Hey guys. In the latest Inside Infinite blog post, Joesph Staten confirmed that Halo Infinite is NOT an open world game. This is what he said.
"As you read this month’s update and look at the screenshots, you might have the same question I did when I joined the team last Fall: What kind of game is Halo Infinite?Infinite’s world is incredibly large, and its vast combat zones connect seamlessly to each other. Its vistas are filled with adventures that entice you to stray from the golden path story missions. From a distance, it might appear that we’re building an open world game, but that’s not really the case. We’re making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation."
So my question is.. what exactly is it? Is it like a semi open world game having open world sections, and we can access them anytime, from anywhere? Are we going to have loading in between these sections?
Because it doesn't seem to have a regular Campaign Missions structure. Do we have to approach a waypoint to start a particular mission like we do in a semi open world game(or an open world game, for that matter)?
-snip-
For me the message was simply to try and dial back the rampant speculation there's been in some quarters that it was basically going whole hog Far Cry on us and having survival mechanics etc. Think he's also trying to reassure fans it's still a Halo game at its core but with open world elements rather than being an open world game set in Halo universe if that makes sense
I also think that it's an indication there'll be separate areas to the game rather than just one wide-open all the time map - kinda similar to e.g. Witcher 3 or Shadow of Mordor. For one thing being able to segment it like that would definitely help load on older consoles/lower spec PCs. Earlier in the post they were talking about 'beginning' Chief's journey on Zeta Halo in the PNW environment (the hint being we'd see others). Short of corridor/tunnel like sections like in Assault on the Control Room to connect them, it would be pretty jarring to go straight from a PNW section into a Desert section. Mission-wise I suspect what we'll see is multiple mission-type activities taking place in a set area and us travelling between them gives us the time to go off and explore additional things if we want to, before the story then moves us on to another area.
I've been dreading that the whole game is a stab at a Halo-Far Cry hybrid. I guess I just don't see the point in having gigantic open levels if there's nothing in them. Yeah, I can go to that mountain all the way away from the action, but what's the point? Is there loot in this game? Should there be loot? When I play a Halo game, it's not uncommon for me to hop on a singular level just for giggles, I mean hell, there are
playlists in MCC dedicated to certain level types. That's what a Halo campaign is.
I'm cool with large, expansive levels, as long as they're ultimately a linear level with a beginning and end. I don't want to be dropped in a large area, and have to go do arbitrary objectives and wait for the next bunch of instructions in the same environment. Far Cry, and it's outposts and upgrade systems, aren't a Halo campaign. Halo levels are handcrafted and it's all about the sandbox the players find themselves in. The levels are notable because of the specific characteristics and conditions that give them life.
What makes Truth And Reconciliation in Halo CE memorable? Is it the sniper? the Nighttime stakeout? Boarding a covenant ship? The contrast between each half of the mission is part of why it's such a great level. It's very linear, but it doesn't hold your hand and point in the correction direction to go either. Open world games aren't like that. They give the players options, let players choose what gear to take into missions, let them pick what upgrades to have. What if I never upgrade my grappling hook, and the cliff level sucks because I don't have the reduced cooldown? Is there really even a reason to
have an upgrade system in the game, other than to bloat the playtime to make me complete side objectives?
We've had side objectives before, in Halo Reach or ODST they can lead you to weapon caches or AI reinforcements. Those were great because they lended themselves great to large, open levels that were still ultimately linear. I don't wanna have to go hunt down the Banished General on the far east side of the map to let my grapple hook have a 7 second cooldown. I just wanna play the story and have fun in the sandbox, the way the sandbox was intended to be enjoyed. I don't want ripples or inconsistencies in how the toys in the sandbox perform because of optional objectives that largely deviate from the main level.
We've had a stab at a pseudo open-world Halo Game. ODST's open world was constantly at night, ultimately had a linear progression that made the story confusing if you didn't do it in the right order, and had enemy patrols that didn't feel as thoughtful as each linear mission that broke the open world up. Each of those linear missions had a character, a Tank level, a sniper level, etc. The open world was constant throughout the whole game, only changing
once the end became a linear level.I know people really wanted to explore a Halo ring,
but what makes it worth exploring? Most of the Halo series doesn't even take place on a Halo. And every time you're on a Halo, it's a vividly different environment than the previous level. You spend maybe an hour casually exploring an environment before moving to the next, how long am I going to be looking at the same pacific-northwest environment before it changes? Will there be anything in space? on a giant floating facility in a gas cloud? The factory we just explored drastically changed by the a cruiser full of flood crashing into it?
What kind of variety are we
really getting with this game?