In a year full of successes for Xbox, Halo Infinite's launch at the end of 2021 was the icing on the cake. The game served as an exclamation point on both Halo and Xbox's 20th anniversaries, bringing the series into the present while also meditating on what made it successful in the past. Between the multiple flight tests and the surprise launch of Halo Infinite multiplayer in November, people were clamoring to play the game every time it was available, and in the end, the gameplay didn't disappoint. Then a couple of weeks later, when the Halo Infinite campaign was released, players were treated to a fun semi-open world adventure that cast the story into new surprising directions.
Not everything has been good though, as Halo Infinite has received a variety of criticism since launch for a number of reasons. For starters, fan-favorite modes like Forge and campaign co-op weren't available at launch. The most prominent concerns are the variety of player customization issues, like the lack of free cosmetics and the expensive items in the Shop. These issues have helped instill some sense of dissatisfaction with the game amongst some players, with them believing Halo Infinite is still unfinished.
2022 is set to be an important year for Halo Infinite's future, as 343 Industries looks to fill out the game's promised content, fix its multiplayer issues, and add new features in the end.
New Halo Infinite Features 22: Campaign Co-Op, Forge, and More
The development of Halo Infinite at nearly every level can be described through extensions or delays. Halo Infinite's original development cycle received extension after extension as 343 Industries struggled to find where it wanted to go after Halo 5: Guardians. Then the much-maligned showing happened in the summer of 2020, afterward which Xbox and 343 Industries delayed Halo Infinite a year to fall 2021 from its original launch plan with the Xbox Series X. Finally, after it was already confirmed that neither campaign co-op nor Forge would be ready for Halo Infinite's launch, the extension of the game's first multiplayer season has gone and scrambled the timeline of these features.
Since Halo Infinite's Season 1 launch, Heroes of Reach was extended to May, and campaign co-op and Forge will now be releasing later than their original targets. There aren't any hard dates about when these modes would be available, but 343 Industries is not going to release them until ready, meaning fans can expect those at some point in the near future.
Considering Halo Infinite players have achieved campaign co-op through glitches, it can be said with relative safety that players can expect the mode sometime in 2022, the earliest being June after Season 1 ends. As for Forge though, that all depends on how long Season 2 ends up being, which is pretty hard to determine currently.
343 Industries is likely constantly assessing the status of its season standings—player retention, progression speed, and so on—and trying to modify the structure of future seasons accordingly. Chances are that, however long Season 2 ends up being, there will be some consideration of the first season's data, as well as how much work is left on Forge. So, if Halo Infinite Season 2 goes for six months like Season 1, Forge could be far away.
Halo Infinite Multiplayer Changes
In just the little over two months that Halo Infinite's multiplayer has been live, it has seen massive changes at practically every level. At launch, player progression in Halo Infinite's battle pass suffered from the amount of time it took to rank up a single tier and a lack of meaningful rewards to work towards. More generally, as well, player customization has taken a lot of criticism due to the lack of free cosmetics already in the game and the structure of the Item Shop. 343 Industries has already begun implementing changes in both areas, but that isn't to say the problems have been fixed.
Originally, the Halo Infinite battle pass featured just a handful of free items, many of which were Challenge Swaps and XP Boosts. Fortunately, battle pass changes in December made practically half of the items available in it free to players, without having to purchase the battle pass. At the same time, 343 Industries revamped the challenge progression system, generally increasing the XP rewards for completing challenges, and offering new playlist-specific ones that are based on player score and performance.
As for the customization and Item Shop situation, there hasn't been much to show for it yet. While 343 Industries opened up the battle pass to include more free items, it doesn't change the fact that it is still highly restrictive, in thanks to its Armor Core system. Players want to be able to equip any helmet, with any armor type and Armor Coating. This is exasperated when Halo Infinite changes $8 for a blue Armor Coating that players already have for one of their other Armor Cores.
343 Industries price reductions in the Item Shop with the Cyber Showdown event are a promising sign for the future of paid Halo Infinite cosmetics though. As players keep voicing their feedback, these prices will likely find a sweet spot where both players and the developers will be satisfied. While it's unlikely cross Armor Core customization will happen, at least players will have new free cosmetics to look forward to with every season and event.
Halo Infinite Seasonal Content
Ultimately, new content that comes to Halo Infinite multiplayer is largely determined by the larger season at hand. Still being in Halo Infinite Season 1, there is the greater battle pass that runs throughout the entire season, as well as a variety of smaller events that each have their own event passes. Examples of this include the Fracture: Tenrai event that has multiple appearances during Season 1, the Winter Contingency holiday event, and the just started Cyber Showdown. As long as 343 Industries sticks to the seasonal format for Halo Infinite, players should expect another larger battle pass as well as many other events to appear during 2022.
Beyond just the passes though, Halo Infinite's events are testing grounds for new modes and playlists. Back when Fracture: Tenrai first dropped, it brought with it the chaotic Fiesta Slayer mode, which quickly became a fan-favorite—then the event ended, and 343 Industries removed it to players' dismay. The idea was that events were places where 343 Industries could test out new game types before launching them full scale. 343 Industries ended up bringing back Fiesta Slayer without Fracture: Tenrai, as well as introduced Tactical Slayer or SWAT, which was supposed to premiere during the Tactical Ops event.
So, in addition to new events and cosmetics, players should also look forward to new game modes in 2022 as Season 1 finishes and Season 2 starts later on. Cyber Showdown recently introduced Attrition to Halo Infinite, a search and destroy-like game mode where lives are shared. Leaks have also shown icons for Grifball and Infection in Halo Infinite, fan-favorite game modes that have yet to appear in the game. Free-to-play games are contingent on receiving a steady stream of new content, making it reasonable to expect a mix of permanent and temporary playlists to appear throughout the year.
Will Halo Infinite Have DLC?
Players who finished Halo Infinite's campaign were likely left either satisfied, content with what was there, or dissatisfied, hoping there was more content. Halo Infinite's ending offers a degree of hope for Master Chief, the Weapon, and the Pilot, while also seeding some seriously imposing threats. In any other game, fans would have to wait another 3-4 years before seeing what happens next in the story, but since this is Halo Infinite, that may not be the case.
Halo Infinite is the new platform for the series, not just a new game, with 343 Industries expecting it to last for the next 10 years. This sounds similar to the original idea behind Destiny, a title that was supposed to receive new content for a decade after its release, which was ultimately replaced with Destiny 2. With that in mind, players shouldn't be looking towards a Halo Infinite 2 in a couple of years, but rather, a new campaign pack that adds onto the base game.
This isn't just purely speculation, however, as some activity by 343 Industries has made it seem like a pretty safe bet that campaign DLC would be coming. There is a "Campaigns" tab on the Halo Infinite section of Halo Waypoint, clearly suggesting that the campaign Halo Infinite shipped with will not be the only one. It could be a story about Spartan Locke's mission on Zeta Halo, or maybe the next part in Master Chief's story—either way, there are plenty of potential storylines that could be told here.
Now, whether players will see this add-on campaign in 2022 is what it all comes down to, and like the uncertainty of Season 3, it is hard to say. Considering the Destiny franchise puts out a new big campaign practically every 12-16 months makes one hopeful that 343 Industries could do the same with Halo Infinite. However, with Forge, Campaign Co-Op, and the litany of multiplayer features that 343 Industries is working on, where campaign DLC fits into the whole thing is unclear.
Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
