As with any modern shooter, particularly free-to-play ones, Halo Infinite will feature a wide array of cosmetics and multiple ways to collect them, including a paid battle pass, challenges, and events. It can all be a bit mind-boggling, but thankfully, in a new interview with IGN, Halo Infinite head of design Jerry Hook and lead progression designer Chris Blohm went into more detail about how it’s going to work.
As we’ve already reported, Halo Infinite’s paid $10 battle passes won’t expire at the end of the season like most do. While you can only earn XP toward one battle pass at a time, you can choose which pass is active at any particular moment. But what’s actually included in your typical Halo Infinte battle pass? Well, each will offer an “armor core” – a themed basic set of armor that includes a variety of customizable options. For instance, Halo Infinite kicks off with the Heroes of Reach Battle Pass, which includes the classic Mk. V armor core that can be tweaked to your tastes with individual attachments…
The system that’s been created with the [armor] core at the center, and then all of the attachments that players can choose to add. Do you want Emile’s knives? You want Jorge’s grenades? Mix and match how you want to create your own, or if you’re just like, “No, I want to look exactly like Jun” then you can do that. And for the first time, you can look exactly like Kat with the prosthetic arm.
Battle passes will also include armor kits, that will let you look exactly like a character from Reach (or whatever game that season’s pass is inspired by). Each battle pass will have multiple legendary items in it, spread out so that each quarter-chunk of the pass will include one. What it won’t have is anything too wacky, as everything included in paid battle passes is strictly canon. Even the emotes won’t be too over the top – don’t expect to see Master Chief flossing.
That said, there will be other ways to earn things. These include Campaign challenges and events. Each event will have its own free battle-pass-style reward track, but unlike the paid battle passes, events will be time-limited (each will last around two weeks). A special reoccurring event will be The Fracture, which will last only one week, but reward players with particularly cool non-canon cosmetics, like the slick Yoroi samurai armor that 343 has teased.
So yeah, there’s going to be a lot to keep track of, but according to Hook and Blohm, 343 is balancing the game so players won’t have to dedicate their lives to it in order to earn cool stuff. Ultimately, they’d prefer for the game to “feel healthy,” and to entice players back with cool rewards rather than burning them out with endless grind. If only more devs felt the same way.
Halo Infinite launches on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 8.
