Halo Infinite got its first gameplay on Xbox One during a livestream regarding the game's upcoming technical test. 343 gave a pretty deep dive into how Halo Infinite will look and work on its various platforms, which meant showing raw gameplay for both generations of Xbox consoles and outlining the game's PC settings.
Halo Infinite's tech test is scheduled for this weekend and will encompass hundreds of thousands of players, according to 343. The tech test is meant to test the game's capabilities across a number of hardware specifications, including PCs of all kinds. The idea is to collect data from a diverse group of players and understand how the different hardware specifications impact the game. As such, 343 will be letting Xbox One players join the test, and the game looks relatively solid on the older hardware.
343 showcased a match of Halo Infinite multiplayer running on Xbox One (via Tom Warren on Twitter) and although the footage is a little blurry, and likely not as sharp as it would be on Xbox Series X or PC, it's still a very solid experience. The Halo Infinite tech test represents a work in progress, so the game may look even better when it launches, but it's still a pretty significant improvement over the gameplay reveal from 2020 that led to the title being delayed out of the Series X launch window. Since it's still very difficult to secure an Xbox Series X, it seems like the Xbox One will provide a competent experience for Halo fans this holiday season.
Halo Infinite's multiplayer will also be free-to-play when it launches later this year, so it'll be even more accessible than the typical Halo game. Not only is it on a wide array of platforms, but the game being free-to-play and on Xbox Game Pass will allow pretty much any Xbox player the opportunity to get their hands on the game in some capacity. This footage also further dispels the already debunked rumors of Halo Infinite's Xbox One version getting scrapped.
It remains to be seen how well optimized the PC version will be, but that seems to be part of the reason for the technical test. It would certainly benefit the game a lot to have a solid PC port, as Halo Infinite will seemingly be playable on Steam Deck later this year. Although there's no way of telling how the game will perform on the handheld, a good port will only help make Halo Infinite more accessible to fans.
Halo Infinite is scheduled for release in late 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Source: Tom Warren/Twitter