It's been a longer road than most anticipated for Halo Infinite. Originally intended to be a launch title for the Xbox Series X/S, the game received plenty of criticism during it's 2020 reveal, leading to a year long delay to give 343 developers more time to deliver on that next gen Halo vision. Since then, updates on the title have been largely more positive, leading to a stronger buzz and anticipation from the community. At long last, the first round of actual testing has begun, giving players their first chance to experience the multiplayer side.
While not yet considered a beta test, some members of the Halo Infinite community were invited to partake in what 343 industries is calling a Flight test. Essentially, a small amount of players would be able to check out a very limited and 2 month old version of the online Bot Slayer mode. Teams of four players would be going up against AI bots in a team deathmatch style mode on a limited pool of maps. While things started out easy enough on day 1 with low skilled bots, 343 has been adjusting AI abilities which has led to some wild moments.
As the community has continued to reach engagement goals during the first flight test, new updates have been added to the experience, essentially making the bots more deadly as the test proceeds. The most recent update this weekend added the ODST level bots, which has certainly added a new level of challenge. These bots are much smarter and craftier than what was available previously. Not only is their movement more human like, avoiding grenades and seeking out the various item spawns around the map, but they crouch shot, flank, and even use well timed melee strikes after dropping player shields.
Online players have seemingly been surprised by the level of intelligence these bots display, capturing moments during matches and sharing them on places like the Halo subReddit. On player shows a bot using the grappleshot to get in close to use the gravity hammer, while another gets flanked and promptly taken out by the ODST bot.
Some players have even captured some unintentional and surprising moments during the test as well. After getting taken out by a bot, AfixeVI noticed that the AI then started to make a teabagging style motion, likely due to a glitch more than actually attempting to disrespect them.
For all of the hardships that these bots can cause, Connerbluedude captured a strange moment during a match. After getting in close, they go to melee strike an enemy bot, who then seemingly gets almost pulled apart by a black hole. The body contorts and gets pulled around before landing on the ground.
Even with such a limited test on an old build, the experience has largely been a positive one, with many fans saying Halo: Infinite feels both modernized while keeping those old school elements that made the classic games so appealing. With more tests and a true beta planned in the coming months, there's plenty for fans to look forward to ahead of the game's launch.
Halo Infinite releases in fall 2021, for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.