It may be hard to believe, but six years have already gone by since the last installment in the main Master Chief franchise. That long drought of new content will hopefully be coming to a close now that the Halo Infinite release date is inching closer and closer. As expected, the game returned to E3 this year during Microsoft’s press conference to share more details and gameplay footage.
Halo Infinite was first revealed all the way back at E3 2018 and it has been quite a ride for fans of the series since then. The sixth installment in the main Halo series was originally planned to be an Xbox Series X launch title, but a series of delays has pushed the release back to the late 2021.
Luckily, things seem to be back on track now and fans were able to get the closest look at the game yet thanks to the E3 2021 gameplay trailer for Halo Infinite. As expected, Halo Infinite was one of the showcase games during Microsoft’s press conference and stole quite a bit of stage time with its new Epic Campaign trailer and extended glimpse at the multiplayer offerings.
Part of the big news was that Halo Infinite multiplayer will be free to play. The Epic Campaign trailer further explored the idea that Master Chief won’t be alone in this fight. The moody cinematic starts with Chief in an awful and seemingly deadly situation before dropping another bombshell about Cortana’s fate. Chief meets a new AI who helps fill in the blanks as the iconic FPS protagonist struggles to understand what is happening. The new AI joins Chief for the coming mission as he adjusts his plans and prepares for whatever mysterious challenge is ahead.
Like so many other games in the Xbox/Bethesda showcase, Halo Infinite also featured the Game Pass day one banner, confirming that subscribers will be able to jump right into the action when the title launches sometime during holiday 2021. Unfortunately there’s still no specific release date at this time.
Halo Infinite was shrouded in mystery for a long time after its reveal, but 343 Industries has become a bit more transparent in the months since the long delays were announced. Over eight minutes of gameplay were shared during E3 2019 and a series of developer updates since then have helped build hype and confidence in the game. Fans were able to get a behind the curtain look at some of the new enemies recently and now the additional gameplay footage is really starting to fill in the gaps about what players can expect when the first-person shooter arrives.
Halo Infinite is in development for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and launches this holiday.
