In the last few months, Halo Infinite's reputation has faltered quite a bit. While it started as one of the promising games of last year, with a multiplayer mode that brought the franchise back to its roots, and a campaign that satisfied both die-hard fans and newcomers alike, 343 Industries has dropped the ball a little, and both modes are suffering from some issues. On the campaign side, fans are unhappy with the state of co-op, with it currently only in beta testing, and on the multiplayer side, the lack of new content and the disappointing Halo Infinite Seasons released so far have led to some significant player drop-offs.
Right now, there's one big thing that could potentially save Halo Infinite and bring in the crowd it's lost since release day. Though it isn't always the answer, some big DLC expansion could really rejuvenate Halo Infinite, and if recent rumors are to be believed, 343 Industries is currently hard at work on exactly that. While this Halo Infinite campaign DLC could revolve just about anything, there are a few hints that it might see the Master Chief face-off against The Endless, a new enemy faction teased at the end of Halo Infinite's campaign.
Who Are Halo Infinite's Endless?
Officially called the Xalanyn, The Endless are an ancient species that posed a significant threat to the Forerunners. Just before the Forerunners fired their Halo rings, in an attempt to wipe out the Flood, they took samples of every known species, so that they could be cloned after the array was fired, and the worlds could be repopulated after all life was extinguished. The Xalanyn, for some unknown reason, were not indexed by the Forerunners.
Upon firing the Halo rings, the Forerunners discovered that somehow the Xalanyn had survived the galaxy-wide blast. Fearing this unknown species, the Forerunners summoned the Xalanyn to Installation 07, where they imprisoned the vast majority of the species. In 2559, The Banished led by Atriox, discovered Installation 07, and began excavating a number of ancient Forerunner ruins. Atriox stumbled upon the Harbinger, and released them from their prison. In exchange for the freedom of their people, who were all trapped across Installation 07, Harbinger agreed to activate the ring for Atriox.
At the end of Halo Infinite, the Master Chief confronts the Harbinger, and ends up killing them in battle. However, during the post-credits sequence, a thought-to-be-deceased Atriox walks out of the shadows, and is seen standing in front of a handful of imprisoned Xalanyn, presumably about to release them, and use their help to continue the war against the UNSC.
What The Halo Infinite Endless Trademark Could Mean
Back in early December 2021, Microsoft trademarked the title "Halo: The Endless." At the time, fans thought this might point to a future multiplayer spin-off, as Esports was mentioned throughout the trademark. However, since December, the trademark has never been officially mentioned. That being said, some recent leaks seem to suggest that a Halo Infinite campaign DLC is on the way, and this trademark could point to the Endless being the main antagonists.
Though this hasn't been confirmed in any official capacity, it seems pretty likely that any future Halo Infinite campaign DLC will directly follow the events of Halo Infinite, where players saw the Master Chief, Weapon, and the Pilot head off in a Pelican, ready to continue the fight against the Banished. With the post-credits scene directly teasing other Endless foes, it seems very likely that they'll play a major role in any upcoming Halo campaign, whether that's a campaign DLC, a spin-off, or a fully-fledged sequel.
Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.