On Wednesday, 343 Industries said that Halo Infinite’s next Winter Update, launching on November 8th, will include campaign network co-op, mission replay, and a number of other new features, including an open beta for the Forge and a new 30-tier Battle Pass.
Since its release in December of last year, Halo Infinite has received a lot of positive feedback, but there are still certain additions that players want to see included. Even though it had been known for over two months that split-screen co-op, a staple of the Halo franchise since the original game, would not be included in Infinite, these additions are now making their way into the game.
Given that Infinite is the first semi-open world campaign in the Halo series, as opposed to the series’ discrete, mission-based campaigns in the past, the subject of how 343 Industries will handle co-op in Halo Infinite has been a recurring one in the games’ community of players.
It was highlighted in the Winter Update Visual Document by Campaign Lead Designer John Mulkey that this rule also applies to Spartan cores, weapons, and souvenirs. This means that in a network co-op game, even if you have a Spartan Core and I don’t, we can still go to that Spartan Core and acquire it by activating it.
Mulkey explains that at the start of a Fireteam session for campaign network co-op, all skulls gained by each player in their respective games will be available to pick from, including the elusive Spartan Core, which is awarded to those who have not yet obtained it.
As a means to aid co-op players in their exploration of the game’s semi-open world outdoor environment, 343 Industries has created a radius-based system. “We went to the largest base that we have in the game,” explains Mulkey, “and then bas
ically made the [maximum allotted space for players to be apart from one another] double that.”Players will also be able to skip narrative sequences without interfering with other players’ sequences, trigger a mission replay, fast travel to a new location, and switch off shared mission markers.
As an incentive for players to return to previously inaccessible portions of missions, new co-op and mission replay awards are being added.
Halo Infinite’s upcoming Winter Update, which is scheduled for release on November 8th, will include the aforementioned features, as well as the Forge open beta, two new official Forge maps called Argyle and Detachment, a free 30-tier Battle Pass, a new multiplayer mode called Cover 1-Flag, upcoming multiplayer events in December and January, and Match XP.