’m super excited to show off.

DP: The Ravager has got to be one of my favorite weapons. It has changed a little too since it was debuted in the campaign reveal. Its role and playstyle have been pushed to allow for more area of denial play while still delivering a unique launcher style platform.

EG: The Grappleshot is definitely a favorite of mine, but I’m equally excited about an equipment item we haven’t shown yet. It’s highly physics-based, has TONS of interactions across our sandbox, and will leave you laughing or yelling, “Did you see that?!” Proper timing is everything with this equipment, and if you position correctly, you could very well send your enemies flying!

BB: I mean my favorite vehicle HAS to be the Warthog, right? There’s no other choice, it’s the GOAT! Although, we are working on a new vehicle that is looking pretty hot. This new vehicle will sit nicely between the Warthog and the Scorpion in terms of power level so it should ignite some new discussions on what vehicle to take to a mission. We just got our initial concept which really lit a fire under the team to get it into flighting, so stay tuned!
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“I’ve been excited to incorporate many of the graphical features we’ve developed over the last six months at the same time that we are refining the lighting and environment art for the world that we’ve already built. In earlier iterations, we were just getting the major components of the world to a fully-featured, playable state; but now we are reconsidering how they interact and improving what helps the world to be its most beautiful and intriguing. We are excited to share more soon!" – Josh Marvel, Senior Lighting Artist

"Here’s something that excites me as an engineering architect: for Halo Infinite, we rebuilt the engine multi-threading solution to ensure high execution efficiency across all platforms and PCs, instead of running optimally just on Xbox One. We used this new system to transition the renderer to a massively parallel multi-threaded framework to support the increased cost of all our new rendering features and achieve high graphics efficiency on PC CPUs of various size as well as Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One X/S hardware. In practice, this means that we are doing our very best to make sure Halo Infinite runs optimally on any device you may choose to play on!" - Daniele Giannetti, Game Foundation Architect

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orangpelupa · Jan 30, 2021

That sandbox polishing. hopefully it doesn't mean that the sandbox will be an uninspired "paint by the numbers" fiasco...

Case In point, destiny series. the sandbox is the most awesome when it was unpolished. It Became a boring slog after bungie polished it with updates, then back to awesome to play again when new dlc came and the sandbox is not yet polished

AzBat · Feb 12, 2021

343's Community Manager has an interview with Halo Infinite Lead Sandbox Designer...

TLDW?

Windows Central has your back...

https://www.windowscentral.com/halo-infinite-overhaul-vehicle-gameplay-and-allow-weapon-grappling

Halo Infinite will overhaul vehicle gameplay and allow weapon grappling
Locational vehicle damage sounds incredibly interesting.

What you need to know

A new video from 343 Industries revealed some interesting tidbits of information about Halo Infinite's sandbox.

Vehicles will be getting an overhaul. Instead of having one solid health bar, vehicles can be damaged in different ways based on where they're shot.

Also, players will be able to use the grappling hook pickup to skyjack Banshees or pull weapons to them.

Additionally, it has been confirmed that both old and new weapons will be coming to the game post-launch.

In a new interview video with Quinn DelHoyo from the Halo Infinite team, some interesting new information about the game's sandbox has been revealed. The biggest news from the video is that Halo Infinite is completely overhauling Halo's vehicle system; instead of giving vehicles a standard health bar and making them explode when it depletes, 343 Industries is making it so that a vehicle's effectiveness is reduced in dynamic ways as players damage the vehicle. For example, players that shoot a Warthog's wheels will make it harder for the driver of the vehicle to handle and steer it. This is a big shift away from Halo's usual vehicle mechanics, but it sounds like it will make gameplay interactions with them a lot more interesting than they've been in the past.

Some information on the grappling hook pickup was also detailed. Specifically, DelHoyo stated that if players are skilled enough, they can use the grappling hook to latch onto a Banshee and hijack it from its pilot. Additionally, it was also confirmed that the grappling hook will be able to pull weapons to the player using it, which will no doubt be incredibly effective when power weapons are up for grabs. If every pickup is as useful and interesting as the grappling hook, we'll be in for a wild ride in Halo Infinite.

The final major piece of news from the video is that 343 Industries is planning to add many weapons, both old and new, to Halo Infinite after its launch. This means that potentially, weapons such as the classic pump action-style Halo shotgun will return. Let us know what weapon you'd love to see in Halo Infinite below! Also, make sure to watch the full video for information on some of the game's smaller sandbox details.
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I'm liking the grapple hook more. Sounds like it will be fun to use.

Tommy McClain

iroboto · Feb 12, 2021

need to see the game again

DSoup · Feb 25, 2021

Halo TV series to premiere in early 2022.

I had written this off but they're filming now!

milk · Feb 25, 2021

DSoup said: ↑

Halo TV series to premiere in early 2022.

I had written this off but they're filming now!
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Time to dust off your old XBox ONE IR blasters and Kinect for the full experience.

DSoup · Feb 25, 2021

milk said: ↑

Time to dust off your old XBox ONE IR blasters and Kinect for the full experience.
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Holy crap, yes it has been that long. I don't mind if TV and movie adaptions take a while to come to the big or small screen, as long as they are done well.

AzBat · Feb 25, 2021

milk said: ↑

Time to dust off your old XBox ONE IR blasters and Kinect for the full experience.
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What do you mean dust off?

Tommy McClain

AzBat · Feb 26, 2021

New Inside Infinite update...

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-february-2021

What’s your personal favorite aspect of this world and/or the experiences therein?

JD – One of my favorite features in the game is our Time-of-Day lighting system that is active while you are playing the game. This has been one of, if not THE largest graphical feature implemented into our engine over the past few years. It allows us to create artistic scenes and settings that have vastly different visual tones and moods depending on which time during the cycle you encounter something. So, coming across a mysterious Forerunner obelisk during the day may feel peaceful and serene, where at night it might feel much more ominous and threatening - it really adds some incredible dynamically-driven visual variety throughout the experience where we were not able to have it before.
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How does the introduction of new Equipment and traversal mechanics like the Grappleshot factor into the creation of this environment? And, how does it inform the foundation for encounters within the world?

JD – Having a tool like the Grappleshot definitely challenged us to rethink the way we build our environments because it’s such a versatile and fun mechanic that allows players to get nearly anywhere that they can reach. The art team has had the added challenge of ensuring that we do allow for players to get to spots and areas that in previous titles we may have prevented them from getting to. The good news is that not only is the gameplay that much more fun because of it, but we can also expect players to get to some really awesome locations and vantage points that will further show off the beauty of the world we have created. For me, the Grappleshot is an exciting example of a new gameplay feature that provides great wins for both players and devs alike.

TM - One of our core goals is to provide players with more sandbox opportunities so they can be creative in their approach to problem solving. Equipment like the Grappleshot is a great example creating new and exciting possibilities. Walls, cliffs, and small gaps don’t stop Chief any longer which gave us the opportunity to rethink how encounters are built.

This caused some challenges early on because designers couldn’t just place the final objective at the far end of a base assuming players will have to fight their way through. With the Grappleshot, players can go wherever they want whenever they want. From a development standpoint, this was both terrifying and completely liberating at the same time.

As a player, I like to figure out the best way to approach a situation and my “best way” might be different than yours. The Grappleshot helped the team break out of the single path design mindset and evolve into something much more exciting. It’s become so second nature that when I play other games, I find that I miss the grapple.

JM - The Grappleshot is super fun in the traversal options it provides, but it also allows for pulling weapons to you, pulling an explosive Fusion Coil to you that you can then throw to take out a Shade Turret, or grapple to…and launch yourself into an enemy to land a powerful melee attack. Beyond the undeniable fun of the Grappleshot, you can carry around another three pieces of equipment with their own unique roles and utility that you can quickly swap between at any time. The combinatoric play you can create in this way opens an astounding number of play options and I cannot wait to see the YouTube videos people share showing off moves we never even imagined when developing them.
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What impact does co-op have on the gameplay experiences across Zeta Halo?

TM - Campaign is about telling the next great chapter of the Master Chief’s story and the co-op experience is about playing this story together with your friends. The solo gameplay experience is designed to provide players with options on how they want to tackle situations. These options translate well into co-op by allowing for different playstyles. The great thing about being a sandbox game, it means there is no right way to use a particular item or feature. I can’t wait to see co-op players doing crazy stuff and combos we didn’t even think of.
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ACROSS A GAP OF STARS
As you read this month’s update and look at the screenshots, you might have the same question I did when I joined the team last Fall: What kind of game is Halo Infinite?

Infinite’s world is incredibly large, and its vast combat zones connect seamlessly to each other. Its vistas are filled with adventures that entice you to stray from the golden path story missions. From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.

For example, if you zoom into some of this month’s screenshots, you’ll catch glimpses of the wildlife that inhabits the ring. Halo Infinite’s campaign doesn’t have a crafting system, however, and you won’t spend time hunting and skinning animals to make better gear for Master Chief. Spartans wear Mjolnir assault armor. They don’t need leather boots.

What you will spend time doing is plummeting from a rocky overlook into the heart of an enemy patrol, eliminating their leader with a well-stuck Plasma grenade, using your Grappleshot to pull his power weapon off the ground and into your hands, and then empty its magazine into the rest of the patrol, scattering the nearby wildlife back into their burrows.

Which is to say, we’ve designed Halo Infinite so that you’re freer than you’ve ever been to do what Spartan super-soldiers do best: survey a battlespace, plan your attack, engage the enemy, deal with whatever surprises the sandbox throws your way, and then rearm for the next battle.

What’s different this time is that you have more freedom than ever before to choose your path through the world. Follow a hidden cave system into a well-guarded fortress, wind your Warthog through a fog-filled mountain pass, capture a Banshee and fly to a floating ring fragment across a gap of stars. A strong narrative remains at the heart of the Master Chief’s adventure, and your journey between story missions is entirely up to you.

So then, what kind of game is Halo Infinite? It’s the most open and adventure-filled Halo game ever. It’s the Halo game we could only dream about making 20 years ago. And we can’t wait for you to explore it.
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Tommy McClain

zed · Feb 26, 2021

Something feels off with the trees,
A/ theres quite a few up close to the camera but relatively speaking fewer further away, OK this could be explained but this being a spot with more trees (in all the pictures)
B/ look at the sizes of the trees ~30m (I assume humans are normal size) yet the ones shown at distance look to be much bigger (or the mountains are a lot smaller or closer than they appear)

mr magoo · Feb 26, 2021

looks great already imo. With all extra time they have i expect it to be graphical showcase. Anything less and i will be disappointed.

techuse · Feb 26, 2021

Big improvement over that gameplay video from last year.

iroboto · Feb 26, 2021

I appreciate quiet forums but we shouldn't stop posting news entirely!

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-february-2021
New waypoint blog

Day night cycle with clouds etc. Devs aiming so that you can fly to anywhere on the ring it will have stuff. take a banshee and fly to ring fragments.

JD – As far as our artistic goals for the campaign goes, we have focused on two key themes, “Legacy” and “Simplicity”, when it comes to the visual experience we are building. For “Legacy” we really want players to feel like they are experiencing a game that they remember fondly (Halo: Combat Evolved), but with modernized graphics of course. As far as “Simplicity” is concerned, we wanted to ensure that we steer away from overly noisy designs and details which is a key takeaway for the team coming off Halo 5. With Halo Infinite, we wanted to take this new adventure back to its roots and create a visually pleasing experience that doesn’t overwhelm with unnecessary complexity where readability and clear artistic composition prevail. This is our artistic interpretation of a beautiful world to exist within – rather than something that is purely grounded in photo realism. Both goals have been a true challenge to balance, especially against the expectations of what it means to be a “next-gen” title, but through some incredible team collaboration, hard work, and community feedback we are hoping to land something that everyone will really enjoy and appreciate.

PSman1700 · Feb 26, 2021

Looks impressive to say the least. Then consider the scale and the fact its a mp oriented title.

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

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