Microsoft will show off the Halo Infinite campaign for the first time in over a year this afternoon.
A campaign overview video goes live at 2pm UK time. You can watch it in the video below.
Halo Infinite – Campaign Overview Watch on YouTube
Here’s the official blurb:
“The Banished have defeated UNSC forces and taken control of the mysterious Zeta Halo, threatening the survival of humankind. When all hope is lost and humanity’s fate hangs in the balance, the Master Chief returns to confront the most ruthless foe he’s ever faced.
“Here’s a fresh look at the Halo Infinite campaign that introduces players to true Spartan freedom in the biggest, most wide open and adventure-filled Halo experience yet, launching on December 8 2021.”
Halo Infinite was once due out last Christmas, but suffered a high-profile delay after a negative reaction to the last time we saw its campaign in July 2020. The infamous “Craig” gameplay demo is below:
Halo Infinite – Official Campaign Gameplay Premiere Watch on YouTube
In the video below, Digital Foundry explains more on this demo’s graphics:
Halo Infinite Gameplay Trailer Analysis: Are The Graphics Really ‘Flat’…? Watch on YouTube
343 had said it was taking this feedback on board, admitting it had “work to do” on the graphics. We’ll find out how that work has gone at 2pm today.
The Halo Infinite campaign was a notable absentee from Gamescom in August. At the time, lead writer Joseph Staten said the team was currently in “shutdown mode” as they polished the game for final release on 8th December.
“[Shutdown mode] means we’re done with feature work and focused on crushing high-priority bugs,” Staten said.
“We’re spending lots of time playing the game, verifying fixes, and generally doing all we can to ensure campaign (and multiplayer!) plays great on all platforms – from an original, eight-year-old Xbox One to a brand new, ultra-spec PC. This is a very challenging task, even for a large and experienced team.
“[W]e’re at a critical phase in the flight that is Halo Infinite, so it’s extremely important to avoid distractions and stay focused on mission-critical tasks only.
“For campaign, that means putting maximum effort into ensuring the wide-open, adventure-filled experience you’ll all get to play on December 8th is as great as it can possibly be. And gameplay demos and trailers not only take a huge amount of effort to do well, they also take cycles away from bugs and other shutdown tasks.”
Infinite won’t have campaign co-op or Forge at launch, unfortunately. The much-loved campaign co-op won’t hit the shooter until season two at the earliest, which means about three months after launch.
“We have the opportunity to play campaign all the time,” Staten said, also in August.
“It’s this wonderful, wide open, nonlinear take on a Halo campaign, and it’s going to offer so much more flexibility to take down Banished bases from all kinds of different angles, to progress through the game in your own way to a certain extent.