Halo Infinite's Multiplayer Beta has been out for a week, with fans already giving 343 Industries a lot of feedback to improve the game. One of the enduring complaints has been Halo Infinite's lack of freely obtainable armor pieces, and a new leak suggests that the Campaign will not provide the salvation many have hoped it would.
For the overwhleming praise that Halo Infinite has received, it has come at the cost of some pretty detrimental criticism. The major problem that fans expressed out of the gate was Halo Infinite's slow battle pass progression, where players could play dozens of matches and only rank up a quaint number of times. 343 Industries quickly released fixes that essentially made it so players were earning per-match XP, with promises of further, more developed changes coming down the line. However, there remains ongoing criticisms of the Halo Infinite battle pass itself, with its tiers of single armor components not being worth it, touching upon a potentially more pressing issue: the lack of free customization options.
A leaker has discovered Halo Infinite's Campaign unlockables, and they appear to be devoid of any armor pieces. Chaz The Jackal posted to Twitter a list of all the cosmetic items players can unlock from playing Halo Infinite's Campaign, which includes everything except new armor pieces—everything being weapon and vehicle skins, armor coatings, emblems, and stances. As it pertains to armor cosmetics, specifically, there are apparently nine new coatings, four new emblems, and one new stance. It is currently unclear how any of these items are unlockable, nor how Chaz The Jackal obtained this information, though much of Halo Infinite's armor customization leaked prior to the start of its Beta.
As it stands, there are only three ways to unlock new armor pieces in Halo Infinite. The first is the battle pass that never expires and has over 100 tiers worth of new cosmetic items, though players will have to pay $10 to begin progress on it. Next are Halo Infinite's free events like the upcoming Fracture: Tenrai, which are essentially mini battle passes with unique cosmetics for players to obtain. Lastly, there is the shop that rotates new armor and skins daily that can only be attained by purchasing Halo Credits with real money.
The modern multiplayer formula of battle passes and item shops has arrived to Halo and for better or worse, Halo Infinite's current state is the outcome of that. Where games like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone allow players to buy various skins for their avatars, it was only a matter of time before Halo joined in. This is particularly burning for many Halo fans because customization has been a key part of the series' multiplayer experience for a long time, and for 343 Industries to lock so much of it behind a paywall feels insulting to the fans. Now, without any new armor coming from the game's campaign, players may have to come around to dipping into their wallets.
Halo Infinite's Multiplayer Beta is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with the full game releasing on December 8.