343 Industries has shown off a handful of brand new screenshots and concept artwork for Halo Infinite, and it shows a lot of promise in the graphics department following earlier fan disappointment and backlash. The highly-anticipated game was originally meant to be a launch title for the Xbox Series X/S but was delayed from November 2020 to Fall 2021 after its reveal trailer garnered a high amount of negative feedback. Microsoft holds that the game was delayed to allow the developer time to get the game up to scratch and ensure it met high quality standards.
In order to help ensure that Halo Infinite releases on time and lives up to its predecessors this year, 343 Industries has allegedly gotten a helping hand from one of Microsoft's other first-party studios. According to one insider, The Coalition has assisted the Halo developer, with several employees at the Gears of War studio listing work that they completed on both Gears 5 and Halo: Infinite. However, it is unclear exactly what assistance The Coalition provided or what impacts these developers have made on the eventual finished product.
In a new Halo Waypoint post, 343 Industries has provided an update on the state of Halo Infinite and shown off some new in-engine screenshots. The images themselves come from an in-progress build of the game for PC, but they look very impressive. In fact, these news screenshots look almost like a new game compared to what fans got to see last year during the official unveiling. Most of the images included in the post, some of which have been embedded below, give an idea of how more of Halo Infinite's Zeta Halo setting looks and feels, as it will feature a "time-of-day" lighting system that will give different areas vastly different moods according to when players visit each location. The campaign gameplay screenshot showing off the game's iteration of the iconic sniper rifle, meanwhile, speaks for itself.
In other recent Halo Infinite news, 343 Industries seemingly teased some story elements from the upcoming game. Fans noticed an audio file that teased the fact that Cortana will be the main villain in the sequel. This would suggest that the game is a direct follow-up to the events of Halo 5: Guardians, rather than a full reboot as some have indicated in the past.
Seeing the latest Halo Infinite screenshots is certainly reassuring for fans who have been concerned since they last saw the title last year during its ill-fated reveal. The quality of these images seems to be much higher than earlier footage, demonstrating that 343 Industries has been hard at work on improving the visuals of the game.
Halo Infinite will be available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC in Fall 2021.
Source: 343 Industries