During the latest Halo Infinite reveal stream leading the Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase, a new concept was brought forth to the Halo franchise. It was made clear that Halo Infinite, unlike its predecessors, would not simply be another chapter in the story, but a platform on which all content for the foreseeable future would be built.
While this approach to franchise expansion is a novel move for Halo and its developers at 343 Industries, it is not new for the industry. In fact, Bungie, the original creators of Halo, have moved towards this platform expansion model for Destiny 2. In June, Bungie announced that Destiny 2, already finishing up its third year since launch, still had at least three more years of new expansions on the way.
It has been nearly a year since Bungie shifted towards their evolving world, and things haven’t been perfect. However, there are absolutely a few things that 343 Industries should pay attention to when thinking about how they make Halo Infinite a platform instead of an iteration.
Immerse Players In The Evolving World
Before the shift to this platform expansion model, new content in Destiny 2 usually felt a bit disconnected from the “main” narrative of the story. Each of the different non-mainline expansions, including Curse of Osiris, Black Armory, etc., contained their own well-packaged story that was launched at the beginning of the season and then (sometimes) brought to a relative close near the end. These days, that approach has changed. Seasons are no longer unique stories, but instead more like chapters in a longer narrative. The conclusion of one season quite literally causes the events of the following season.
As an example, consider Destiny 2’s recent Season of Dawn. Fresh off the laurels of Season of Undying, Guardians had just slain an epic time-jumping Vex Mind known creatively as “The Undying Mind.” However, this creature’s death caused ripples in the fabric of time, ripples that allowed the mysterious Osiris to activate a powerful machine called the Sundial. With it, Guardians were able to travel through the Corridors of Time which gave them the ability to not only meet but save their long lost hero Saint-XIV. Saving Saint eventually led to the creation of the Lighthouse, which was the basis of the long-awaited return of Trials of Osiris a season later in Season of the Worthy.
Halo Infinite can learn much from this shift in content delivery. Having a meaningful progression of events from one season to the next immerses players much more deeply in the world in which they play. It’s a way to reward players for participating in the game throughout the year. One misstep that Bungie has experienced is that of content removal. Unfortunately, many of the headline activities of these new Destiny 2 seasons have had the bulk of their content removed at the start of the following season. Bungie attributes this to technical restraints which are understandable, but it made the game a bit punishing for players looking to take a break.
Repeatable Endgame Content
The current Year 3 of Destiny 2 content has shown something very specific about player behavior: players love repeating content that is both challenging and rewarding. The current Season of Arrivals has done an excellent job of providing this through multiple avenues. Within hours of the release of the new season, a surprise dungeon activity, Prophecy, was activated for all players to enjoy. Prophecy is a very high-level mission balanced for three Guardians, but can be done solo with the right skill. What makes Prophecy so unique is that every encounter provides loot no matter how many times players run the dungeon in a given week. Historically, players have only been rewarded for their first clear of the mission once per week per character. Now players can farm endgame content for the best rolls on some of the best loot in the game.
In addition to the new dungeon, Bungie also upped the rewards on their punishingly difficult Grandmaster Nightfall Ordeals. Players who get to the end of these mega-challenge missions in Destiny 2 are guaranteed to earn Ascendant Shards, the most coveted currency in the game. Bungie has shown that they want to encourage players to challenge themselves and are finally handing out the loot to justify the effort.
While players don’t yet have a clear picture of how deep Halo Infinite is going to go down the Destiny road, it’s obvious that they will need to introduce activities that keep players engaged outside of just PvP and re-runs of the story missions. 343 Industries should absolutely be looking to satisfy their PvE-focused audience with challenging, repeatable, and rewarding endgame activities that respect the player’s time and provide a meaningful loop for players to engage in.
Making Halo Infinite a platform for future content instead of just the “next Halo game” is a major leap into the future for the franchise. It’s promising that players who buy into Halo Infinite on Xbox One can look forward not only just to instant access to the next-gen version of the game through Smart Delivery, but potentially years of continuous content that builds on itself in meaningful ways. Not every move that 343 makes with their platform is going to be a winner, but it’s exciting to think about how the Halo universe will evolve throughout the life of Halo Infinite.