Back when Bungie finally stepped away from the Halo franchise to work on Destiny, fans were curious how 343 Industries would helm the franchise moving forward. Halo 3 and Halo: Reach were perfect endpoints for the series, at least in that particular moment. That being said, it would never truly be the end of Halo, as 343 industries made its debut with Halo 4 just a couple years after. The fourth entry was when rifts truly started to form in the Halo fanbase, further exacerbated by Halo 5: Guardians.
It was inevitable that fans would have issues with 343 Industries' interpretation of the series Bungie had once started. 343's development team had a strong desire to do what Bungie did with Halo 3 previously: revolutionize the franchise in big ways. As a result, a lot of the core concepts and mechanics began to shift far away from what fans were typically used to from Halo games. Halo 4 was controversial for sure, but Halo 5 solidified a massive divide between 343's version of the Halo franchise and the fans of traditional Halo.
Injecting High Sci-Fi Lore Into Halo Games
At face value, 343 Industries should be praised for attempting to tell a much more complicated and lore-heavy Halo story in Halo 5: Guardians. At the same time, Halo 5: Guardians falls into similar problematic storytelling that a game like Final Fantasy 15 does. Too much of the game's plot relies heavily on deep Halo lore established in many of the novels in the extended universe. While Halo 4 had similar lore issues with injecting heavy aspects from the Halo extended universe, the game at least did so without doing away with too many core elements of previous games.
Master Chief was still the central protagonist, but many of the story elements and characters were adapted and changed to reflect a new narrative approach from 343 Industries. Halo 4, and subsequently Halo 5, introduced several concepts from the novels in Halo's expanded universe that progressively moved the franchise towards a multi-faceted sci-fi experience. 343 aimed to tell a more complex story with Halo 5, but ended up confusing fans of the original games with elements unfamiliar to everyone except the hardcore fan niche.
Halo 4 introduced the Didact character from Forerunner lineage, and while the character's importance wasn't too understated in the game, there was still an air of mystery about him. Players only recognized him if they read Halo: Cryptum or any of the other Forerunner Saga books. Even so, it wasn't until Halo 5: Guardians were this lore focus would become a more prominent issue. All of a sudden Master Chief was teamed up with Blue Team, a prominent crew of squadmates from Chief's past that was never mentioned in the mainline games. Spartan Locke's identity and his team was made a complete mystery in the lead up to Hal0 5. Justifying Fireteam Osiris' massive screen time was nearly impossible, which was a big reason why Halo 5's story landed flat for so many who just didn't have enough context.
Over-Complicating Traditional Halo Multiplayer
Outside of narrative disconnects, subsequent Halo games also started to make some seriously controversial mechanical changes. For other mainstream shooters, implementing mechanics like sprinting, tactical equipment, perks and special abilities were basically a requirement to differentiate from competitors. Halo games, as much as they were futuristic sci-fi, were fairly traditional shooters that didn't have these features on purpose. Bungie got close to breaking that tradition with the addition of equipment and armor abilities in Halo 3 and Reach, but they didn't entirely detract from Halo's gameplay loop or multiplayer experience.
343's Halo games emulated more of a Call of Duty-esque approach when it came to gameplay, tacking on different elements to shake up Halo's formula. Hal0 4 made some significant changes like permanent sprinting abilities, loadouts and armor abilities, new vehicles like Mechs among other things. Halo 5 took gameplay several steps further in that direction, with inherent boosted dodges on every character, aiming down the sights for nearly all weapons, Spartans could even utilize a ground pound ability on foes.
While there certainly are fans who enjoy this new kind of multiplayer, traditional fans deemed the new Halo multiplayer unrecognizable compared to traditional Halo gameplay. All these mechanics basically eliminated any elements of proper positioning and tactics, as players could dash away from any elements of danger. Any enemy encounters became far more hectic than they needed to be, and time-to-kill was sped up to presumably make up for the breakneck pace that Halo multiplayer had now adopted.
Where Halo Infinite Falls on the Scale
As for Halo Infinite, at the moment it's hard to say where it falls on the scale. 343 Industries is attempting to use Infinite as an opportunity for a spiritual reboot to the Halo franchise, but that may not necessarily be the case in execution. Halo Infinite is still introducing new movement mechanics like the grappling hook, even though it's unclear if that equipment will be strictly for the campaign or also in multiplayer. Elements like sprinting and special equipment are also returning, which presumably be implemented across the board. Some of the dashing/dodging mechanics and ground pound from Halo 5 weren't shown, so Infinite may be striking some kind of middle ground.
Hopefully Infinite will be able to find the right balance for all Halo fans to enjoy. Most of the mechanics 343 Industries has implemented thus far have proved to be contentious. Of course the desire to revolutionize the Halo franchise is a righteous but tenuous task for 343, and so far Halo's new developer has had a rocky go at it. Expansive Halo lore is for the novels and animated side content, not in the mainline games. Fans have been pushing back because they don't want a Halo game that chases after the frantic fast-paced nature of games like Call of Duty. As long as 343 recognizes that moving forward, Halo should be able to course correct for the next iteration.
Halo Infinite is in development for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.