Author Archives: Miranda Sanchez

Arkane’s games offer a special kind of tactical agency, and with Redfall, Arkane Austin’s Studio Director and Redfall Co-Creative Director Harvey Smith says that’ll remain true. “Solo is very much a classic Arkane experience,” he promised – but so is its four-player co-op multiplayer mode, which is faster paced and offers a different kind of challenge as the dangers escalate.

Redfall follows four characters as they fight for their lives after an experiment gone wrong results in a swarm of vampires in the eponymous Massachusetts town. The sun is blocked out and a water wall surrounds the island, seemingly preventing anyone from leaving. Of course, knowing the story is just the beginning. From confirming Redfall will only have one ending to detailing some important customization mechanics and its plan for a lasting endgame, Smith shared plenty of new information about Arkane’s 2023 vampire game. You can also watch a select portion of this interview in the video below.

Shining a Light On Big Details

Does the story change based on who you play?

No, but the dialogue does. Ricardo Bare and the writing team, the narrative design team, have put a lot of work into dynamic systems. And I should give the programmers credit there since they wrote those systems. Ricardo and Andrew Brown, our lead programmer, have worked a lot on dynamic VO systems. They worked on Prey together. A lot of work has been put into the narrative layer, the readables, the briefings, the dynamic conversations, the AI barks, all of that stuff that you’d expect in an Arkane game. We’ve gone a little deeper on a couple of them, but the characters, they talk a lot alone to comment on the world or with each other, depending on who you’re playing. [For example] if you and I are playing Devinder and Layla, they have a different relationship than, say, Remi and Jacob would.

We’ll be talking more about those dynamic narrative systems later. One thing I do want to say is there was just an overwhelmingly positive response to the announcement trailer that we released a year ago – the cinematic. Then today, the response to the gameplay trailer has been very positive. In those comments, once in a while, I see somebody like, “I hope they don’t talk this much during the game. They’re very chatty.” And that is true, they don’t. For marketing purposes, we just double down on the amount of dialogue that’s in that trailer otherwise there’s long moments of silence.

Arkane games are usually big on player choice and consequences. In Redfall’s announcement, it was said that our actions change Redfall’s setting. Are there many branching paths or major choices with consequences?

Multiple endings and stuff like branching missions are less important to Redfall. Although in truth, I think we have more elective missions, actually. There is the campaign, but there are also some side mission spurs that you can do or not do in the campaign. What it really influences is how a certain character’s outcome happens or how they feel about you. Then we have the Nest, and we have the Safe House missions, and then we just have the random exploration of the world and the spawns and vignettes out there. But the overall plot itself, we don’t do a lot of branching stuff with that.

Are there multiple endings in Redfall?

No.

How will we get to learn more about each of the characters? Are there specific character missions, or do we learn about them primarily through banter and cutscenes?

It’s mostly through the banter and through the cinematics – they’re all character-based. So if I have a briefing for this one mission and I’m playing Layla, I get Layla’s perspective on that mission. But if I play again through that same mission and I’m playing Jacob, I get his perspective on it and then all of his banter. If we’re playing together and I’m playing Layla, you’re playing Jacob, they have their own unique banter back and forth as two characters that get to know each other.

A big question: can we change characters after we’ve started the game?

No, you cannot. You start the campaign with Layla, for instance, you’re bound to Layla through the campaign mission, side missions, the whole flow of the game, to the endgame. And then after that, you can play again with Layla and keep advancing her or you can start a new character, but you can’t switch characters mid-track. Currently, we have no plans to re-spec either. You can start a new playthrough and try a different set of powers, a different set of weapons, et cetera, but currently, when you start the campaign with a character, you’re committed all the way through.

How will progression work? Do I have to level each character individually, or will there be an overall account level with some resources allotted to use across characters?

[It’s] all per-character. So as you level up your Layla – you might have three Laylas going because maybe you just love Layla or you love Devinder. You might have one Layla you play alone and one you play with some other friends because they’re all level 20. Then you have a Jacob you play with somebody else. Early on, we had the decision to make like, “Can I play in one party, if the three of us or the four of us are playing, can we all be Devinder? Can we all be Remi?” At first, we were like, “No, let’s lock out the roles so that there’s always a Devinder, always a Layla, if you have four people.”

Ultimately, we decided not to do that. If you really want to play Remi and I really want to play Remi, then we should both be able to play Remi. We have character costumes that change, so you can be Remi in her rescue outfit or her hiking and camping outfit or her default outfit. I can be in a black ops Remi version. And then the way you build out your skills, the way I build out my skills, which weapons you have, which weapons I have, which Remnants you found, which Remnants I’ve found, it will feel different even if we’re both playing Remi.

How flexible are the character builds, speaking of not being able to re-spec? Is there a specific class type per character? The gameplay segment during the 2022 Xbox Showcase showed a weapon that mentioned “support value.” What does that mean and how does that impact how we play?

Our characters are very baked in terms of their personalities and their voices. What you’re talking about is a shot, which we knew people would stop, where as Devinder, you have his power tree up – it’s an early alpha version of it. Every hero is made up of a bunch of choices you can make through the trees. They all have three primary active powers that you can upgrade in a bunch of different ways. Then they have some passive powers. And then there is a set of skills that are kind of common across all the characters. Like, can I carry more medical resources or more lock picks?

In Devinder’s case, he has a power called Black Light which you saw, where he held it up and the UV light petrified all the vampires around, which is temporary. They start to thaw out, basically, but you can stake them while they’re petrified. There are hazards in the world like where somebody sets up a tripod with some UV light and if a vampire moves through it dynamically, they get petrified. You can sneak up and turn it off. Let’s say an enemy faction is walking around those petrified vampires – you can use that to your advantage. But he has a power actively where he goes, “You shall not pass.” He flashes [the UV light] and they petrify. You can upgrade that in different ways; bigger radius, longer effect, etcetera.

No actual class types, then? It’s just more so you choose how you want to play, build it, then you can run with it regardless of whether you’re playing solo or with others?

Devinder has a set of skills, active and passive, and some that are kind of common with everybody. And then also the weapons you choose because you’re constantly leveling and so your weapons are leveled, so you need a higher-level weapon. Then the weapons come with rarities, so they have all these different traits on them that affect gameplay. And then on top of that, you have a few other equipment items that affect gameplay.

We have the concept of these things called Remnants, which are like objects the vampires were around. When one of them becomes a vampire and the world warps around them psychically, it will imbue something, like the rabbit’s foot on their keychain or some object they’re carrying can be a Remnant, now psychically charged. You can find those and carry them and they modify gameplay in some way. They’re basically magic items.

Can you tell us more about the Ward Remnants, the Blood Remnants, and the Soul Remnants shown briefly on the trailer’s weapon screen?

Some types of those Remnants will be in the base game and then some will probably come out shortly thereafter. One is more defense-oriented, one is more health-oriented, one affects how your skills work or how your weapons work, things like that.

The biggest surprise I had coming out of my few hours of Halo Infinite campaign hands-on wasn’t the delightful exploration, nor the incredibly fun gunplay paired with Infinite’s new equipment. Instead, it came down to the characters. Halo Infinite sees the legendary Master Chief once again tasked with saving the universe from yet another threat, and after five major campaigns, the Chief seems tired. Sad, even. He’s a man of few words, but his movements in cutscenes and response to those who need him are heavier than I’ve seen before. This is Chief without Cortana. His subtle yet distinct change is far from a bad thing, though. If anything, Master Chief’s forlorn demeanor that he sets aside to get the job done is a great indication to me that Halo Infinite’s story is intended to be a more impactful adventure.

Chief’s stern determination is also wonderfully contrasted to his new AI companion’s bubbly enthusiasm and his pilot rescuer’s anxiety and weariness. Given 343’s failure to give Locke the faintest hint of a personality or motive and Halo 5: Guardians’ generally lackluster story, this was a relief. Halo Infinite’s contrasting characters aren’t the only things to look forward to, though. Rewarding exploration infused with Halo’s DNA and genuinely challenging combat could be a relief in today’s open-world game extravaganza. Many are packed to the brim with chores and only a few offer meaningful adventures beyond their main path. If things continue the way I played in my four-hour hands-on time, I think Halo Infinite could fall into the latter.

That’s not to say there aren’t some essential elements of Halo Infinite I’m curious to see if developer 343 Industries can pull off, like Chief’s storyline with Cortana or if the open sandbox model works throughout the story. For now, what I played in my preview sessions has left me even more eager for Halo Infinite’s December 8 launch.

Note that this preview will have mild descriptions of what you can find in the first few hours of Halo Infinite but will largely avoid story and exploration spoilers.

A Familiar Enemy

Time and time again, Master Chief has woken up to fight a new enemy. Halo Infinite largely sees that pulled back by instead focusing on familiar fodder with Halo Wars 2’s Banished, a group made up of former Covenant that chose to abandon the Prophets and instead follow Brute rule. Their might is made clear in the opening minutes of Halo Infinite by defeating a seemingly large portion of the UNSC — including Master Chief. We saw the Banished’s devastation in the original campaign reveal at E3 2019, and what I witnessed in the opening minutes only reaffirmed their strength.

The leaders of the Banished, Atriox and Escharum, eagerly step up as Chief’s main adversaries. Their goal for Zeta Halo is unknown, but as we all know, if it involves a Halo Ring there’s nothing good that can come of it. Master Chief’s main objective in Halo Infinite is to help free captured UNSC forces on Zeta Halo and thwart whatever the Banished are planning. The unnamed pilot we’ve seen in trailers will begrudgingly help him do it, though I didn’t see too much of him in my playtime.

Another important throughline is the conflict with Cortana. Her rampancy led her to become yet another villain for Chief to face, but what actually happened to her after Halo 5 and whether or not she’s been truly destroyed is a major mystery. This crucial conflict seemingly takes a backseat to the larger fight with the Banished, though it is intertwined somehow. All we know is she was at Zeta Halo, something happened, then Master Chief got blown into space and he won’t divulge a clear explanation as to what happened with Cortana. It could be that he doesn’t know or doesn’t remember, but this is a curious narrative gamble.

Without getting into spoilers, I will say the few moments that dug into Chief and Cortana’s relationship were an emotional gut punch. Halo Infinite is looking to deliver a meaningful story for legacy Halo fans and I really need it to fulfill that promise after Halo 5’s story missteps. It’s difficult to imagine Chief moving on without Cortana, and for the sake of believing Chief is at peace with their relationship in whatever comes after this campaign, 343 needs to deliver a satisfying conclusion to their arc. As a man with very, very few bonds, this one needs to be severed with respect and with a believable outcome.

This all being said, I don’t imagine Halo Infinite is going to be a great starting point for people new to the franchise. Even if there’s some sort of catchup video on the story so far, the best moments I saw in Halo Infinite’s first few hours rely on prior knowledge of the series. I don’t like the idea of people being left behind, but I selfishly prefer that this game is made with returning Halo fans rather than tuning the game to accommodate new players. Familiar with the story or not, though, Halo Infinite sure is fun to play and explore.

How Halo Infinite’s ‘Open World’ Works

Playing Halo Infinite is a mix of familiar and new; one moment you’re navigating encounters in ship corridors then the next you’re driving several Marines wherever you want on part of Zeta Halo. As 343 has clearly stated, Halo Infinite isn’t quite a true open-world game. Yes, it has large sandboxes for us to play in and explore, but they are strategically segmented so you can only access certain parts of it at a time. Zeta Halo is broken up into large island chunks with chasms of space that simply can’t be crossed — at least not at the beginning. Landmasses can be connected by bridges and Chief can eventually call in things like a Wasp to fly wherever after they’re unlocked. So eventually we may get to freely explore unlocked areas, but our range will be limited and more focused at first. The starting landmasses are quite sizable, though, so though I was curious about something I saw on another chunk of land, I had plenty of other things to keep me busy.

Zeta Halo is littered with UNSC camps called Forward Operating Bases that were claimed by the Banished after the UNSC lost the big fight. Clearing a base and reclaiming it for the UNSC replaces the Banished with UNSC forces. It’s usually only a few Marines, but that’s better than nothing. Even better, cleared bases convert to instant fast-travel points and earn you Valor. Worry not — this isn’t some sort of spendable currency. Valor is more like a point-based tracker of how much ground the UNSC has on Zeta Halo. Early on you’ll gain access to basic weapons, vehicles, and Marines that can be summoned based on how much Valor you’ve accumulated. Eventually, you can earn enough Valor to call in Scorpions, rocket launchers, and other heavy gear. As far as I could tell, earning Valor and reclaiming the broken Ring is entirely optional. The heavy equipment and extra Marines could make missions more manageable at higher difficulty levels, though, so I’d say it’s worth doing.

So what else can you do when you’re not hunting down the next clue to the Banished plan or freeing Marines? Folks don’t just get to give The Master Chief a fetch quest. The only one who really gives Master Chief any sort of commands is a new AI codenamed The Weapon. She’s meant to destroy Cortana and is in turn supposed to be destroyed when her operation is complete. Though Cortana is seemingly gone, The Weapon remains and is happy to help discover whatever’s going on until she reaches her eventual demise. The Weapon is played as a curious and excited character by Cortana and Halsey actress Jen Taylor, and I found her naivete to be charming rather than annoying.

Much like Cortana, The Weapon will call out enemy attacks and notable objectives. She’ll also call out opportunities to further thwart Banished operations if she spots a small camp or UNSC distress signal. Once, while exploring a cliffside, The Weapon called out a Marine camp. There I found a sniper, an audio log of what happened at that camp, and other gear that helped me make quick work of the small Banished group not far away that had actually captured the Marines from the camp. Polite of them to not go far.

If I wanted to instead get on with the main campaign quests I could have left them with the Banished and suffered no repercussions. But what kind of Master Chief would I be if I did that? These sorts of encounters were abundant, but not overwhelming. I was more likely to come across a random patrol of enemies than an actual objective, but I didn’t feel like I had to go too far to find something to do. I enjoyed the quiet moments, though. Chasing around the space groundhogs or just enjoying the view was a pleasant reprieve from the action.

When I was ready to get back to a larger challenge but not quite ready to get back to the campaign, I could instead target large Banished facilities. Clearing them out often requires more work than just slaying enemies in the area. This could mean destroying several power sources to fully shut down a facility’s operations or other destructive activities. There seems to only be a few of these in each area and they award a good bit of Valor. Another limited task involves hunting special Banished targets that, once slain, reward you with a unique version of their signature weapon that you can equip at FOBs. The targets I encountered weren’t especially challenging but they did have a lot of support with a small arena usually designed in their favor. As these objectives are cleared, I noticed more Marines patrolling and some would sometimes pop up on a ledge and help me defeat enemies in an area.

I also found secret rooms in mountainsides guarded by a small Banished patron. Once vanquished I was rewarded with rare and unique weapons, like a Backdraft Cindershot, a slight variation on a Hardlight launcher. I’d save their ammo and take to them Banished facilities for extra fun combat.

And of course, there are collectibles. Some, like UNSC audio logs and armor for multiplayer, are marked on the map once certain FOBs are reclaimed, as they’re considered UNSC intel that was gathered by the Banished. But the most coveted collectibles, like Skulls, need to be hunted down. As IGN’s guides lead I’m happy to say they still pose a fair challenge, though a new scanner tool does make them a bit easier to find — if you have an idea of where to look. The scanner activates with a simple press of the D-pad and briefly highlights nearby weapons, objectives, and collectibles. Its range is rather limited, though, so it’s not a free pass to finding secrets. In addition to UNSC audio logs, you can also find audio logs for the Banished and other inhabitants of the Ring that fill out some gaps in Halo Infinite’s story.

Zeta Halo’s fragmented landmasses meant, if I looked close enough, I could sometimes see something neat across the chasm that I made a mental note of hunting down later. Exploring was a bit of a rush due to my limited time to play, but I had a lot of fun doing it. Everything I found only added more context or promised to potentially enrich my time further. There are some pretty awesome Easter eggs too but we’ll keep those a secret for now.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Grunt and Marine dialogue. I’d like to give whoever wrote them a solid thumbs up. They’re hilarious. The Grunts are as silly and oddly confident as ever and have a surprising number of lines. At one point I hid behind some structures and just listened to two Grunts talking at a camp about their plans for the humans. Grunts have long been one of my favorite parts of Halo, and I was delighted to see they have a great comedic presence in Halo Infinite. One even managed to become the Banished’s Minister of Propaganda, but I’ll let you experience what that means yourself once Halo Infinite is out.

The Marines were more confident and generally excited to be in the thick of the action. Whenever I came across a captured group I’d often leave them tied up until the biggest enemies were down. I like to try and keep them alive as long as I can, after all. However, it was great to hear them request the Chief free them not for safety, but so that they can join in the battle. Their generally positive demeanor while traveling made exploring more fun too. I’ll never forget that one Marine who was having the time of his life after he ran into a secret cave and claimed a special weapon for himself.

Tools of the Trade

Just because Zeta Halo is a larger, more open sandbox doesn’t mean 343 suddenly has us doing puzzles or tasks unbecoming of a genetically augmented super-soldier like Master Chief. Fighting enemies and destroying their things is always at the center of Halo Infinite’s gameplay, and whether I was taking on a roaming pack of Banished or infiltrating a fortress for a story mission, the more open nature only facilitated in giving me options for combat. Having replayed the original trilogy many times over, that choice and excellence in weaponry were essential to keep me going back.

In one area, I found a way to scale a side of a cliff and enter a camp through an open door, thus skipping several groups of Banished and getting to my objective faster. In another area I charged in with a Ghost, mowing down any enemies in my path until a Brute showed up with some heavier weaponry. I found an abundance of ways to approach my targets, even in corridor-heavy structures.

If you’ve had a chance to check out either of the multiplayer test flights, Halo Infinite’s excellence in weaponry should come as no surprise. The campaign introduced me to other interesting weapons we’ve yet to see in multiplayer. There’s the Disruptor, a small shock pistol that doesn’t do too much immediate damage but electrified enemies over time. I’m partial to picking up weapons like the VK78 Commando or the Needler when I see them, but I knew I’d have a good time with whatever I found, regardless of my familiarity with the weapon.

If you do happen to find a special weapon you enjoy, you can risk keeping it empty in one of the customary two weapon spots and swap back to it after you find more ammo. This was made easier thanks to new ammo crates for each of the ammo types (plasma, kinetic, shock, power, and hardlight). These ammo stations are not abundant, but they’re certainly important in areas with sparse weapon drops.

Another important part of Master Chief’s kit that we’ve been able to try out in multiplayer is equipment. It unsurprisingly takes on a more powerful form in the campaign. Each of the five equipment options — Grappleshot, Shield Core, Threat Sensor, Drop Wall, and Thruster — can be upgraded with a collectible called Spartan Cores to a slightly more powerful form once enough cores are collected. Upgrades can add things like a satisfying shock and stun to any target hit by Grappleshot or a second charge for the Thruster. Unlike weapons, equipment is permanently part of Chief’s kit and can be changed at any time. Like most of the open-world elements, finding the Spartan Cores (most aren’t difficult to find) and upgrading equipment is optional.

Master Chief won’t start the adventure with all equipment either. You’ll find new tools to play with at specific story beats. Lacking a piece of equipment doesn’t necessarily mean you’re blocked off from certain areas (at least I didn’t see anywhere I couldn’t go), Metroidvania-style, but getting to or taking on difficult encounters might be more manageable should you have more equipment. The Grappleshot is the first item Chief gets and I honestly couldn’t have imagined exploring as quickly without it. Running and firing it at the ground ahead of me, then sliding to propel myself forward was such a fun and fast way to get around when no vehicle was available. It was also a way to get me out of trouble when my shields dropped.

A Challenge Fit for a Spartan

One of my favorite things to do when a new Halo drops is crank the difficulty all the way up to Legendary and play through the campaign alone. With Halo 5 we had a silent race to see who could finish a solo Legendary run first in the IGN office (spoiler: it was me!) and should that happen with Halo Infinite, I have a feeling it’s going to take us a fair bit longer to accomplish. In my hands-on time with Halo Infinite I chose to play on Heroic for most of my session. I was racing against the clock to get a certain amount played, so I skipped Legendary for now. I’m happy to say that Heroic isn’t messing around when it comes to difficulty, however. I played a bit on Normal too and found that it was, as expected, easier, but held its fair share of challenges with heavier enemies and in boss fights.

Most of the big story beats happen in large, foreboding structures that could be viewed as something akin to dungeons. These offer a more classic Halo experience. The main story missions were fairly lengthy too. I’d guess each major area took anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to clear out and complete. I came across plenty of Grunts and Jackals backed up by the occasional Brute or Elite. While these four enemy types made up the bulk of the opponents I faced, the variety in their approach and style didn’t feel lacking. Some Grunts hand more armor than others, the Jackals get a new aggressive, agile role called a Jackal Skirmisher, and the Brutes and Elite had all sorts of armor and weapons. I came across one set of Brutes that were so geared up they nearly qualified as a mini-boss fight. The Hunters make a return, too, and are fun to fight as always.

This being another Ring, The Flood was alluded to, though I never saw them. The Prometheans weren’t present either. 343’s vision of recapturing the essence of Combat Evolved in Halo Infinite means there’s not really room for them, and honestly, I had plenty of fun without them. I didn’t see any Drones — or “those shitty Buggers,” as I call them — so I’m hoping the new flying enemy equipped with hardlight weapons, Skimmers, will be their replacement. The Skimmers won’t be the last of the new enemies, either, as confirmed by 343 in their October Inside Infinite blog.

The real combat stars, though, are the boss fights. These are boss fights in the truest fashion, complete with health bars, shields, and a distinct arena. The first boss fight with Tremonius was shown in the latest campaign reveal and it kicked my ass at first. These bosses (I fought a few in just the first few hours of the campaign) don’t wait for you to acclimate yourself to their challenge. Tremonius went in guns blazing and took me out two times in a row. I had been handling Heroic without any issues up until that point, so I was stunned to see how Tremonious’ aggression and support from two Jackals paid off. I quickly got to work on a strategy. Though thinking ahead and making use of resources efficiently matters on Legendary, I was pleasantly surprised seeing how I needed to be more strategic on Heroic as well.

I have thus far only explored a fraction of Halo Infinite. Though the map isn’t as large as an Assassin’s Creed or Red Dead — far from it, I’d say —what it does hold seems to offer something more curated with excellent combat at its heart. It’s closer to a Batman Arkham game in terms of its “open world” than the aforementioned games. After my time with it, I can say I’m confident I’ll enjoy the exploration part of Halo Infinite. The story part is what I’m most curious about now. 343 needs to stick the landing in the plot department, especially with regard to giving us a satisfying resolution to the Chief and Cortana’s relationship. If they can do that, then they’ll have successfully and definitively made Halo their own.

Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN and a member of Podcast Unlocked. She’s a big fan of stationery and fountain pens.

The play for attention in the live game space, let alone the competitive shooter space, has only gotten more competitive with each console release and gaming trend. With Halo Infinite, developer 343 Industries is attempting to make its multiplayer more attractive to stick with for the long haul while delivering what could be considered a consumer-first business model through its flexible battle pass system and emphasis on player feedback.

IGN sat down with Halo Infinite’s Head of Design Jerry Hook and Lead Progression Designer Chris Blohm to discuss how Halo Infinite’s approach to free-to-play is different from others on the market and how they hope to keep players of all kinds returning to the storied FPS.

Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass Plan

Hook and Blohm know we play other games — as Blohm said, it’d be “ludicrous to think otherwise.” With this and the understanding that some battle passes can encourage unhealthy player habits, they decided Halo Infinite’s battle passes should never expire. This was announced back in June, but Blohm said they’re doing this as they “don’t want people to burn out at the end of the season” and to “feel healthy and come back because they’re excited to” rather than because they have to rush and try to finish content they paid for.

“We wanted to be able to say, ‘Hey, look, when you put 10 bucks in, you keep that 10 bucks,'” Hook said. Halo Infinite won’t have loot boxes either, so once you drop your money on something you know exactly what you can get.

Hook and Blohm also discussed these key details about how battle passes will work:

• You can only have one battle pass active at a time, meaning your chosen battle pass is the one gaining experience you earn as you play.
• You can switch which battle pass is active whenever you want.
• The battle pass from the test flights is not representative of what we’ll see in the final battle pass.
• About every quarter of the battle pass will have a legendary cosmetic in it. Legendary-rated cosmetics will be character canon-related or a new type of customization object with special attributes or effects.
• Event rewards are separate from the battle pass.

Season 1: Heroes of Reach Battle Pass

Okay, but what’s actually in the first season’s battle pass? Halo Infinite’s first season is called “Heroes of Reach.” This was previously announced by 343 in an Inside Infinite June update, and though we didn’t get complete specifics on every item in the battle pass (though you can see a tease of some items we’ll see in the battle pass in the image below), Hook and Blohm did reveal more about rewards we can expect to see from the first battle pass.

“We know people like [Halo] Reach and we knew the story was going to have another Reach beat — in the paperback books, there’s a Reach beat [in Halo: Shadows of Reach] after Halo 5. The Infinity goes back to Reach. So we just started full speed ahead on the best of the Reach customization,” Blohm said.

As expected with a season title of Heroes of Reach, the first armor core will feature Halo: Reach customization options. Think of armor cores as the base of an armor in which all corresponding armor of that type fits. For instance, every player in Halo Infinite multiplayer will get the new Mk. VII armor core. This means all customization options — shoulders, helmets, visors, kneepads, and more — made for the Mk. VII model can be swapped onto their Spartan so long as that specific core is equipped. The battle pass is an opportunity to unlock the classic Mk. V and customization options for it.

“When we were looking at the Heroes of Reach and what [Blohm] and the team pulled together is a really great model of how we’re trying to tell a visual story with the battle pass of earning characters, basically through all the Reach characters with the battle pass,” Hook said. “For us, the system that’s been created with the [armor] core at the center, and then all of the attachments that players can choose to add. Do you want Emile’s knives? You want Jorge’s grenades? Mix and match how you want to create your own, or if you’re just like, ‘No, I want to look exactly like Jun’ then you can do that. And for the first time, you can look exactly like Kat with the prosthetic arm.”

To ensure proper representation of prostheses in Halo Infinite, Blohm said they worked closely with in-house veterans and the non-profit organization called Limbitless. “We want people to build Spartans that they either aspire to be or love to be or if they look cool or represent them,” Blohm said.

As for other rewards we can expect in the battle pass, Blohm said we’ll see Death Effects (another callback to Halo Reach customization) and other new armor effects. There will also be armor kits. While many of Noble Team’s cosmetics can be earned throughout the battle pass, you’ll need to unlock a specific kit to look almost exactly like a member of Noble Team. We may be playing Spartan-IVs where Noble Team was mostly made up of Spartan-IIIs, but Blohm said this is as close as we’ve ever gotten to looking like the Halo: Reach characters in Halo multiplayer.

There are certain things that for sure won’t be in the battle pass, though. Like, say, uncharacteristic emotes.

“We struggled a lot with dance moves for Spartans. We feel that more traditional players would reject Master Chief flossing. However, [Personal] AI can go crazy. AI can do what it wants to do. That way you can preserve the militaristic feel without having to break what you would consider canon. Unless of course Joseph [Staten] makes up a whole new story about dancing Master Chief, but until that happens, [we have Personal AI],” Hook said with a laugh.

Weekly Challenge and Event Rewards

New customization options aren’t solely earnable through the battle pass or purchasable in the store. Playing the campaign will also earn players new cosmetic items and players can also earn a weekly reward (called the capstone) by completing all weekly challenges.

The challenge system was available during the Halo Infinite test flight and has since undergone some changes based on player feedback. Hook said it was important for them to ensure that challenges are straightforward and are something players actually want to accomplish. The development team monitors stats regarding which daily and weekly challenges players don’t complete or opt to reroll. Then, those are phased out to make room for challenges for a trending weapon or tactic. Their goal, Hook said, is to make players feel like they’re able to earn constant XP for their battle passes or work toward their weekly capstone reward without forcing themselves to play in unfavorable ways.

“So at launch, we have the challenge system that fuels the battle pass and the event system. Events go live every few weeks,” Blohm said.

Hook and Blohm are keeping most event details quiet for now, but they did share that each event will have its own free event pass. This is one of the few timed reward systems in multiplayer and will not include a paid track.

“You get a special playlist and you get a new reward track for [each event],” Blohm said. “That’s two weeks for an event and one week for the Fracture, but the Fracture comes back every month and it saves your progress. Now that’s another case where we had a long talk. We said, ‘How much do we expect people to play?’ Right? And let’s balance it. So you know what, if they’re at their parents’ house for a week and they don’t have their Xbox they still can get everything that is on the reward track.”

Hook said they will monitor progression through events and, eventually, through more test flighting to see what players respond to in terms of rewards or progress and grow from there.

How to Get That Sweet Samurai Armor

Blohm acknowledged that while the more traditional Spartan armor and customizations look great, some of us crave more unique Spartan fashion options. This is where The Fracture event comes in. This recurring event is how we’re going to get unique cosmetics that don’t quite make sense with the Halo canon, like the teased Yoroi samurai armor. Hook said they watched what the Master Chief Collection is doing with its multiplayer cosmetics (the MCC multiplayer just got Viking and gladiator armor) and how its community is responding to inform their development on The Fracture event.

“Multiplayer Spartans aren’t Master Chief. Occasionally they have bright colors. Occasionally, you know in Reach, they have a flaming helmet. We want to be very careful about how we treat some of these things and that’s one of the reasons we brought The Fracture in as we brought it in. What we’re saying with a Fracture is very clearly, ‘Hey, this isn’t canon. This isn’t a Spartan that’s fighting the Banished,'” Blohm said.

There have been other unique cosmetics throughout Halo’s multiplayer history of course, like the Hayabusa armor. Everything still has to make sense within the Halo universe and they’re intending on leaning on the Halo Fractures story to assist in that. Hook said it’s their hope they’ll hear from the community on things they’d like to see, though keeping cosmetics consistent with Halo legends is crucial.

Community feedback is a constant focus for this team, and ultimately, they’re looking to us to see what we want, whether that’s changes to events or more support for a feature like Personal AI. Hook and Blohm made it clear, though, that they want to ensure each part of multiplayer feels rewarding rather than exhausting to keep us hopefully coming back to Halo Infinite’s multiplayer.

“The battle pass system is really just a small part of the overall ecosystem for a season,” Hook said. “When we take a look at our events or events structures, it’s not just about another place in which you’re selling things. It’s about taking that structure of a battle pass and layering it with each of the events structures that we have as well. What Chris says a lot, which is I think pretty critical to the success of it, is we want players anytime they engage in an activity to be able to feel rewarded. The battle pass sort of sits above all of that, which is whenever you’re playing, you’re feeling rewarded from the battle pass. That’s our goal.”

Halo Infinite is out on December 8, but IGN will keep you covered on brand new Halo Infinite announcements all November long. Be sure to check out the newly revealed Streets multiplayer map if you haven’t already.

Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN and a member of Podcast Unlocked. She’s a big fan of stationery and fountain pens. You can sometimes find her on Twitter.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

We’re once again returning to World War II in Call of Duty: Vanguard. While there are many mostly unexplored story opportunities for the campaign side, my expectations for multiplayer were largely up in the air. Will this multiplayer find ways to be more innovative than what we got with Black Ops Cold War despite the setting? How much of an impact do the combat pacing filters make? Is the destructible environment addition useful? An early look at Vanguard’s multiplayer provided a bit of insight into all of this. I played for about two hours with a mix of PS5 and PC players and had an equally mixed set of impressions once I shut down my PS5.

We played classic Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and a new mode called Patrol across four maps. Patrol is a spin on Domination and challenges two teams to capture a slowly moving zone. The team that has at least one player in the zone earns points. Like Domination, if opposing players are in the zone, it stands contested and no one earns points. Whenever I pick up my controller to play Vanguard next, I don’t intend to voluntarily play this mode again. It felt a bit goofy. As the capture point moved around the map, it seemed like we were handing off the zone whenever it was close enough to the opposing spawn. Being slowly dragged around the map in this way wasn’t a fun or interesting improvement on existing capture-based objective modes.

Then, pair Patrol with the Blitz combat pacing and it’s complete chaos. Not necessarily in a fun way, either. The three combat pacing filters — Tactical, Assault, and Blitz — change the number of players in a match. Tactical is supposed to have fewer players while Blitz pushes the player count to the limits. We played 24 versus 24 on a rather large, open map called Red Star. In one match it seemed like a fair number of people on my team got bored of trying to follow the small circle around the map and started flanking to earn higher Killstreaks (so long, Scorestreaks). It’s not a bad tactic, and I adopted it myself when attempting to follow the zone meant taking on a sacrificial role with minimal rewards. All those other people are getting Killstreaks while I’m throwing myself at the zone? No thanks. On the plus side, respawning is quick. This is still Call of Duty, though, so the time-to-kill is extremely quick, too.

Blitz was more fun with Kill Confirmed. Tags were everywhere, killstreaks were rampant, and depending on the map, those adept at the run-and-gun tactic were heavily rewarded. We played Blitz Kill Confirmed on Hotel Royale, a neat nighttime map set on the roof of a hotel. With 12 versus 12 and plenty of tight corners indoors, SMGs were great. Its roof was open for those who prefer assault rifles. I went back and forth between both loadouts and enjoyed doing so. These preview events don’t allow for much time to test a large range of weapons, unfortunately, but I was surprised by the rate of fire and limited clips of their chosen LMGs. The default loadout assault rifle, the STG44, had a surprisingly higher rate of fire too.

If you’re interested in snipers, the Gavutu map is ideal. For everyone else? Maybe not. The small, rainy island is split into two sides; one is broken up by a large ship with a functioning lift to raise or lower an inoperable tank between decks, the other is a long stretch of beach and rocks. Don’t want to deal with snipers? Go to the boat. I normally don’t mind flushing out a sniper, but the spawn proximity to sniping spots deterred me from trying much.

The “reactive gameplay environments,” or destructible elements, were most noticeable on Hotel Royale and Eagle’s Nest since they featured the most fleshed-out indoor areas. It’s more of a novel addition than a useful one. After one person bursts through a boarded-up path, that’s it. Call of Duty isn’t really still enough for that sort of surprise to matter much either (unless you’re camping). Eagle’s Nest is a mountain-top building with three lanes, one of which is in the building. I liked this map well enough, except for that one time a care package I called in rolled off the mountain. Watch out for that.

Another Killstreak issue I had was with the Attack Dogs. After 10 kills, a pack of attack dogs can be called into play. The trouble is, I often had no idea whose dogs they were. There’s an audible callout if an enemy summons them, but it’s easy to miss. If a teammate also calls in dogs, then I definitely couldn’t tell which belongs to who until I realized one was running at me. The dog breed changes depending on which side you’re playing for, but that’s not exactly something I committed to memory nor is it obvious in the menus. The audio was generally low too. Sledgehammer announced some issues with visibility, sounds, spawns, and a slew of other things will be addressed before the September 10 beta, though. At this point, I’m more interested in the campaign than I am in multiplayer, but with 20 maps coming at launch, I’m hopeful I’ll enjoy Vanguard’s multiplayer more with its full release.

Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN.