Halo is Back
It’s no secret that Halo Infinite’s launch might just take the cake for one of the most disappointing and unfulfilling launches of a major IP sequel in gaming history. I know for a fact that I’m not being too harsh, because I saw it. I played it. I lived through it.
What is discussed much less frequently, however, is how good Halo Infinite is now. 343 has a long way to the top if they want to rock and roll like they used to, but the changes and updates to Halo Infinite over the last few months have brought the game back to life in some incredible new ways… And we’re only just getting started.
For one, let’s talk Firefight.
Halo is embracing ten metric shitloads of early-mid 2000s FPS goodness in this latest season, and it’s being capped off with the return of Bungie’s classic spin on Gears of War’s Horde mode – Firefight. Except now, we’re getting nine additional maps – five existing multiplayer ones, three new maps from the community, and one pulled right from Halo Infinite’s criminally underrated campaign. Halo Infinite’s iteration of Firefight, called “Firefight: King of the Hill”, will implement bosses, skulls, multiple difficulties, and more into the game type we all know and love. I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
Let’s touch on esports as well – as HCS’s Halo Worlds came and went back in mid-October with a ton of fanfare. Tashi and the 343 esports team have been pumping more life into the Halo pro scene than I can remember seeing in a long time, and it all culminated in a ton of viewership, 2-3 MILLION dollars in prize money, and a hell of a lot of eyeballs on the event as a whole.
And then there’s Halo, the Paramount+ series. Microsoft is going for broke with this season, and delivered a harrowing trailer that foreshadows the fall of Reach as we know it. They’re also putting the entire FIRST season of the show on YouTube, for free, to get people up to speed and into the show… If that’s not the definition of betting on yourself, then I don’t know what is.
You can say what you want about the state of Halo over the last few years. In most instances, you’d most likely be right. In almost all instances, your thoughts or feelings are most likely accurate. But search your feelings – you know all this shit looks good. You know you wanna play Firefight, and if you’ve played Halo Reach before… You know this season 2 trailer made it tingle in all those special places.
The moral of the story today here, kids, is this:
Halo is back.
