Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite was meant to be both a restart and a return to roots at once, and in many ways it succeeded. Master Chief wakes up in space above the shattered Zeta Halo ring, where the remnants of human forces are now ruled over by the Banished faction. For the first time in the series, the campaign takes place in a semi-open world — you move freely across the ring's surface, liberate outposts, take down commanders, and thereby unlock reinforcements and fast travel. Crucially, the rhythm of classic Halo hasn't been lost in the process: firefights still play out in spacious arenas where weapon choice, grenades, and shield management matter.

The biggest new addition is the grappleshot, which lets you pull yourself to a ledge, yank a weapon out of an enemy's hand, or catapult yourself straight into a fight. It has changed movement so much that combat has opened up into the vertical plane, and the player is suddenly far more aggressive than before. Other tools are added on top, such as a portable shield or an area scanner. Multiplayer launched as a standalone free-to-play component and returned to a fair foundation where everyone starts equal and better weapons are picked up on the map. The campaign can also be played in co-op, which the developers added after launch, and a Forge mode is available for building custom maps.

Technically, the game also came out on Xbox One and holds up decently smooth even there, at the cost of lower resolution and sparser vegetation. Sound and music are excellent across all versions, though — the return of the iconic choral theme ranks among the strongest moments in the whole series. Reception was largely very positive; reservations targeted the repetitive nature of open-world side activities and how slowly multiplayer content filled out after launch. As a campaign, though, Infinite still plays today as the best Halo in years and a great point to return to the series. Collecting the audio logs scattered across the ring further fills in the story behind the human forces' defeat and the fate of characters the Chief never meets.