After years of build-up, Microsoft finally revealed the first look at Halo Infinite's campaign, showing Master Chief exploring a brand new, seemingly open world Halo ring. While many have praised the gameplay shown during the reveal, there has been no shortage of negative comments online, with Twitter flooded by people complaining about Halo Infinite's graphics, especially since it's set to be the Xbox Series X's flagship title this holiday season.
The Halo Infinite campaign mission on display was noted to have some pop-in and other visual hiccups, but most of the criticism seems aimed at the character models and textures. Fans have been comparing Halo Infinite to much older games to show that they had better graphics than this brand new release, and others have gone as far as to say that Halo Infinite looks like it's releasing for the Xbox 360 instead of the next-generation Xbox Series X.
What's important to note is that Halo Infinite's visuals will likely improve over time. 343 Industries has made it clear that Halo Infinite is a "platform" for Halo moving forward, and that the studio currently has no plans to make a Halo 7. This means that the game will receive regular updates, with plans already announced for ray-tracing to be added at some point down the line for the Xbox Series X version.
One has to wonder if Microsoft's insistence on bringing Halo Infinite to Xbox One as well as Xbox Series X is ultimately holding the game back. While a consumer-friendly decision, one has to imagine that Halo Infinite running exclusively on Xbox Series X would have been able to do a lot more from a visual standpoint. Perhaps if the Xbox One version of Halo Infinite is eventually phased out, the game will be able to push the envelope a bit more in terms of its graphics.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how the Halo Infinite multiplayer is received. Rumors have been swirling that Halo Infinite's multiplayer will have some groundbreaking feature of some kind, but fans weren't shown any multiplayer footage at the Xbox Games Showcase event. On the bright side, more information on Halo Infinite's multiplayer should come to light within the next few months.
Halo Infinite will launch holiday 2020 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.