E3 2019: Halo Infinite Staying Dark Until E3 2020

Microsoft showed more of Halo Infinite during the Xbox E3 2019 briefing today and confirmed it’ll be a launch title for the new Xbox Scarlett console in 2020. It’s going to be a long time until Microsoft shows more of the game, however. Studio director Chris Lee said in a blog post that the team is staying dark on the game until E3 2020 a year from now.

“E3 2020 will be a big moment for Halo Infinite,” Lee said. “Until we reach that destination in 2020, we’ll continue to embrace the mystery and wonder of Halo and the endless opportunity and potential of this engine, this hardware and, most of all, this team.”

Lee said he’s aware that people want to “see and know more about Halo Infinite,” but unfortunately, that’s not going to happen soon.

A lot of people were expecting Microsoft to show off Halo Infinite gameplay at E3. That didn’t happen, with Microsoft instead showing off a new trailer, “Discover Hope,” which showed Master Chief in a bad spot after the events of Halo 5: Guardians.

Lee said again that Halo Infinite is being designed as a “spiritual reboot” of the Halo series. It is a game with “a vision set firmly in the future, but a foundation rooted deeply in the things our team and our fans have fallen in love with–the scope, the scale, the heroism, and the moments of spectacle and wonder that brought players together on couches, at basement LAN parties, on Xbox Live and in esports arenas for years.”

Halo Infinite has a new art direction, too, and you can pick up on a few of these flourishes in the new story trailer. “The new design for the Master Chief is, by far, the highest fidelity we have ever created to leverage the power of next generation platforms, but with a design that is Master Chief to the core and takes inspiration from the past, with color and texture and detail unavailable to us till now,” Lee said.

“This same attention to our design for the Chief is true of everything in Halo Infinite. You can see examples in the interior of our UNSC Pelican, the design of our pilot, and even details down to the UNSC logo on his flight suit. Halo Infinite is intended to embrace all that our fans have grown to love in our franchise, while evolving it to something even more visually stunning for players.”

As for Halo Infinite’s music, 343 Industries has hired Joel Yarger (God of War and Uncharted) to be the music supervisor for Halo Infinite. The game’s audio director is Sotaro “Tajeen” Tojima, and he worked with Yarger and composer Curtis Schweitzer, to make music that “stay[s] true” to the iconic music that Marty O’Donnell and Mike Salvatore wrote for the original games.

In terms of Halo Infinite’s story, Lee said it will be a story continuation from Halo 5 and Master Chief’s wider adventures, and it will feature new characters like the pilot from the new Discover Hope trailer. That being said, Lee explained that 343 is designing the game to be “perfect starting point for new players too. This story will mark the beginning of a new chapter and challenge for the Chief, but it will also respect and continue threads that led to this point.”

“If you’ve never played a Halo game before, this will be a great place to jump into the story,” Lee said. “You’re arriving in the middle a universe at war, with a sense of history underlying your entry into the world. But it will also feel fresh, full of potential, and new adventure.”

As for what the power of the new Xbox Scarlett can do for Halo Infinite, Lee said in an Xbox Wire post that it will allow the team to make the game they’ve “always dreamed of.”

“By harnessing the power of our new Slipspace Engine and combining it with the power and promise of Project Scarlett, we plan to build the Halo game we’ve always dreamed of, and share it with even more players, competitors, adventurers, and creators than ever before,” Lee said.

Halo Infinite will play on the Xbox family of consoles (and PC), meaning it will be on Xbox One S, Xbox One X, and the new Scarlett system.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2019-halo-infinite-staying-dark-until-e3-2020/1100-6467561/