Halo Infinite is probably the most anticipated Xbox exclusive coming to the Series X. But fans of the Halo franchise were left with a bittersweet taste after the gameplay reveal last week. On the one hand, the showcase introduced many new gameplay mechanics. But on the other hand, the graphics shown in the gameplay demo didn’t look particularly… next generation. 343 Industries finally responded to the controversy surrounding the Halo Infinite graphics.
Questionable Halo Infinite graphics explained
The Xbox Games Showcase opened with the highly anticipated Halo sequel, Halo Infinite. The opener subsequently garnered a lot of criticism for the graphics, that looked questionable at best. They weren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. But we’re all so hyper up about the endlessly more powerful next generation of consoles, that we collectively expected a bit more fireworks.
Halo Infinite dev 343 Industries fully acknowledges that the graphic fidelity of the gamplay trailer wasn’t up to par. In a blogpost the company does seem to have listened to the feedback.
In many ways we are in agreement here – we do have work to do to address some of these areas and raise the level of fidelity and overall presentation for the final game. The build used to run the campaign demo was work-in-progress from several weeks ago with a variety of graphical elements and game systems still being finished and polished.
That does beg the question: Why did the devs use outdated systems from several weeks ago? With a gameplay reveal, you’d want fans to be blown away, not underwhelmed, right?
New insights
In addition to the explanation by 343 Industries, the company also seems to have discovered new ways to improve the graphics of Halo Infinite. They mention a very detailed video by Digital Foundry. Said platform does a lot of in-depth analyses of games. With the Halo Infinite video (seen below), they exposed many huge problems that appear to negatively impact the graphics.
Although it’s not an explicit reaction to the video, the blogpost does suggest that the devs learned new things about their game.
While some of the feedback was expected and speaks to areas already in progress, other aspects of the feedback have brought new opportunities and considerations to light that the team is taking very seriously and working to assess.
Art style and ‘Craig’
Additionally, the company has responded to some concerns over the art style of Halo Infinite. They emphasize that the graphics and certain creative choices have to be considered as separate. For Halo Infinite, the devs have decided to go for ‘legacy’ aesthetics. In other words, old school environments, textures, and character models.
“Craig is thick-skinned and seems to be taking it in stride though all of this fame and attention seems to be going to his head”Lastly, the Q&A touches on Craig. The deceased enemy Brute nicknamed Craig has sparked a huge meme-off on the internet. When you pause the video at the right moment, a hilariously indifferent, low detail Brute can be seen. Being a good sport, 343 Industries writes: “We’ve all laughed very hard at the nonstop stream of Craig memes the community is cranking out.” If Craig will someday get his own Halo spin-off, is as of yet unclear.
Image credit: Microsoft/343 Industries