The first Halo Infinite previews are going live ahead of the game's December 8 release date, and it sounds as if 343 took criticisms against Halo 5 to heart. IGN's Miranda Sanchez said Halo Infinite's story seems, in the four hours she spent with it, to be a bit step up from Halo 5's in terms of actually giving its characters personality and following through on the series' major plot points so far.
That said, it does mean Halo Infinite isn't the best place for newcomers to jump on board, unless 343 adds a recap feature of some kind.
Infinite gently eases players into the open world, limiting where you can travel initially before expanding and letting you loose. Sanchez said there was never a lack of things to do either, even if objectives were fairly light on the ground.
Read more: Why you need the Halo Waypoint app
Halo Infinite Previews are Dropping and It Sounds Incredibly Good
When Master Chief does have objectives to tackle, they're often more complex than just defeating enemies. One encounter required you to destroy power stations and disable a facility before taking out the Banished inside, and other Marines would occasionally join in the fight. Some Banished facilities had secret rooms to uncover, and it seems Halo Infinite will have no shortage of collectibles and other secrets to uncover as well.
Of course, it's not Halo without fantastic weapons. Sanchez said the preview build included several new weapons not shown during the Halo Infinite multiplayer test flights, and the campaign handles equipment in a different way from multiplayer as well. You'll have to explore to find all Master Chief's core tools, and it seems how you explore the vast open map may depend on what you find first.
All of this is, Sanchez said, barely scratching the surface of what it looks like Halo Infinite offers.
Halo Infinite launches with its first season of free-to-play multiplayer on December 8, but Forge mode won't release until sometime in early-to-mid 2022.
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