Despite some discourse around Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, many would agree that Halo Infinite’s campaign hits the nail on the head. Everything about it from the classic elements to the newer ones, like the Grappleshot, has made it a truly memorable game. It’s easy to see why many would consider it their personal game of the year, or at least in their top 5, and one element of discussion here lately has been the Grunts.
In short, the Grunts of Halo Infinite are a completely different breed from their predecessors. They are hilarious fodder enemies who are genuinely pleasing to kill and details about how they were designed to have their voice lines cut off have surfaced in recent weeks, along with hilarious details like Grunts singing the Halo Infinite theme song badly. Now, according to lead narrative designer Aaron Linde, part of this may be due to how confident the Grunts are now.
Whether roasting humanity, Master Chief, or whatnot, the Grunts are hilariously confident but still hilariously easy to kill. This mixture comes down to their own confidence levels, which in an interview with GamesRadar, Linde describes one thing he’s glad to see people noticing is that “higher degree of confidence in the grunts. We wanted to convey a sense of meaningful change for them as part of the slightly-more-egalitarian Banished, where they have more equity—or at least more than they did in the Covenant, where they had none—and more philosophical buy-in on their part as a result.”
This creates a unique level of tragicomedy in Halo Infinite. On the one hand, these Grunts will mock Master Chief mercilessly, but on the other, they are still the first to die. On the one hand, these Grunts will receive praise from their Banished allies, but they will also still be thrown by them in the midst of combat. As Linde described, “[t]hey’re still cowards, and still treated terribly by their peers, but they're on more even footing with the others, even if only constitutionally. And you’ll hear that reflected by the other species from time to time as well, particularly the Elites ('go, tiny warrior!')."
All of this attention on the Grunts has thrilled Linde, and presumably others who worked on the Grunts as well, with Linde describing this launch as “as gratifying as a game launch could be.” Right now, it’s uncertain what’s next for Halo Infinite’s story. There is a solid roadmap of when to expect new content for Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, but as to campaign or story content, it’s anyone’s guess. It would seem that part of Halo Infinite’s ten-year plan could see more campaigns released, and that would almost certainly be welcome.
After all, at the very least, that would mean more hilarious lines for the Grunts. These touches to Halo Infinite’s combat add some comedy to the serious nature of the game, and it doesn’t seem like they’re going anywhere anytime soon.
Halo Infinite is available for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: GamesRadar