All Halo Infinite Rumors And Spoilers Leaked So Far
Everyone knew Halo 6 was coming after Halo 5: Guardians' cliffhanger ending, but no one knew when or in what form. At E3 2018, Microsoft gave us our first look into the world of the next Halo, which isn't a numbered sequel at all but a mysterious title called Halo Infinite. While the trailer didn't reveal any actual in-game footage, serving instead as a demo for the game's new Slipspace Engine, that's not stopped the internet from dissecting it for clues as to what the next Halo might be about.
Here's what we know for sure: the game doesn't have a release date at the moment, it will see the return of split-screen co-op and multiplayer, and will feature a new art style. 343 will also take a "games as a service" approach to Halo Infinite, although what that exactly means remains to be seen.
There's plenty we still don't know, especially when it comes to the game's story and setting, but many rumors and bits of speculation have popped up in the last few months to fill those gaps. Whether they end up being true or not remains to be seen. Here are the biggest Halo Infinite spoilers and rumors so far.
Halo Infinite will launch with single-player mode only
Halo Infinite might not ship as a complete game at launch, according to Brad Sams, executive editor of Thurrott, who has heard from a source familiar with the game's development that the single-player and multiplayer modes will release separately.
"I was a little skeptical on this information until I saw that they were building an entirely new engine for the platform," Sams writes. "Knowing this, the staggered release makes a lot more sense as it's easier to build a single player game than a multiplayer shooter; thus, the single player arrives, they look for potential issues, then release the multiplayer portion of the game."
According to Sams, the single-player mode would arrive "towards the end of 2019," while the multiplayer has a "2020 release timeframe." Sams also speculates that the staggered releases might have something to do with the next Xbox, which is codenamed Scarlett.
"In the past, Microsoft has used Halo games to show-off new hardware, I wonder if the release of the next-gen Halo game will align to the release of the updated hardware with the new Xbox showing up in the more likely 2020 timeframe."
Cortana's plan might be to use Alpha Halo to destroy organic life
Alpha Halo — or Installation 04, the setting of Halo: Combat Evolved — could be a big part of Cortana's plan for galactic dominance, according to Kotaku. As pointed out by the outlet, the ending of Halo Wars 2, in which a new Halo ring is created by the Ark to replace one that has been destroyed (Installation 04 was destroyed by Master Chief in the first Halo game), might actually set up the big threat of Halo Infinite.
Halo Wars 2 ends with Professor Anders traveling through slipscape on a new Halo ring in order to warn the UNSC about the Ark. Before the ring can make it to its destination, it is captured by a Guardian, a planetary Forerunner custodian under Cortana's control. Kotaku notes that this is in line with Halo 5's Legendary ending cutscene, a 20-second video that shows an unidentified Halo ring floating through space while Cortana hums in the background.
"Cortana herself already has the Index for Alpha Halo [after acquiring it in Halo: CE], and therefore control of its firing mechanism, so it's a good thing both versions were destroyed, right? Oh wait," writes Kotaku.
This new Halo ring, if indeed under Cortana's control, could be the new Installation 04, which the rogue AI could use to wipe out all resistance against her. Either way, 343 is keeping Halo Infinite's story close to the chest.
The game will focus on Master Chief
One of Halo 5: Guardians' more controversial aspects was the addition of a new protagonist, Agent Jameson Locke, a Spartan tasked with bringing in the Master Chief after the legendary soldier goes rogue with Blue Team in order to find Cortana. According to Halo franchise director Frank O'Connor, many fans were disappointed by the lack of Master Chief in the game.
"We definitely marketed [Halo 5] in a way that we hoped was going to bring surprise, but for some fans and certainly fans of Master Chief, it was a huge disappointment because they wanted more Chief. And that has been a big learning," O'Connor told GamesTM magazine (via Eurogamer).
Thanks to the feedback, Halo Infinite will have a larger focus on Master Chief. Where this leaves other playable characters like Locke or the Arbiter remains to be seen.
"Instead of focusing on bringing new characters into the world and expanding the playable characters we've sort of shifted the focus a little bit to making the world a little bit more realistic and compelling and, I would say, more fun for players who get to inhabit the Chief in the future, pretty much as they demanded," O'Connor said.
It should be noted that 343 has not officially confirmed that there will only be one playable character in Halo Infinite.
Retired Master Chief voice actor may return for Halo Infinite
One rumor that will delight fans involves the possible return of voice actor Steve Downes to the Halo franchise. Downes has been the voice of Master Chief in every major Halo video game, including a brief cameo in Halo: Reach. In 2015, Downes, who also had a long career as a radio DJ, announced his retirement from radio, although he guaranteed fans that he'd be back for Halo 5: Guardians.
His participation in the franchise beyond Halo 5 came into doubt when he sent out a tweet just weeks before the release of the game which some took as a goodbye from Downes: "It has been nothing short of a galactic journey. Thanks for everything."
This might not be the case, though. Downes seemed to confirm his return for Halo Infinite in a tweet a few days after the game was first unveiled by Microsoft at E3 2018. After the official Halo account tweeted a screenshot of Master Chief's helmet with the caption, "Are you ready to get back work?", Downes quoted the post, saying, "I was born ready."
Not an official confirmation, but as close as you can get to it!
Halo Infinite won't have a battle royale mode
Battle royale, the free-for-all survival mode that has taken the world by storm thanks to games like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, has slowly made its way into even the most established AAA shooters, like Battlefield V and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Some fans have wondered if this trend would eventually make its way to Halo as well. After all, the franchise has had a free-for-all multiplayer mode since its inception, but never on the 100-player scale of the most popular battle royale games.
During a Halo social stream (via VG24/7) hosted by 343, writer Jeff Easterling responded to a question about whether Halo Infinite would feature a battle royale mode. Easterling's answer was not encouraging: "I'll tell you right now, the only BR we're interested in is Battle Rifle. The original BR. So, calm yourself."
This would seem to put the matter to rest, although it's possible Easterling was just being coy, unable to reveal any details about Halo Infinite's multiplayer. Time will tell.
Marty O'Donnell may return as composer
From the grand orchestral themes of Halo 3 to the neo-noir jazz tones of ODST, composer Martin O'Donnell is responsible for all of the music of the Bungie era of Halo. When Bungie moved on from Halo to begin work on Destiny, O'Donnell went with them. All seemed to be going smoothly with the partnership between studio and composer, as O'Donnell composed the score for Bungie's next franchise, but then things hit a rough spot.
In April 2014, just months before Destiny was scheduled to hit shelves, O'Donnell tweeted that he'd been fired from Bungie "without cause." The composer sued the studio for unpaid wages in June 2014, a suit that he eventually won.
O'Donnell has since gone on to open his own studio, Highwire Games, and he may also have one other project on the docket: Halo Infinite. According to VGR, O'Donnell tweeted a picture of himself with Halo writer Joseph Staten and Cortana voice actress Jen Taylor, later teasing that there was "nothing random about their meeting."
This could mean that O'Donnell will be back for Halo Infinite.
Halo Infinite is an open-world game
One aspect of the Halo Infinite E3 2018 trailer that fans have been preoccupied with is its emphasis on the different environments and wildlife on the mystery Halo ring. This demo for the Slipspace Engine shows an ecosystem where nature takes its course while UNSC marines and the Master Chief go about their missions. Does this trailer tease the sort of game Halo Infinite will ultimately be?
GameRant certainly thinks so. In fact, the site presents the trailer as evidence that Halo Infinite will be a new open-world game, something we've not seen from the Halo series since ODST.
The outlet also points to the info regarding the Slipspace Engine on 343's website. "A living, breathing world ripe for exploration and endless gameplay possibilities," 343 promises from the engine. There are quite a few keywords in that one line of marketing that could be used to describe an open-world game, especially "exploration." No word from the studio as of yet.
Master Chief could have a new AI companion
The last few seconds of the Halo Infinite E3 trailer dropped a particularly juicy hint that sent the internet buzzing, as Master Chief inserts a chip in the back of his helmet. This tease is important as it could signify that Master Chief will have a new AI companion in Halo Infinite, since Cortana is obviously no longer interested in the gig. Evidence collected by VGR sure makes it sound like it's a new AI as opposed to one we've encountered in the past, such as Roland.
One Redditor even zoomed in on the chip to try and decipher the serial number on the chip. He came up with "0443-0," which doesn't belong to any of the known AI in the Halo universe. A commenter on the same thread notes that the last zero in the serial number is actually the letter "D" and that the AI's name might be a Durandal as a callback to the name of Bungie's sequel to Marathon.
Other commenters say the serial number actually means that there are only 433 days until the game's "flighting program" — Halo Infinite's upcoming beta period — begins. Whatever 343 is teasing about the chip, one thing is for sure: we won't stop obsessing over it.
Halo Infinite might not support Xbox Play Anywhere
One of Halo Infinite's biggest draws is that it will be available on PC, making it the first time an installment has made it to Windows since the Halo 2 port. That's great news for PC gamers who have been waiting to get their hands on a new Halo title. But at least one aspect of the game's upcoming multi-platform release remains a mystery: will Halo Infinite be a part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program?
To recap: with Xbox Play Anywhere, Microsoft allows customers to buy one copy of the game for both platforms. If you buy a copy of Sea of Thieves for Xbox One, you can also play it on PC — and vice versa. The program has also enabled cross-play and cross-saves in a few instances. Microsoft only does this for select titles, including its first-party releases, but that might not be the case for Halo Infinite.
As PC Games Insider points out, the Halo Infinite page on the official Xbox website has no mention of the program, meaning that fans might have to buy two copies of the game if they want to play on both platforms. The outlet notes that the Gears 5 page does mention Xbox Play Anywhere, which further suggests that Halo Infinite won't be a part of the program when it launches.
Halo Infinite could be set on Installation 07
Many questions have been raised as to the game's setting. While the last two Halo games have largely stayed away from the Halo rings — besides a few cameos here and there — Halo Infinite could be putting one front and center.
You don't really have to look that hard to notice that all of the footage — again, an engine demo and not actually from the game — takes place on a Halo ring. The trailer waits until the final moments to pan up into the sky to reveal the ring-shape of the diverse environment we've been traversing. The question now is: on which Halo ring does this game take place?
Windows Central found one Reddit thread that might give us some clues. Someone on the thread translated the morse code you hear coming from the walkie talkie in the trailer and came up with this message: "SOS ZETA HALO GRD." Zeta Halo is the UNSC codename for Installation 07, a Halo ring that's been mentioned in several tie-in novels but hasn't yet appeared in the games. What brings the UNSC to the ring is anyone's guess.