Developer 343 Industries has offered a closer look at the upcoming Halo Infinite multiplayer preview weekends. Yes, weekends. The next previews will take place across back-to-back weekends starting on September 23. In a new Inside Infinite blog post, the team went over Big Team Battle, which will finally be a playable mode in this new preview. The team also went over player progression in Halo Infinite, since that was a point of concern from players, as well as showing off a new weapon.
For the most part, the mode most should be looking forward to is Big Team Battle — but it won’t start right away. The preview that begins this Thursday will instead focus on PvP Arena, which means you’ll finally be able to matchmake against fellow players. There will also be a new Training Mode, and the Weapon Drills is returning. The first weekend begins Thursday evening and lasts until Monday at 1 PM ET.
Following the first weekend, the Halo Infinite preview is all about Big Team Battle. It’s back, baby, and it goes live on October 1. Big Team Battle has been a staple mode for hardcore and casual players alike. Its selection of wide-open sandbox maps has offered Halo fans over the years plenty of opportunities to squish people while driving Warthogs, or create head holes with sniper rifles at long range.
Halo Infinite multiplayer preview — Big (ger) Team Battle, progression, and a new boomstick
There are some clear changes with BTB in Halo Infinite, mostly with player count. Unlike BTB from before, which had eight players on two teams each, Halo Infinite has matches of 12v12 — similar to Warzone in Halo 5. It doesn’t appear that map sizes have been increased. But the team writes that the new player count “maintains that classic BTB pacing that we all love while increasing the possibility for fun player engagements in all parts of the map.”
The Halo Infinite team also addressed the concerns around progression in the game. Unlike other online games, progression in Infinite revolves around completing challenges. You earn experience points by following progression paths, which can include challenges like winning matches, destroying enemy vehicles, killing using a certain weapon (like a rocket launcher), and more. There will be weekly and daily challenges, along with “consumables” that help you earn more XP toward your progression. As far as having more options to earn XP, the team wrote that it’s something it’s actively exploring, and we look forward to continuing to evolve the experience in future seasons post-launch.
Along with all the new details, 343 showed off a new weapon for Halo Infinite. The preview will introduce players to the Banished Shock Rifle, seen above. I don’t know what it does yet, but it looks nasty.
The next Halo Infinite multiplayer preview begins on September 23. For more details (it’s a lot), check out the blog.
