It’s fair to say that 343 Industries’ free-to-play jump into Halo Infinite has not gone down well. On launch, the game was stuck with few maps, no Forge, bafflingly slow progression, egregious skin prices and horrid desync issues. With Halo Infinite Season 5, not only have 343 remedied almost every previous issue with the game, but they have provided fans with a content-rich free multiplayer environment that may actually last the years Halo games used to.
At its core, Halo Infinite Season 5 is a fresh start for the controversial sequel. The customisation system has been largely overhauled, allowing any helmet to be used on any base, or Armor Core, as well as making even more coatings compatible across multiple sets. It’s not the full mix-and-match that fans have been asking for, but it is a welcome update.
The new season also sees some much-needed improvements to the game’s front-end UI. You can now see your remaining XP boost time after a match, you’ll no longer accidentally spend credits on battle pass level-ups, and everything is streamlined in ways that just make sense. It helps that everything looks a little nicer, too.
However, the main additions here come in the form of brand-new content, including two stellar arena maps. While an additional Big Team Battle map would’ve been nice to see, the inclusion of arena’s new Prism and Forbidden are brilliant and beautiful places to skirmish in, especially after playing so many flat-looking Forge maps.
Set in a Sangheli blamite mine — the source of those iridescent Needler crystals — Prism reminds you just how good Halo Infinite maps can look outside of the Forge toolkit. Drenched in glowing pink crystals with stunning bounce lighting, Prism is definitely the most beautiful map 343 has ever created.
It’s a tight arena map with tunnels leading into open spaces littered with clamber-ready ledges. Everything feels expertly connected making for tense games of Oddball and King of the Hill as your foes can come from you from any which way.
Prism is thematically tied together by its power weapons with the enhanced campaign-found Pinpoint Needler, an auto-homing, more destructive version of the iconic weapon that decimates foes. Usually found in Super Fiesta, the alien weapon’s use as a map-controlling power tool is as brilliant as it is terrifying. Combined with the map’s active camo, you can easily become an unstoppable force of nature. Not me, though, I’m bad at games.
Forbidden is the other new map added in Halo Infinite Season 5, a run-down temple that is expertly designed for Capture the Flag and Land Grab modes. The map’s long corridors and open sightlines make it a sniper’s delight, but there’s still more than enough spaces for the parkour-heavy gameplay Infinite strives for with large gaps and plenty of hidden passages.
For those who love to play on Arena modes, Halo Infinite’s new maps are stunning to play on. Not only do they look brilliant, but they’re also some of the more inventive and well-constructed maps 343 has ever built. As someone who has wanted to see more of the Halo universe, basing a map in the Needler mines of Sanghelios is literally a dream come true.
Halo Infinite Season 5 also adds a new mode, Extraction, which returns from Halo 4. Two teams of four battle to extract zones and convert other teams’ zones. It’s an enhanced King of the Hill, but one where zones can be reset, making defense much more stressful. It’s a great inclusion to the sandbox, but one that is weirdly missing from the season’s debut Prism and Forbidden 24/7 lobby.
Alongside this, 343 has also added campaign AI to Forge, allowing you to create entirely custom missions and Firefight matches within Halo Infinite. As the first time Halo has ever had campaign AI available in Forge, this is an amazing inclusion, opening up the possibility of Infinite’s sandbox tenfold. Imagine Titanfall-esque modes where killing grunts and brutes can offer points towards your team’s score. There’s already a grappling hook!
Fan-made Firefight modes are already available, adding in waves of enemies and even a limited selection of boss fights. While only Adjutant Resolution is available to fight right now as a boss, the future may add other bosses such as Tremonius, Escharum and even The Harbinger. If Halo Infinite campaign DLC ever happens, even those bosses could be added. At the moment, it’s just fun to fight Halo’s iconic enemies in brand-new locales, especially with weapons like the Bandit that aren’t available in the campaign.
As someone who has thoroughly enjoyed Halo Infinite since Season 3, this latest update for the free-to-play multiplayer game is staggering. After two years of stumbling through the live service graveyard, Halo finally has its groove back. Its combat is slicker than ever, its weapons are punchy and its movement is as satisfying as ever.
Infinite’s problem was never gameplay. 343 Industries had already crafted one of the most satisfying shooters on the market, it just needed to perfect the content around it. There are still definitely improvements to be made, but Halo Infinite Season 5 is certainly a bulltrue lunge in the right direction.
