It’s a rare day in Video Game Land when fans demand a lot from a live service game and then…actually get it. But that’s what happened today, when developer 343 Industries introduced many community-requested features. Halo Infiniteits a free-to-play multiplayer shooter.
Halo Infinitefirst released last year, had a somewhat difficult life period. As with many free shooters, Halo Infinite based on a seasonal pattern. The seasons, which were originally planned to last three months, have so far operated on six-month cycles. (We’re halfway through season two, which runs until early November.) Fans say this stripped the shooter of key content like maps, modes, and cosmetics, keeping it from feeling as fresh as it could. .
The shooter is also built around it weekly problem spread. Completing your grids earns you XP that upgrades your battle pass and gives you new cosmetic options at each level. Previously, you could only check your active challenges while idling in the lobby between matches. follows today’s update, you can see them mid-match. There’s a catch, though: Challenges don’t track progress in real-time, so you won’t know if you landed those five headbutts until the match is over. But hey, progress!
Today’s update also mentions Halo Infinitethe first step towards “cross-core customization” or the ability to use all customization options on all “armor colors”. Instead of one set of armor for your 26th century super soldier avatar, you have five so-called armor “colors.” Each gives a different look; you can customize them as you see fit. But the cosmetic options—from accessories to armor pieces to even different color options—are tied specifically to each core. You cannot, for example, use any colors from the original Crayola armor plating of the Mark VII core. colors without solid options (looking at you, Mark W [B]).
Now, after today’s update, all viewers work with all armor cores; they will simply appear automatically for all five of your colors. Unless I missed it, the armory doesn’t indicate which armor core the viewer is initially associated with. Since some are more or less the same, like the dark blue Tempered Steel of the Yoroi core and the dark blue Tempered Steel of the Rakshasa core, you end up with a few screen options that look like duplicates. (A regular reminder that you can hold down Y to compare any cosmetic option to what you currently have equipped.) But still: progress!
That’s not all. At the end of the month, Halo Infinite will receive competitive and social versions of the beloved Team Doubles playlist, where teams of two face off on small maps. (These are currently scheduled for August 23rd, but 343 have not always reached their target dates. infinite‘s updates.) But 343 quietly changed Team Snipers’ playlist today and released an update that doesn’t. official announcementfocuses on it only on social media.
Since the release of the Team Snipers playlist earlier this summer, a mode has been featured that fires you up with a stalker rifle—damn good precision weapon…and this is the ultimate no sniper rifle. After today, that mode is gone, replaced by a mode that only spawns you snipers. Shotty Snipes, who you start with as a sniper and a shotgun, is thankfully still there. Unfortunately, the Brute Snipes mode hasn’t been cleaned up, although at least the shotgun, which is the starting weapon, is technically a sniper rifle. Sorry, no word yet on whether or not Halo Infinite will only get mod with stun gun. But one last time: progress!
Of course, individually these are all minor changes. But taken together, it’s a sign of a game that’s slowly adapting to what players want — very similar Halo: The Master Chief Collection before that. Soon we will all wake up and understand Halo Infinite it has also legitimately become a live service game.
