It’s been quite an interesting series of events for Halo Infinite. First with its rocky reveal which in turn saw a year delay, to 343 releasing the Free-to-play multiplayer portion almost a good month early. Now, this week we all get to finally dig in and check out what 343 have been working on with the Halo Infinite campaign.

The game starts off with a sleepy pilot waking up to alarms going off, only to find Master Chief floating in space after an encounter with the Banished. Master Chief is soon picked up by the pilot with hopes of finally heading home to see his family and loved ones. Instead, both Master Chief and the pilot soon find themselves working together to travel to an unexplored Halo ring, “Zeta Halo” with one goal in mind; to fight back against the Banished.

This brings me to the biggest change with a Halo campaign to what we are used to. Halo Infinite’s campaign takes on the open-world approach where outside of the usual linear campaign missions, you are welcome to roam free and take on other objectives and side missions any way you like.

As you explore, your map will slowly fill up with quest markers. Some of these side quests might be liberating bases, saving soldiers taken prisoners around Zeta Halo, or tracking down VIP targets, where killing them will grant you access to their special weapon which you can equip at your Forward Operating Bases, or FOBs. These bases not only act as fast travel points but allow you to restock your supplies before venturing out to clean more of the map.

It definitely gives off Far Cry vibes, and to be honest, I dig it. I’m a huge fan of open-world games that have maps filled with missions to take on and secrets to find, so I quickly found myself lost exploring the map in Halo Infinite.

Also scattered around the map are items to find and collect such as Audio Logs, Artifacts, Armor Lockers; which have cosmetic items that can be used in Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, and Spartan Cores; which can be used to upgrade Master Chief’s equipment. Finding and collecting all this is made easier with the new Grappleshot. Not only can you use this to get around easily and too hard to reach places, but it can also be used to grapple weapons, explosive barrels to toss at your enemies, or even hooking onto your foes for an up-close and personal takedown.

It wouldn’t be a Halo story without its boss fights, and Halo Infinite is no different. Infinite has loads of bosses for you to take on and unlike some of the previous Halo titles, these boss battles are well designed and sometimes require you think outside the box in order to defeat them, such as needing to use recently unlocked abilities or certain weapons to make things a little easier. When the co-op is released sometime next year, I can see some of these battles being a lot of fun playing with a friend.

Last but not least, the visuals. Halo Infinite is absolutely gorgeous; especially when played at 4K 60fps on the Xbox Series X, which I highly recommend. Zeta Halo is a breathtaking place. If you’re anything like me, your screenshot button on your Xbox controller is going to get a bit of a workout. It’s crazy to see how far Halo Infinite has come from its rocky reveal only 1 year ago.

With all that said, Halo Infinite is a perfect example of what you can achieve by listening to your fan base and delaying a game. Just like all the love the Multiplayer has already received, Halo fans are going to enjoy the campaign, and if you aren’t a huge Halo fan, please, give this campaign a playthrough. It’s free on Xbox Game Pass after all. I think you might find yourself falling in love with the Halo franchise.

Written by: MKAU Gaming