Halo Infinite is the latest first-person shooter making its way to the beloved sci-fi franchise. As a Microsoft exclusive, the game launched both on Xbox platforms and PC, marking a first for the Halo franchise. This meant that from launch PC players could access the game's files and begin to mod Halo Infinite to their liking. In the weeks since Halo Infinite's release, players saw a multitude of mods making their way to the Nexus page, including more serious tweaks like upscaling the cinematics and the sillier mods any PC player would expect, such as a Halo Reach dance party mod.
Now, modder "Opulent Halo" is looking to ditch the traditional first-person perspective Halo is known for, replacing it with a third-person over-the-shoulder viewpoint. Third-person has never fully featured in a Halo game before, though Halo: Reach did allow players to see their Spartan from a wider angle in specific situations, such as if they assassinated an enemy or used certain armor abilities like Armor Lock. There were rumors of a third-person Halo back in 2013, but so far nothing official has surfaced.
Opulent Halo has allowed fans to see Master Chief's armor in all its glory now, with a third-person perspective mod that renders all the weapons available in the game and doesn't seem to ruin performance. This Halo Infinite mod is only available for the single-player campaign, as it would be quite overpowered for some to have a third-person perspective while others are limited to first-person. In a gameplay clip posted to YouTube, the modder shows off what third-person Halo Infinite looks like as Chief takes on the Banished enemies of the campaign.
This isn't the first time a modder has granted Halo players a third-person perspective. Halo 3 was granted the third-person experience by a modder, who again only allowed players to access the new perspective in the campaign. Though, fans could power through Halo 3's co-op campaign in third-person should both players have access to the mod. Unfortunately, Halo Infinite's third-person mod does not allow for co-op functionality.
Even with an updated perspective, Halo Infinite may not be able to bounce back in terms of popularity. Fans of the Halo franchise have constantly been criticizing developer 343 industries for the state of the game, with everything from cosmetics to desync issues being pointed out as major problems. It seems that the criticism is finally affecting Halo Infinite's playerbase too, as the game's Steam player count continues to dwindle.
Halo Infinite is now available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.