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.
We've now seen gameplay of the next iteration for Master Chief and the rest of the gang, and 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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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 also know that the game will see a return by the antagonists of the less widely-played Halo Wars 2, the Banished.
Halo Infinite gameplay
We've now got our first look at gameplay from Infinite, in the above trailer, and the demo's suitably impressive. It's a wide-ranging bit of gameplay, encompassing a bit of story, some vehicle traversal and a whole lot of shooting.
The above image, though, taken from the game's box art, had already lead a lot of peope to draw 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, and the trailer looks to support that.
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 the demo certainly looks broad.
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.
Halo Infinite release date
For now, this one's both clear and unclear. We know that Halo Infinite is still slated for a Holiday 2020 launch. If that sounds familiar, it's because the same vague language is also being applied to the Xbox Series X itself for now (not to mention Sony's rival offering, the PS5).
We could get a release date for the game any day now, but we think Xbox will be pretty coordinated on it, as it's possible that Infinite will launch on the same day as the Xbox Series X. In that case, we imagine the console's release date would be a higher priority, so we'll find it out first. Either way, we'll update this piece as soon as we have details.