Halo Infinite's release is just a couple of months away, but it has been a long time coming. To say the development of the game has been a bit of a bumpy ride would be an understatement, as concerns about the game culminated in a massive one-year delay from late 2020 with the launch of the Xbox Series X|S to 2021. Even the news of the official release date of December 8, 2021 confirmed that the game would come much later than expected, causing a bit of distress among fans. But now the game will soon arrive, and 343 Industries recently showed off the new and improved Halo Infinite campaign.
It is quite interesting to see how far things have come since the game's 2018 announcement, its big E3 2019 trailer, and the ups and downs in-between. After all, Halo Infinite's multiplayer appears to be on track for grand success. The community has latched on to every technical preview and come out feeling like the multiplayer is the perfect blend of classic Halo fun with a fresh modern feel. As such, the question became whether or not the campaign can live up to the multiplayer of Halo Infinite, because it appeared to be top-notch already. Now that players have received a campaign gameplay trailer with new story details, it is easier to see how far the singleplayer mode has come.
Halo Infinite's Campaign Overview
The campaign overview video for Halo Infinite shows off what is being described as a wide-open adventure-filled experience. The Master Chief is dropped into a Just Cause-like world with tools, weapons, and vehicles a-plenty in hopes of finding "a weapon" and perhaps one day reuniting with Cortana. The hero of the Halo series perhaps has never seemed so powerful, as the devices at his disposal in this open-world allow for more of a sandbox experience than ever before, something that the franchise has always prided itself in.
The Master Chief can seemingly roam throughout the land to take down different Banished facilities, upgrade his arsenal, and more. The Banished will provide enemies new and old in Halo Infinite, as the army of Covenant mercenary separatists may be the toughest test yet for Master Chief. The leader of the group, Escharum, appears to be specifically strong, but the new campaign overview also showed snippets of a mystery villain who could be even stronger still.
Along with the general gameplay of the trailer, a big emphasis on the story was obvious in the video as well. The core story of the mainline Halo titles have revolved around Master Chief and Cortana, but Master Chief continues to be all business. As such, his focus in this game is on stopping the Banished, who have taken control of the mysterious Zeta Halo.
What Has Changed Since 2019
The original Discover Hope trailer for Halo Infinite shown at E3 2019 was a video that literally gave hope to fans - hope that the Halo series could truly be back to what it once was. The trailer showed a man in absolute despair, sick of war, and lost in space. But he found hope in the bulking Master Chief floating through space. That same moment and cinematography return in the campaign overview, as Master Chief is ready to dive right back into action after his side lost the battle and the Banished have taken control of Zeta Halo.
The evolution of Halo Infinite is on display when compared against the perceived negatives of the 2020 Xbox Games Showcase trailer for Halo Infinite. 343 Industries gave fans the first taste of gameplay, and while the overall vision was there, the polish was not. The graphics were poked fun at by fans, the game seemed to lack detail, and Halo Infinite seemed to almost be a tech demo more than a full-fledged campaign. With the release only a few months away at that time, this was a concern. At that point, the game seemed to have somewhat of a sandbox feel, but the true open-world feel with freedom, tools, and more at the player's disposal was not on display.
What has changed with Halo Infinite's Campaign Overview trailer is a level of polish that is hard to deny. Now, players appear to be able to play Halo Infinite with freedom of exploration, gameplay, and expression that is unmatched in the franchise. This is one huge positive of the title being delayed from 2020 to 2021.
The Fan Reception Shift of Halo Infinite
The reception of Halo Infinite has done a near full 180, or perhaps even an entire 360. Fans were first treated with an announcement of the game in 2018, followed by the CG trailer at E3 2019. For the most part, the community was thrilled with the idea of a new Halo title, and the 2019 trailer was very exciting. However, a very long wait for any legitimate gameplay made fans nervous. And the less-than-stellar footage shown during an Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020 was a realization of that fear that resulted in a Craig the Brute and a Halo community wondering if the game would be ready in time for the launch of the Xbox Series X|S.
Very shortly thereafter, Halo Infinite was delayed into 2021, which was somewhat shocking news as Master Chief's next adventure was becoming synonymous with the next major Xbox console. However, that gave Microsoft and 343 Industries time to create a better game, and that has seemingly resulted in an improved campaign. Although fans hadn't yet seen multiplayer before the delay, it is likely that the multiplayer improved because of the game moving to 2021 as well.
With all of this in mind, Halo Infinite's reception is much stronger leading up to its launch. There is a lot of goodwill around the game. The multiplayer is at a very strong place thanks to a very successful showing at E3 and the technical previews. But the campaign being shown as something both familiar and fresh - while also looking very polished - is something the community appears to be thrilled about. Right now the campaign overview video that is uploaded on the official Xbox YouTube page has 131 thousand upvotes to 3.5 thousand downvotes, and there are no Craig memes in sight.
Halo Infinite releases on December 8 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.