While players are enjoying their first taste of Halo Infinite with the free multiplayer beta, 343 Industries is turning its attention to the upcoming campaign. The studio is promising a campaign befitting of the Halo series which sees Master Chief back on one of the titular rings on a new mission to save humanity. A new preview highlights this as the Chief and his new AI companion battle the Banished in a mission bearing some inspiration from the previous games.
Halo Infinite's campaign picks up some time after Halo 5: Guardians after Cortana reawakened the titular Forerunner weapons in order to disable most technology in the galaxy to achieve "peace." Chief finds himself on a new Halo installation, dubbed Zeta Halo, searching for both Cortana and a new AI named "The Weapon." He will also have to contend with The Banished, a mercenary band and Covenant offshoot, which has set up camp on Zeta Halo and already defeated a large portion of the UNSC forces there.
IGN offered a glimpse of this fight in a five-minute preview of a campaign mission it said "takes place a few hours into Halo Infinite's campaign." The mission, titled "The Conservatory," sees Chief and his new AI companion battling Banished and Forerunner drones in a facility befitting of the Halo series. It also provides a look at one of the game's new weapons, the Cindershot, and Skimmers, a flying enemy employed by The Banished.
Several commentors shared their excitement at what 343 has in store for the campaign, noting how the mission harkens back to Halo: Combat Evolved. Some specifically reference similarities to "Assault on the Control Room" and "The Silent Cartographer," two of the most well-known missions from the original Halo which take place inside similar Forerunner facilities as seen in "The Conservatory." This is reflective of 343's previous statements, saying it was trying to craft a campaign befitting of the original Halo games under Bungie.
The seemingly positive recepetion to the preview is another win for 343 Industries following the multiplayer beta's largely positive reception. While it hasn't been without problems, Halo Infinite's multiplayer appears to be hitting the same chords that made the the multiplayer in Halo 3 and Halo: ODST so popular. If this translates into the campaign when it releases, players may say 343 has crafted a full Halo experience befitting the next generation of Xbox.
Halo Infinite is scheduled to release on December 8 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The multiplayer is available now.