Very recently, Microsoft released a deep and thorough 44-minute video with a number of Halo Infinite developers, in which they spent that time answering the questions of fans. Halo Infinite was supposed to release as a launch title for the Xbox Series X|S, but that didn’t happen because the devs felt it needed more time to be complete. Naturally, fans have had a lot of questions about the game now that they know it’ll be getting more time in the oven, including whether or not the infamous dual-wielding will make a return, or whether there will be playable Elites in the game.
The video includes lead world designer John Mulkey, campaign art lead Justin Dinges, sandbox designer Quinn DelHoyo and gameplay director Troy Mashburn. They answered many fan questions in the video, some of which we’ll cover here, but if you want to watch the video for yourself, you can do it here:
Unfortunately, one of the most notable things from the video is the fact that Halo Infinite will not have the dual-wielding mechanic that was first introduced in Halo 2. According to DelHoyo, the mechanic is “not currently in the cards,” at least at the moment that the video was made. “Whenever you set out to make a game with the size of Halo Infinite, there are so many things you can do. I think we have a very talented team where we can do anything but we can’t do everything,” DelHoyo said.
However, it’s worth noting that “not currently in the cards” implies that this may not always be true. It’s possible that dual-wielding could be added to the game at a later date, though that’s not confirmed, just a possibility. According to the devs, they chose to focus on Infinite’s gunplay, weapons, equipment and very new melee system.
Other valuable information learned in the video is that Halo Infinite will have a new style of cutscenes for the series. Unlike the previous entry, where black screens would put hard stops between gameplay and cutscene, Halo Infinite will seamlessly blend between the two, with no breaks. It’s very similar to the Uncharted series.
More unfortunate news comes in the fact that another Halo 2 original mechanic, that being playable Elites, will be absent as well, from both the single-player and multiplayer. Unlike the dual-wielding, this mechanic seems unlikely to appear in the game even at a later date, as DelHoyo said that Infinite is specifically a “Master Chief and a Spartan story.”
As for open-world elements, the devs spoke on it quite extensively, claiming that the game is open-world in a sense, but not in the ways some people may associate with the genre, such as Minecraft or The Witcher. You won’t be gathering resources and crafting, but you may have significant freedom in how you choose to go about completing your objectives: the devs talked about being able to enter areas in different ways, or being able to bring vehicles and equipment from earlier areas into new ones. The video describes this basic premise in far more detail.
