Longtime fans of the Halo series may notice a reference to a long-running Halo-inspired machinima in the Halo Infinite technical test. The reference is the latest in a long line of nods to Rooster Teeth's Red Vs. Blue coming from 343 Industries.
Halo Infinite's multiplayer will be a major focus of the game, with the return of fan-favorite features new and old. The game will feature the ability to change the color of the player's companion AI avatar, and one color scheme has a name that may feel out of place to new players.
The color shown in the Halo Infinite technical test is a shade of pink the game calls "Lightish Red." The name is odd at first, but as it turns out it is a reference to the Red Vs. Blue machinima series that is primarily created inside of the Halo games. In Episode 16 of the series, titled "A Slightly Crueler Cruller," a character by the name of Franklin Delano Donut is made fun of by his squadmates for wearing pink armor, and responds by referring to the armor as "lightish red."
The reference is indicative of the connection 343 Industries tries to maintain with the Halo fanbase, and continues the tradition of in-game references to Red Vs. Blue. All the way back in 2012, a popular fan-made mode for earlier Halo games based on a throwaway joke from a 2005 Red Vs. Blue episode was officially added to Halo 4, Halo: Reach, and was in Halo 5: Guardians until its removal in 2018. "Grifball" was created by Burnie Burns and Gavin Free from Rooster Teeth, the studio behind Red Vs. Blue itself, and expands a small joke the character Sarge makes about killing Grif into a full gamemode often compared to rugby.
The Halo series and the Red Vs. Blue machinima spawned from it have always had overlapping fanbases, and this latest reference is just one in a long line of interconnected creators and communities. Red Vs. Blue was an incredibly popular series in Halo's prime and started before YouTube even existed, giving it a legacy almost as long as Halo's. With Halo Infinite's release window possibly coming soon, it will not be long until players can finally see if 343 Industries can make this the best Halo yet.
343 Industries is listening to Halo fans to make Halo Infinite great, and references to the fans and fan content show that the team appreciates the series' followers. New mechanics like the grappling hook could bring dramatic and fun changes to fan modes like Grifball and Dodgeball, bringing new life to the community.
Halo Infinite launches later this year for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.