I think it is time to come back to one of the most sensational FPSs in these trying times. 2 years ago, sheer hubris led the game to its downfall. The developers pretty much made all the bad mistakes modern AAA gaming has gotten to lately. But this was coming from a reputable developer like 343.
I still played the game, thinking it needed support. Nope, what it needed was a real shakeup, and after a studio president leaving, and being replaced, while undergoing a restructuring. A year later, we've been beholden to a newer, fresher, easily playable, and content-accessible Halo game. All of the annoying bits are gone and reworked.
And in the new season, a big player spike has now made it one of the most popular titles in both Steam and Xbox, ranking 15th on the latter. That's because of how new content has been piled up on top of what was there already, and a mode returning that'll keep the game alive and rich for years.
Better Experience
Before I go on, I'll say am kind of shocked that downloading the game didn't take long, and all of it is packed in 60GB file size. After I did, I wanted to see after hours of playing the game over a year ago, was my old progress recognized and left around. Ah, not quite.
Progression has been reset since June to a career rank system. Meaning all the rep I've earned is gone, ok but this is a better system anyway, so am good with that. But I never expected the next big thing to welcome me, majority of the elite ranked armors that were locked, are now in full access. Despite, not having much to accessorize with, maybe that can change once I start playing.
After 3hrs of playtime, I've easily reached Lance Corporal. Now that is 2 more ranks from reaching sergeant, and 3-4 more matches will easily get me there. But the ladder from here is huge. General is the max, but after that I start over again in Silver tier. There are 6 total tiers.
Halo Infinite at first had a very streamlined playlist available to try, despite the same maps being rotated, and some of the game modes I wanted to avoid were forced on me. That is no longer the case, the update gives anyone to play whatever modes they want. Thank you 343, really needed this.
Unfortunately by the time I started playing multiplayer, a fire erupted in the capital, in the place where most of the internet bandwidth was centralized in. Because of that, many people, including me had terrible experiences with our network. My KD was so bad, I ducked my head in shame right after end. Till I got the Needler, and damn that weapon is totally broken.
Weapon balancing still has work left, but for the most part, especially with newer weapons or interesting variations of older ones, they pack quite a punch. I missed like 3 different seasons of new weapons, but after playing them now, even the new Bandit Evo, better days are coming ahead.
Of course, I am aware that there are still some of the older issues left, like desyncing, the stringent skill-based matchmaking, and armor customization hasn't gotten cross-core yet. But large sum of earlier issues are mostly fixed from what it seems, and am sure they'll get to these too.
The Netcode issues are still kind of significant in this game. Hell, they have lower TickRate than CS:GO (60Hz, 30Hz on Big Team). A number of other factors that kind of also explain the desync problems as well. So, call me shocked that people still care about Halo Infinite now.
There's also the visual upgrades, not many people are pleased with this one. Halo isn't trying to be visual eye candy, but for the current-gen game, it is a nice touch. I guess there's more on the way, for now, Infinite is loaded with content, and still receiving free updates.
The Content
At first, it didn't really seem like the main game roster was getting any new maps and modes. Even if it did, it just felt uninteresting and lackluster to be in them. Now that story has completely shifted. From launch, we've had 2 seasons of the game in the first year, third was delayed.
Now, we're at the end of its second year. After stretching out the first season, with a meager second season content release, Halo now has 19 maps to play in. 7 of those maps came from all three seasons this year alone. Add the improved Infection and Extraction modes as well.
And cosmetics keep adding up as well, including the new Flood armor which has cross core support. I mean, look at it. Even I want to fork in some cash for that. I haven't spent a single dime on DLC content since Payday 2. Best time in October to celebrate the game, especially with the high player count. Going over 18K concurrently for this season in Steam.
And oh, it gets even better. After Forge's release not long ago, fans have already started working on several new ones. One particular example is this map, called Refuge. Which is making waves for its story-dense environment setting, and spectacular map design.
The other one now is where Forge gets a new upgrade, and this one is a big game changer. The new update now adds campaign AI within a new toolkit, allowing players to create their story content while giving settings to the game's NPC while creating their map.
Even more, Firefight is coming back. A classic mode already has made its return on season 5. I was busy trying to catch up on the old stuff, I forgot to check this out. For those who don't know, it's a popular big team PvE mode where you fight waves of Covenant forces.
How is all this happening? Well, the guy who fixed Halo Master Chief Collection took over 343 as the new president of studio, and he's made so many changes that has finally put the company in tip top shape. And single-handedly managed to fix the entire game in a single year. Also, Rim Jobs anyone?
Next In The Future
While it's been 2 years since Halo Infinite's new release, more rumors have been circling around that Halo 7's releases is somewhere close. Maybe at a slated 2025 release date. And that they're moving away from their in-house gaming engine to Unreal Engine 5. I've addressed before that allowing Epic to have an easy monopoly like this is doing long-term damage, but alas, here we are.
Does that mean the studio might short-change us on the promise of updates they made earlier? Sort of unlikely. 2 years is still a long time, and may I remind that Halo Infinite multiplayer is a live service F2P game. I don't think this one is going out the paster that soon.
In just one year, we've had way more content than we've had since the game's first disappointing launch, and progress on seasonal updates. There were too many delays in-between, there are still delays now, and that it has issues still needing fixed, in regards to the current online experience.
I think they've earned some part of our trust that was lost earlier. Next year is going to be really interesting one, Halo Infinite isn't done putting itself back, with stuff promised earlier delivered, on top of newer and cooler stuff to try out. It's the gift that keeps on giving right now. And I am going to save up some money for those cosmetics later on.
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