It's no surprise that players are excited to see what 343 Industries has in store for Halo Infinite, especially considering how long it has been since the franchise saw a main-series release. However, as players continue to pick apart the Xbox Games Showcase's gameplay reveal, they are finding a mix of features to enjoy and some to poke fun at and complain about.
One Twitter user in particular by the name of @Aozolai recently noticed something interesting about the Halo Infinite footage, and specifically how the new gameplay looks fairly familiar to fans of the series' original developer, Bungie. While most of the recent Halo Infinite memes have been more focused on the quality of the game's graphics, this one has more to do with its relation to Destiny 2.
The video puts the Halo Infinite footage side by side with footage of a Destiny 2 strike in which the player fights a Cabal. This specific enemy type very much resembles the Brutes from the Halo franchise, in this case even being clad in the same red armor as seen in the recent gameplay reveal. Following the two fights from start to finish, a number of similarities begin to reveal themselves from the player's own abilities across both games to the behavior of the different enemies.
It's nothing new to compare the Destiny series to Halo, as both are space-faring sci-fi epics where the player hops from planet to planet, fighting off alien races that threaten humanity. Of course, with both franchises being started by the same company, Bungie, this comes as little surprise, as the developer clearly has a certain style of game that it excels at. However, the comparison between how the two franchises has never been quite as one to one as they are in @Aozolai's video, which shows what seems to be identical features ripped from one game into the other.
Interestingly enough, these comparisons used to go the other way, with players criticizing Bungie for a lack of originality in Destiny due to how similar it seemed to Halo. Seeing this criticism turned around on Halo Infinite instead does highlight how separate the two franchises have become, for pointing out their similarities to warrant scorn from fans again. However, 343 Industries has proven to take fan criticisms of Halo Infinite seriously, meaning that it is likely that the developer will be working on recreating the distinction between the two franchises as development continues.
Halo Infinite is set to launch Holiday 2020, for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X.