In a surprise move, Microsoft decided to publish a new gameplay video showing Halo Infinite’s campaign this morning. This is our second look at the game’s campaign following the disastrous first gameplay trailer from July 2020, which led developer 343 Industries to delay the game to 2021.
Today’s new trailer is six minutes long, and it does a good job at explaining Halo Infinite’s story and gameplay. Halo Infinite will have the biggest campaign ever in the history of Halo, and it will offer players an open world to explore for the first time.
The game’s action is set on Zeta Halo, a mysterious ring controlled by the hostile Banished army. We learned in today’s trailer that Master Chief’s first mission in Halo Infinite will be to retrieve a new AI companion codenamed “The Weapon,” which is set to replace Cortana after the AI went rogue in Halo 5: Guardians. In addition to The Weapon, the Pilot sidekick we saw in last year’s trailer also makes a comeback in this new video.
Overall, the gameplay of Halo Infinite still looks very solid, with the new grappling hook probably putting a bigger emphasis on aerial combat. In the video, we can see Master Chief using the grappling hook to swing around enemies, grab them to pull powerful melee attacks, and the hook also works for grabbing flying aircraft.
The world of Zeta Halo will feature several banished facilities to explore and shut down, and Halo Infinite’s campaign will also mark the return of mini-bosses. This is definitely a big departure from the linear and tightly structured campaigns seen in previous Halo games, and 343 Industries deserve credit for moving away from a formula perfected by Bungie in the original Halo trilogy.
Halo Infinite’s Campaign will be released on Xbox, PC, and Xbox Game Pass on December 8 alongside the game’s free-to-play multiplayer mode. However, the game’s campaign won’t support online co-op at launch, and 343 Industries said that this would be coming in a post-launch update.
