Halo Infinite is allowing players to fully customize the game’s controls to their liking, whether on keyboard/mouse or controller. Developer 343 Industries kicked off their Technical Preview video by showcasing this long-awaited request, one that many fans of the sci fi series have been clamoring for for years. Given the principle and the fact that Halo Infinite features free-to-play multiplayer, this new level of personalization will undoubtedly help thin the gap in player skill.
Up until the recent release of the Master Chief Collection, the Halo franchise was exclusive to consoles since 2007. In past and present Halo games, both as the campaign’s Master Chief or their Spartans in multiplayer, this meant the sole way to play the game was with a controller. Bungie and 343 Industries offered several preset configurations that players could choose between, but there was never an option to manually key every button and joystick on the controller.
When the Master Chief Collection became available on Steam in November 2014, it marked the first time that players were able to play Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach, and Halo 4 with a keyboard and mouse rather than a controller. For controllers, the Master Chief Collection only offers a select number of specific presets. Complete, manual control customization is fully supported, however, on keyboard and mouse. Some of Halo’s Major League Gaming players felt a kinship with the original games’ control schemes, but others embraced the keyboard for its enhanced flexibility and personalization.
Halo Infinite announced this fully customizable control scheme in their blog post in January 2021, but players didn’t see it in action until today’s Technical Preview. 343 Industries shared an image of the in-game Halo Infinite settings, revealing the game’s default control scheme to be surprisingly similar to modern shooters. Taking a page from the Call of Duty franchise, melee is defaulted to clicking in the right thumbstick. The controller’s left trigger is now for the zoom function instead of throwing grenades.
The decision tracks with 343 Industries’ business model of putting the player first. “Everything should feel intuitive and we don’t want the player to have to ‘fight’ the game in order to have fun,” said Halo Infinite’s Lead Sandbox Designer, Quinn Delhoyo, in the January blog. “It’s because of this principle, and the fact that Halo Infinite will be on PC, that led us to rebuild the control scheme system to allow players to fully rebind and remap their controls, regardless of platform. How players control Chief or their Spartan is crucial and we recognize that players feel the most connected to the game when control customization is fully featured.”
This new default bears closest resemblance to the Master Chief Collection’s ‘Universal Zoom & Shoot’ preset, but still has some added alterations for new functionality exclusive to Halo Infinite. This is particularly apparent from the D-Pad, which bears mapped functions such as dropping weapons (Right), marking targets (Up), and an AI Scan (Down). Halo 3 still remains the most popular Halo multiplayer, largely due to its fan base that adapted and mastered the game’s rules and controls. Halo Infinite’s wider market means that it’s reaching in a different direction, favoring accessibility in letting its players customize controls to their preferences.
Halo Infinite is scheduled for release in late 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Source: Halo/YouTube