Halo Infinite: Release date and everything you need to know

Halo was a radical new arrival when it first splashed onto the scene, but is now, years later, very much one of gaming's most revered franchises. It's been helping Microsoft to sell consoles since the first Xbox, and it looks like Halo Infinite will do the same for the Xbox Series X.

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Much is still unknown about players' next adventure with Master Chief and the rest of the gang, but we've gathered everything there is to know right here for you.

Halo Infinite story

We know a few key details about the story in Halo Infinite - principally that it's the next major game in the series, even if it's ditching the numericals of earlier titles.

As if to confirm this fact, all of the marketing that's so far surrounded the game has focused heavily on John 117, otherwise known as the near-mystical Master Chief. Microsoft's in-engine reveal trailer from 2019 confirmed as much, showing him being awakened from an icy space slumber.

Halo 5 had players chopping and changing between the perspectives of Master Chief and Spartan Locke, which created some nice contrasts but also arguably diluted its story a little. That looks set to change, as 343 Industries has confirmed that Infinite focuses more heavily on Master Chief.

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A post shared by Halo (@halo) on Jul 16, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

343 has also admitted that by the end of Halo 5 things were starting to get a little confusing for players who weren't up to date on the lore from a host of previous titles, and says that Infinite should act as a better starting point. That almost sounds like soft reboot territory, but we don't think it'll be that harsh.

In terms of story, though, we do have one strong hint, in the form of a teaser trailer posted to Twitter in June:

SIGNAL DETECTED pic.twitter.com/LNQcoc4spA
— Halo (@Halo) June 24, 2020

That short video clip has set people sleuthing, and the consensus is that it's hinting at a return by the antagonists of the less widely-played Halo Wars 2, the Banished.

Halo Infinite gameplay

There are a lot of rumours flying around about what gameplay in Halo Infinite will look like, but there's a key caveat - we'll be finding out later this week, when Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase airs. We know that Halo Infinite is going to play a big part in this presentation, and we'll be seeing gameplay for the first time.

The above image, though, taken from the game's box art, has a lot of peope drawing conclusions ahead of time. The prevailing theory is that Infinite might be either an open-world game or at least have some degree of player control over what objectives to tackle next - those blue pillars of light in the distance signalling points of interest.

The pilot character introduced in the "Discover Hope trailer" above, meanwhile, could well be useful to drop Master Chief onto mission targets. It's all a bit fanciful, but we'll hopefully know more about this later this week.

What will take a little longer to get details of is the multiplayer offering, always a huge part of a Halo game's appeal - that's going to stay under 343 and Xbox's hat for a little longer, it would seem.

Halo Infinite platforms

We know that Xbox is positioning Halo Infinite as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, which is sensible given its wide appeal, but you might not realise that it'll also be coming to Xbox One.

Microsoft says that it doesn't want to force anyone into upgrading to play the latest games immediately, so as part of its Smart Delivery programme, Halo Infinite will come to both current-gen and next-gen consoles. A purchase of either version will net you compatibility backward and forward.

On top of that, we know that Infinite will also be launching on Xbox Game Pass, further broadening the range of people who'll be able to play it at launch, and making Xbox's membership programme even more attractive than it already is.

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