Things have been a bit slow for Halo Infinite after the last Inside Infinite article in early December 2020, and many have been wondering when we would hear more. On Thursday, January 28, 2021, 343 released another Inside Infinite article, this time focusing on the game’s sandbox, its equipment, weapons, vehicles, objects, and movement abilities. In addition, they confirmed a rough roadmap for future plans this year. While it isn’t quite as meaty as the last Inside Infinite article, there’s still a ton of good, new info. Let’s get to it!
“‘Inside Infinite’ is a recurring series that will hit Halo Waypoint on approximately the last Thursday of every month. Our goal with these blogs is to provide insights into the game we are making from the people who are making it. These updates are intended to be fairly high-level and will lay a foundation that we’ll continue to build on over the months leading up to launch. Rather than make this strictly a one-way endeavor, following each update we’ll ask for community questions on social (using #Ask343) and look for opportunities to go deeper with the team and address some of your most pressing inquiries in the following regular Community Update blog (lands approximately mid-month).” - Brian Jarrard
Great news, everyone! These Inside Infinite blogs will be released monthly until release, generally on the last Thursday of each month. Although the content of the updates will be primarily high-level, avoiding any major reveals, players can ask questions with the #Ask343 hashtag on social media (primarily Twitter) and see some of them answered in the mid-month Community Update.
“This month we get things started by interviewing members of our Sandbox Team and next month we’ll talk with some of the folks working to bring Zeta Halo to life followed by a chat with the Audio team in March. We're still finalizing plans for April and May but we'll update you along the way.” - Brian Jarrard
This update will focus on the sandbox side of Halo Infinite, but February’s update will look at the processes and goals for designing the environments of Zeta Halo. Additionally, March will focus on all things audio and their design pillars. We will also see updates in April and May, but their contents are currently undecided.
“June, July, and August typically deliver big moments across the entire games industry so while we’re not committing to anything specific yet, we expect to have more than just Waypoint blogs this Summer. And in full transparency, we’re still actively working across the teams to make sure we have a strong roadmap post-Summer leading up to launch this Fall.” - Brian Jarrard
Obviously, there are major summer reveals all across the gaming industry, so I doubt anyone is surprised that there will be a lot to talk about with Halo Infinite this summer. Still, it does confirm once again that we won’t see the game release until September at the absolute earliest, although Flights could take place earlier than that. One thing is for sure: this year is going to be exciting.
The first in-game screenshot shared in this article shows the current BR75 model. It looks most similar to its Halo 2 counterpart, but there are a few minor differences. In any case, many players will be eager to see such a familiar weapon in Halo Infinite.
“We create weapons, vehicles, player mechanics, and systems that are intuitive and reward player mastery. We feel strongly that everything we create has to be easy to pick up and understand (that “grok” moment for players). Once we have something that is simple to understand, we push for depth that the player can appreciate and display in-game through experience and mastery.” - Quinn DelHoyo
One of the pillars for designing sandbox items and systems in Halo Infinite is that everything must be easy to pick up and use but difficult to master. In short, this design principle is a large part of why Halo appeals to both casual and competitive players. Anyone can use the tools provided in the sandbox, but mastering the tools gives a player an edge.
“With Halo Infinite, the investment we have made to our tools allows us to be more responsive to balance issues and opportunities (and of course we are also committed to keeping the game fresh via meta shifts, new weapons, vehicles, etc.).” - Quinn DelHoyo
One of the team’s goals with Halo Infinite is making it into a long-term platform for Halo. As a result, the sandbox will need to evolve quickly over time in response to player feedback and data anomalies. The sandbox team mentions that they have built a very efficient pipeline to quickly and effectively respond to balancing concerns, an imperative in a game whose multiplayer will be played for years. In addition, the sandbox team commits to creating new weapons, vehicles, and other sandbox items after launch. Something that stands out to me here, though, is the mention of “meta shifts.” A meta shift is a change in the balancing of the weapons in the sandbox that allows previously outclassed weapons to unseat the existing meta weapons. For example, a meta shift in Halo 3 could have been simply reducing the number of SMG bullets needed to kill a player, possibly making dual-wielding significantly more viable than it currently is. Meta shifts are really important for a game intended to last as long as Halo Infinite, and it’s good to hear about their commitment to this goal.
“Player goal: Players feel combat is in their hands to win or lose. Halo’s combat is a dynamic, rhythm of engagement, reactive, and cerebral dance that feels like a symphony of combat choices.” - Quinn DelHoyo
The sandbox team makes design decisions around a set of core player goals called “Combat Doctrine.” This first of these goals is referred to as “The Dance,” describing how combat in Halo is dictated by player choices before and during the engagement. Good Halo combat is combat where the player feels that their choices of weapons, vehicles, equipment, etc., as well as engagement position, movement decisions, and skill with all of these, are the sole reasons why they won or lost against an enemy combatant.
“Player Goal: Players will feel that they are skilled Spartans; armored super-soldiers, not regular foot soldiers. Each weapon or piece of equipment has a distinct feel and skill to use effectively.” - Quinn DelHoyo
The second goal refers to the “Tools of Engagement.” Not only should players feel like they hit harder, move faster, and jump higher than a normal soldier, their weapons, equipment, vehicles, and other sandbox items should all feel unique in their usage and mastery. Some of the complaints around Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians involved how some weapons, particularly Promethean ones, felt redundant. Is a Scattershot really different enough from a Shotgun? Is there enough of a separation between the Incineration Cannon and the Rocket Launcher? One of the goals with Halo Infinite seems to be creating weapons that are set apart from one another, giving players a reason to use certain weapons above others in a given situation.
“In order to really build out the player choice and roles of our sandbox, we felt that it was important to feature multiple damage types in the game so that we have more attributes to play with when designing vehicles and weapons.” - Quinn DelHoyo
Building on the second player goal, the sandbox team also mentions a much greater focus on bringing in new damage types and fleshing them out in much more profound ways. Long-time Halo fans will recall basic damage types such as Plasma, which is good for taking down shields, and Kinetic, which is better for unshielded combatants. Although they don’t explain which damage types they are bringing in for Halo Infinite, we can safely assume Kinetic and Plasma will be present. I would expect that a Shock damage type will also be in the game, due to the Stun Grenade, Shock Rifle, and Disruptor that we know of thus far.
“Player Goal: The player feels that they can stand alone and be effective without teammates or AI companions.” - Quinn DelHoyo
Not all sandbox items need to be designed for lethality, but the player needs to feel like they can be effective with only things they have. For multiplayer, this means equipping a player with a good set of starting weapons that don’t require the player to scavenge better weapons or always work with their teammates to have a fighting chance.
“Player Goal: Player actions are quick, frictionless, and responsive.” - Quinn DelHoyo
Halo games play best when the player feels that they can, at a moment’s notice, use any of the tools in their arsenal. That means being able to quickly use equipment, swap to a second weapon, or throw a grenade, all while moving around the map without interruption.
“It’s because of this principle, and the fact that Halo Infinite will be on PC, that led us to rebuild the control scheme system to allow players to fully rebind and remap their controls, regardless of platform.” - Quinn DelHoyo
Previous Halo games have limited the player to a selection of controller presets. Although this has historically been sufficient, the recent arrival of Halo: MCC on PC has led to many players wanting even greater control over their controller scheme. With Halo Infinite, all players on all platforms will be able to fully customize their controls for their desired input device.
“Player Goal: Players have a clear understanding of their vulnerability and threat identification.” - Quinn DelHoyo
In Halo, it is important for players to be aware of what on their screen is a threat and what is simply a feature of the environment. Additionally, clear communication of a player’s health and shields, especially when the shields are broken, is very important. Halo’s combat works as it does because the energy shield is decently strong, allowing for a greater depth of combat than “the one who shoots first, kills first.”
“Something that I would like to call out is that principles can (and likely will) evolve over time as Halo Infinite is launched and becomes a living breathing game with meta shifts and community desires.” - Quinn DelHoyo
In concluding the section on the fundamental player goals used by the sandbox team, Quinn DelHoyo offers this disclaimer. Because of how long Halo Infinite will be supported, it is very possible that community priorities will change from those listed. If this happens to be the case, the sandbox team will also shift their priorities to align with community desires when possible.
“In multiplayer, equipment is earned via combat and/or scavenging the playspace which brings a level of fairness and competition to the experience.” - Quinn DelHoyo
This statement is unfortunately a little vague, and it has led to mixed interpretations in the community. In particular, there are concerns over what is meant by the phrase “equipment is earned via combat.” While it is possible that this implies the existence of something akin to Halo 4’s ordnance drops, it seems more likely that it is simply describing how killing a player holding a piece of equipment will cause the player to drop that equipment, allowing another player to pick it up. If so, Halo Infinite’s equipment will be very similar to Halo 3’s equipment, where you can claim it by finding it on the map or killing someone holding it.
“[W]e are tailoring each equipment (all sandbox features for that matter), to the experience they are being used. So, expect to see some minor differences between multiplayer and campaign when it comes to acquiring equipment, the frequency in which they can be used, etc.” - Quinn DelHoyo
Historically, there have been few differences between Campaign and Multiplayer when it comes to weapon and equipment performance and options. There are a few cases where some weapons or equipment items are limited to one option or another, such as the Fuel Rod Gun in Halo 2 not appearing in Multiplayer or Evade in Halo: Reach not appearing in Campaign, but items are rarely balanced separately between the modes. In Halo Infinite, the designers are taking into consideration the differences in how equipment will be used between the two modes and balancing the items accordingly, while still aiming to keep them as similar as possible.
“We have dev builds of all the older Halos (going back to CE), and this terrain is order of magnitude(s) more difficult. While this caused a significant re-tuning of the core vehicles that have been in every Halo, when you see the gorgeous environments of Infinite, I think it’s worth it.” - Brian Berryhill
Compared to previous Halo games, the environments in Halo Infinite are significantly more difficult to design vehicles to traverse. The result is that staple vehicles from previous entries, such as the Warthog, Ghost, and Banshee, all needed to be readjusted and re-tuned to be able to easily accommodate the terrain in Halo Infinite. This may result in somewhat different vehicle behavior than in previous games, but the core functionality should still be familiar.
“Vehicles are the only inherently cooperative part of the sandbox so they carry the responsibility of forming these connections. I think single player vehicles are important for encounter design, but multiplayer vehicles are necessary for Halo’s community.” - Brian Berryhill
One of the things that sets Halo’s vehicle combat apart from many other games is the cooperative, multi-user nature of vehicles like the Warthog. It is very reassuring to see this aspect of Halo’s vehicle combat be acknowledged as a significant focus in designing multi-user vehicles alongside single-user vehicles.
“This long-term tempo does mean if the sandbox isn’t tuned correctly vehicles can become oppressive quickly. Specifically, what this means to me is that if the Golden Triangle doesn’t provide counters to vehicles – they will be dominant.” - Brian Berryhill
Vehicle combat has been a very difficult thing to balance in previous Halo games. In some, like Halo 2 and Halo 3, very few counters existed, leading to vehicles being almost unstoppable until someone acquires a Spartan Laser or Rocket Launcher. In others, like Halo: Reach and Halo 4, vehicles could be countered by nearly everything. It only took a few shots from small arms or a Sniper Rifle to down most vehicles. The challenge is designing vehicles to be good and worth using, but not so powerful that they can’t be countered. It will be interesting to see how Halo Infinite’s vehicles intertwine with its weapons and equipment.
“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.” - Quinn DelHoyo
One of the most exciting aspects of Halo Infinite for me is the refinement and addition of damage types. Although it was mentioned previously, here we see that the damage type of a weapon may, in fact, affect player choices in a particular encounter. Obviously, Plasma is effective at taking down shields, and Kinetic damage does more against unshielded infantry, but there will be multiple other damage types that bring new and unexpected ways to tackle enemy engagements.
This article is heavily filled with text, but there are a few in-game screenshots here and there. Here, we can see the design for Halo Infinite’s Needler. The grip is most similar to that of the Halo 5: Guardians Needler, but the overall design is much sleeker. The color is closest to Halo 4’s, but it is slightly brighter.
“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.” - David Price
The design intention for the CQS48 Bulldog shotgun was not to replace the Tactical Shotgun from previous Halo games but instead introduce a new type of shotgun, one that functions not as a power weapon but as a primary weapon. The Bulldog will fire faster and reload faster, but it will be far less lethal than the Tactical Shotgun.
Here, we have the latest in-game render of the CQS48 Bulldog. It looks very similar to how it did in the Campaign demo, albeit with much more added detailing.
“To that end, we have been building that muscle of balancing, seeking feedback, communicating the changes, etc. To provide a glimpse into our process, Sandbox sends out monthly patch notes to the studio of all the meta changes and new features that came online in the month prior.” - Quinn DelHoyo
One of the sandbox team’s goals is taking feedback, making changes in accordance with the feedback and their design pillars, and then communicating the changes to the players. Since the playerbase right now consists entirely of 343i’s internal team, the sandbox team creates patch notes each month to document the specific balancing changes and new features that were done. The sandbox team also commits to doing the same with the community during public Flights and after launch.
We also get to see a screenshot of the VK78 Commando, a weapon we originally saw in the Campaign demo in 2020. As mentioned previously, this new weapon is one of the first Halo primary weapons to feature a magazine in front of the trigger, rather than the bullpup design used on most primary weapons.
“We have staffed up a team here that is devoted to the PC livelihood. The Sandbox Team partners with the PC Team to build features and systems with the goal of meeting the expectations of PC players so that everything feels native to their platform.” - Quinn DelHoyo
When it was announced that Halo Infinite would be coming to PC, they wanted to ensure that it was a first-class citizen in the PC gaming environment. To this end, 343i has a dedicated PC team and playtests regularly on the platform to make sure everything feels just as good on mouse and keyboard as on controller. The sandbox team not only considers how their tools feel on Xbox using a controller but also how they feel on PC using mouse and keyboard.
“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.” - Quinn DelHoyo
On the sandbox side of the game, everything is playable and being playtested frequently. This gives the team a lot of time to fine-tune the sandbox items in the game and make sure everything feels effective and balanced before launch, which is very good news.
“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.” - Quinn DelHoyo
Although the weapons and equipment items we’ve seen thus far are already looking really good, we might see some differences between now and launch as the art team makes changes to align to their overall goals for the items.
For the first time ever, we now have an in-game screenshot of Halo Infinite’s Hydra. The weapon is significantly different in appearance from its debut in Halo 5: Guardians, and it seems to have been visually designed with the goal of simplicity in mind.
“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.” - Quinn DelHoyo
Of course, what would a Halo Infinite article be without a few teases? There will be a returning vehicle of some sort, although it will have a new appearance. It sounds like it’s a fan-favorite vehicle, so it seems possible that it’s either the Chopper from Halo 3 or the Falcon from Halo: Reach.
“[T]he 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.” - Tim Temmerman
We already know of three uses of the Grappleshot: pulling oneself toward enemies, pulling oneself toward objects, and pulling Fusion Coils to oneself, but apparently there’s another use we haven’t seen, one that is more focused on attacking than on item retrieval or mobility.
“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.” - David Price
The Ravager was the Plasma burst-fire launcher from the July 2020 Campaign demo. Although it was powerful as a direct-hit weapon, it sounds like it has morphed into an area-of-denial weapon rather than one intended for high instantaneous damage.
“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!” - Elan Gleiber
Yet another tease, but this time, for a new equipment item. All we’re told here is that it has a lot of opportunities for physics-based interactions, which instantly reminds me of the Gravity Hammer. Perhaps we can throw something that pushes things away from it?
“[W]e 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!” - Brian Berryhill
There will apparently be a new vehicle whose power is somewhere between the Warthog and the Scorpion. The first thought that comes to mind is a UNSC-esque Revenant, which sat between the Ghost and the Wraith in Halo: Reach. Obviously, this vehicle will be very different from the Revenant, but it seems like it will fill a similar niche in the sandbox. The great news is that we will likely see it when flighting starts for Halo Infinite.
“Remember how we wanted to better integrate the damage type system into the entire sandbox? Fusion Coils will be no exception. Also, wait until we show what we’ve done to another classic sandbox item that has been in Halo since the beginning but hasn’t gotten much love until now.” - Quinn DelHoyo
The ability to throw Fusion Coils was a welcome addition when we first saw it in the July 2020 Campaign demo, but that’s not the only improvement to Fusion Coils. They will also take advantage of the different damage types in the game, providing much greater variety than has ever been available before. Plus, we have yet another tease about a sandbox item of some type that has existed for decades but not been the subject of much focus until Halo Infinite.
“[W]e gave [Fusion Coils] more attention, like adding the ‘doomed state’ so they can propel themselves around when damaged.” - Kevin Stocker
Although we can see some of the “doomed state” in the July 2020 Campaign demo, it is exciting to see that they have added this level of depth to Fusion Coils. It feels like they are a very important part of the sandbox that we can now control, rather than being restricted by the map designer’s placement choices.
We’ve seen the MA40 AR in the last Inside Infinite article, but this screenshot lets us see even more of the details. The yellow stripe is back and much more prominent than in the July 2020 Campaign demo, and wear-and-tear is visible in many places.
“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
Part of the goal with transitioning to a new engine for Halo Infinite was to make an engine that could run efficiently on any device, rather than specifically Xbox devices. This makes it easier for the designers to target multiple platforms without having to change their solution depending on the hardware targeted. Plus, it makes the game’s engine relatively future-proof: if new hardware becomes available later in the game’s lifespan, minimal work would be necessary to ensure the current engine runs well on the new hardware. Plus, the engine work necessary to support such scaling applies well in the opposite direction, allowing hardware platforms as old as the original Xbox One to run the game to the best of their ability, even if it won’t look as good as on the latest hardware.
“Crouched behind a Forerunner pillar, shields fried and health deep in the red, I had a quick think: What’s different? Hunters turn faster. OK, assume this isn’t a bug. What’s the game trying to tell me? And what new dance moves have I got?
As another volley of enemy fire rattled my virtual head inside my virtual helmet, I remembered: I have equipment. Specifically, in the case of more reactive Hunters: I have a Grappleshot. Which means I’m faster and more mobile too!” - Joseph Staten
In a set of closing remarks, Joseph Staten describes his first encounter with a pair of Hunters in a deep, sprawling Forerunner interior. Expecting to be able to bait the Hunter’s attack, sidestep it, and fire on its weak spot, he is surprised to find that the Hunter has already recovered from its initial attack and is facing him directly. As he hides behind cover, he remembers that, in addition to his weapons, grenades, and melee, he also has equipment available to him. The Grappleshot may not be a necessary tool in his fight with the Hunters, but it opens a new set of attack angles and options that can give him an extra edge over the formidable foes. In any case, the sandbox in Halo Infinite sounds refreshing, exciting, and engaging, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it in the coming months.
Summary
In this month’s issue of Inside Infinite, we heard about the design goals and intentions behind Halo Infinite’s sandbox, including how it respects the legacy of Halo and builds upon that foundation to deliver exciting and refreshing new experiences. Here’s a summary of what we learned in this article.
The Inside Infinite articles will be released around the last Thursday of each month leading up to release.
The February Inside Infinite article will contain interviews of the people bringing Zeta Halo to life.
The March Inside Infinite article will contain interviews of the audio team.
Community members with questions for the team can ask them on social media using #Ask343. Questions will be answered in the mid-month Community Update following the Inside Infinite article.
June-August will be a busy time for Halo Infinite, with lots of information being announced at major gaming events.
We now have in-game screenshots of the BR75, Needler, CQS48 Bulldog, VK78 Commando, Hydra, and MA40 AR.
One of the main goals for every sandbox item is to design an item that is easy to pick up but has a lot of depth for players who master it.
The sandbox team has the ability to easily fine-tune and balance items in Halo Infinite, and they’ve set up and are currently using a pipeline to gather feedback, implement changes, and then communicate the changes.
The sandbox will be periodically freshened with meta shifts, new weapons, new vehicles, and other additions.
The sandbox is being designed to allow players to feel like success or defeat in combat is entirely in their control, based on what items they bring to an engagement and how they choose to fight with those items against their enemies.
The sandbox in Halo Infinite has been reconstructed from the ground up to allow weapons, vehicles, and equipment to have unique roles within the game. Avoiding redundancy is a major design consideration for the Halo Infinite sandbox.
Damage types are being expanded upon and made more prominent in Halo Infinite. Returning damage types such as Plasma and Kinetic will be fleshed out to a greater degree, and new damage types will be introduced.
Another pillar for the sandbox team is making sure the player feels like they have the right tools to be effective without needing to rely on friendly forces. This includes having a good starting loadout in multiplayer without strictly needing to scavenge better weapons on the map.
Yet another goal is to ensure that player actions are as responsive as one would expect, without having one action cause another to be temporarily unresponsive and feel unnecessarily clunky.
Halo Infinite will allow players on all platforms to fully customize their controls. Controller players will no longer be limited to presets.
The final goal in sandbox design is ensuring that players are aware of their vulnerability and able to easily identify threats. Dangers must be clearly communicated through visual and auditory means when possible, and it must be easy enough to detect enemies against the background environment.
The aforementioned sandbox goals may shift after launch as the community’s desires change over time.
In multiplayer, equipment can be earned by finding it on the map or by killing a player holding it.
Although most sandbox items will perform similarly between Campaign and Multiplayer, there will be some subtle differences between the two modes. Independent balancing will be used whenever necessary.
The core set of vehicles found in every Halo game has been re-tuned significantly to allow them to work with the complex and varied terrain in Halo Infinite.
The cooperative nature of some vehicles, such as the Warthog, is a major consideration for the team beyond just the single-player vehicles.
The team is working to balance vehicle play with infantry play, seeking to ensure that vehicles feel powerful without infantry being unable to counter them.
Damage types are one way the sandbox team is achieving uniqueness among items. The distinction between damage types may even influence a player’s choice of weapon for a given encounter.
The inspiration for the Bulldog was to create a shotgun that was not a power weapon. The Bulldog is less lethal than a Tactical Shotgun, but it fires faster and reloads faster, allowing it to fill a role closer to a primary weapon than a power weapon.
PC is a major focus for the Halo Infinite team. Playtesters are playing the game on PC daily, providing feedback and data that helps the sandbox team design items that are fun, effective, and comfortable to use on both Xbox and PC.
All of the sandbox team’s launch content is in-game and being tested at this time. The remaining work for the team is fine-tuning and balancing the existing sandbox and designing future additions to the sandbox following the game’s launch.
Some sandbox items may differ visually between now and launch.
There will be a returning fan-favorite vehicle with a new appearance.
The Grappleshot has an as-of-yet unseen feature that opens it up to offense-focused gameplay.
The Ravager has been repurposed slightly into an area-of-denial weapon, rather than a direct-damage launcher.
There is an unrevealed physics-based equipment item that seems to have the ability to affect or even launch most things in the sandbox.
There will also be a new vehicle whose power is between the Warthog and the Scorpion.
Fusion Coils will take advantage of the new damage type system as well.
There is another classic sandbox item that has been in Halo for a very long time but hasn’t gotten much attention until Halo Infinite.
Fusion Coils have a “doomed state”, where they fly around uncontrollably when damaged until they detonate.
Part of the goal with creating a new engine for Halo Infinite was to ensure the game would run optimally on more than just the Xbox One. The new engine gives it the ability to scale effectively to a wide variety of PC and Xbox hardware.
We will visit large Forerunner interiors at some point in the Campaign.
Hunters are faster than they had been in previous titles, but the presence of equipment gives players a few more tools to gain the advantage.