Recent Leak Reveals Initial Internal Roadmap For Halo Infinite Including Story DLC

As of this past October, Xbox Game Studios is reapproaching its current insight for the Halo franchise. Although 343 Industries has released a handful of entries for the series, it is restarting the entire operation as a new entity – Halo Studios. Not only that, but the firm has also confirmed that it is dropping the proprietary Slipspace Engine for Unreal Engine 5 on all future projects.

However, this is a complete 360 compared to the initial intentions for Halo Infinite prior to its release. Half a decade ago, Phil Spencer has went on record acknowledging that the series is expected to be around for another decade with the mindset behind Halo Infinite. At the same time, there was chatter of possibly releasing the game in portions prior to the original delay for the game back in 2019.

According to Rebs Gaming, a new internal presentation gives clear understanding to what the intentions for Halo Infinite incited for the next few years. Off the bat, it is revealed that the multiplayer would be released first. Similar to how Halo Infinite did officially arrive, but, it was initially intended to ship a full year before the actual story campaign.

“This is meaningful early access to the game they will play for years,” one slide in the report reads. Additionally, the multiplayer also highlighted large-scale game modes for Halo Infinite including the codenamed battle royale ‘Tatanka’ and Warzone. Concept art for Halo Infinite revealed a scenario depicting Warzone with the Crusher – a cut adversary which was initially planned for Halo Infinite early on.

Reiterating on the space between online and story, the campaign was framed to release a full year after the multiplayer early access in 2020. In that, 343 Industries did list features that were part of the framework including an ‘evergreen campaign’ alongside ‘yearly updates’. This is what segues to the matter of DLC that would expand beyond the core storyline in Halo Infinite.

With the promise of story add-ons for the years to come, the first to kick off this was ‘Atriox’s Reign’. Of course, starring the antagonist introduced in Halo Wars 2 & earned the spotlight in Halo Infinite, the DLC would have introduced a new Warlord system that would be enacted on Zeta Halo as you must dismantle the hierarchy to diminish Banished control. It would also introduce a new section of the map – The Bastion.

Concluding the report, Rebs Gaming emphasized that the biggest takeaway from the leaked presentation reveals the features cut from Halo Infinite are the most necessary for Halo as a franchise to expand. Both large-scale game modes & story DLC have been requested for years even before Halo Infinite’s announcement and still yet to be realized remains troubling to fans that still stuck around.

Are you surprised with the turnout of Halo Infinite from its original plans?