Even though Microsoft seems to only drop major details about Halo Infinite during their online press events, new details seem to emerge from the unlikeliest of places. At least this time, details about a triple-A shooter didn’t leak out on the back of a bag of crisps. Instead, we have a toy retailer to thank for spilling the beans on what’s to come in Halo Infinite.
Thanks to an Irish toy retailer known as Smyths Toys, a small tip about what’s to come in Halo Infinite dropped on our doorstep. The ‘greatly reduced load times’ are pretty much a given with the Xbox Series X’s SSD but it’s two other little morsels that caught our eye. First is the inclusion of up to 120FPS graphics on the Xbox Series X. We already knew that the console could handle this higher frame rate but this might be the first confirmation of a Microsoft first-party title to take advantage of the technology. Previous announcements by Microsoft and 343 Industries only confirmed the Xbox Series X campaign at running up to 4K60. Secondly, the mention of free-to-play multiplayer is a shocking inclusion. Could this be the sign of Halo Infinite taking a Warzone-like approach and spinning its multiplayer off into a standalone client? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
The recent gameplay reveal for Halo Infinite did leave fans pretty split on John-117’s latest adventure when it comes to graphics. Some of the most commented posts regarding the Xbox showcase reveal were about the stoic Brute that everyone’s affectionately calling Craig in various memes. Nevertheless, Microsoft and 343 have been trying to control the messaging about the feedback to the recent Halo Infinite campaign demo and posted their thoughts on the Halo Waypoint.
QUESTIONS ABOUT GRAPHICS AND VISUALS
First, we want to acknowledge that yes, we’ve heard the feedback coming from parts of the community regarding the visuals in the Halo Infinite campaign demo. While we see and hear far more positive than negative, we do want to share a bit more context. From our perspective, there are two key areas being debated around the community – overall art style and visual fidelity.
Based on our learnings from Halo 4, Halo 5, and Halo Wars 2 – along with strong community feedback – we decided to shift back towards the legacy aesthetics that defined the original trilogy. With Halo Infinite, we’re returning to a more ‘classic’ art style which was a key message going back to the very first reveal that garnered enthusiastic and positive responses. This translates to a more vibrant palette, “cleaner” models and objects with less “noise”, though it doesn’t mean less detail. While we appreciate this may not be everyone’s personal preference, we stand by this decision and are happy to see it resonating with so many fans around the world.
The second theme being discussed involves visual fidelity. Negative feedback in this area includes comments around characters and objects appearing flat, simplistic and plastic-like, lighting feeling dull and flat, and object pop-in. We’ve read your comments, we’ve seen the homemade examples of retouched content, and yes we’ve heard the Digital Foundry assessments. In many ways we are in agreement here – we do have work to do to address some of these areas and raise the level of fidelity and overall presentation for the final game. The build used to run the campaign demo was work-in-progress from several weeks ago with a variety of graphical elements and game systems still being finished and polished. While some of the feedback was expected and speaks to areas already in progress, other aspects of the feedback have brought new opportunities and considerations to light that the team is taking very seriously and working to assess. We don’t have firm answers or outcomes to share yet but the team is working as quickly as possible on plans to address some of the feedback around detail, clarity, and overall fidelity. The team is committed and focused on making sure we have a beautiful world for players to explore when we launch.
Halo Infinite is on track for a release later this Holiday 2020 for both Xbox One and Xbox Series X as well as Windows 10 PCs. It will also be available day one for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, ensuring that players won’t get a chance to miss out on the campaign regardless of whether or not they pick up an Xbox Series X ahead of Christmas.
