A major criticism of Halo Infinite was its lack of a co-op campaign at launch, but thanks to an easily accessible glitch players can access the multiplayer campaign early. The co-op campaign feature has been one of the major selling points of Halo time after time because anything enjoyable can be made more enjoyable when player two grabs a controller. Unfortunately, this feature was lacking at Halo Infinite's launch, but a co-op campaign can be played with a few simple steps.
To be clear, this isn't the full co-op campaign experience that 343 Industries promises to deliver in 2022, and it limits both visual and progression features. Players will not be able to take on every Banished boss in Halo Infinite side-by-side, nor will it allow players to use the Forward Operating Bases scattered across Zeta Halo. Additionally, if either player dies they'll have to return to the main menu in order to set the Halo Infinite co-op campaign up again.
This co-op campaign glitch was discovered by YouTuber NobleActual and shared by Kotaku, the video shows two Master Chiefs standing within a few feet of each other on Zeta Halo. As expected, the glitch was met with a myriad of additional issues accompanying the aforementioned ones, such as lighting issues, player two not having a HUD, and, according to NobleActual:
"THIS MAY BREAK YOUR SAVES. @halodotapi and I are your guinea pigs. DO NOT ATTEMPT IF YOU WERE CLOSE TO 100% (like me). My saves refuse to load after about 10 hours of trying to reproduce the glitch."
Halo Infinite: How To Start Co-Op Campaign Early
Heeding the words of NobleActual, players approaching the ending of Halo Infinite's campaign should not check out the glitch if they're concerned with keeping their save file. Nonetheless, the YouTuber laid out each of the steps that allowed the two players to access co-op campaign early in Halo Infinite. Following this order of steps, players need to:
- Play Halo Infinite offline
- Connect a second controller
- Sign into an Xbox account
- Start the Halo Infinite single-player campaign with one controller
- In-game, press "start" and then "back"
- Using the second controller, press "start" to add the second player to the fireteam
- Halo Infinite should now result in a co-op campaign experience
Additionally, NobleActual has also stated that this glitch was activated using an Xbox Series S, and other Twitter users have reported failed attempts at replicating the glitch on both the Xbox Series X and PC. The release of Halo Infinite co-op campaign, and Forge mode, have been pushed back with the extension of Season 1 in the free-to-play multiplayer. The exact start date of Season 2 of Halo Infinite is unknown, but it is expected to start in May 2022 and include a fully functional co-op campaign.
Halo Infinite is available on PC, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One