There was speculation that Halo Infinite wouldn’t be a traditional Halo experience. The “Infinite” part of the title seemed to indicate that this game would be a side story instead of Halo 6. Some speculated that Infinite would utilize the games-as-a-service model. However, today’s Xbox Games Showcase demo showed an experience that very much reflects a typical Halo campaign.
Master Chief is taking on the Banished, a splinter faction of the covenant on a broken Halo installation. UNSC assets are scattered across the Halo, seemingly a result of the destruction of the UNSC Infinity, one of Earth’s crucial assets. Atriox, leader of the Banished, says he defeated the UNSC, so Master Chief is on his own (aside from the pilot) in his fight to reclaim the Halo.
It’s possible that Halo Infinite may have a games-as-a-service component. We might get a bait-and-switch at some point, or it may be a mode separate from the campaign. However, what the demo showed of the story doesn’t seem like it could be interpreted as anything less than a full-fledged Halo story.
I’m ecstatic that Microsoft isn’t taking Halo in the games-as-a-service approach with Infinite. In fact, this game seems to be channeling the original game more than Halo 5: Guardians, which is a good thing. There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered. Like, what’s happening with Cortana? How did Master Chief end up floating in space…. again? Is the pilot someone special, and will he sneakily betray humanity?
All these questions and more will possibly be answered later this year when Halo Infinite debuts on Xbox One and Xbox Series X. A release date for the game hasn’t been confirmed, but we can assume it’ll be a launch title for the Xbox Series X, which will likely release in November 2020.
