Halo Infinite won’t be open-world, but will have dynamic weather, enemy encounters, more

There’s a brand-new Zeta Zone from 343 Industries that has updated content on the upcoming Halo Infinite. As we prepare for the fall 2021 launch, it’s time to take a look at some of the new information released today. Firstly, there will be no open-world design, instead, with the team focusing on dynamic day/night cycles, weather patterns, and more engaging enemy encounters. What all does this mean? Keep reading to find out more.

Halo Infinite will have unique day/night cycles that affect enemies and more

The biggest thing that we’ve taken away from the latest Zeta Zone is that Halo Infinite will be quite dynamic. This includes day and night cycles, which even affect the enemies that players encounter when going out into the world. This means things like Grunts will sleep more at night, Phantoms will utilize searchlights once the sun goes down, and things are overall more active during the day.

Even the wildlife get in on this unique cycle, with some bioluminescent creatures only appearing at night. Speaking of wildlife, they won’t be hostile either, so you’ll just have true enemies to worry about this time around.

While not open-world, you’ll have more freedom in a Halo game than ever before

Someone asked the question to the team, “What will stop players from grabbing a Banshee and going for an objective further in the story?” Well, 343 responded that the team encourages players to do this, stating that there’s more freedom in Halo Infinite allowing you to play how you want, even though there’s a sort of “linear touch” to the story.

This also includes exploring parts of the map as if it was open-world, even though it’s not. You’ll go through different biomes including the primary one, the Pacific Northwest. There are swamps and “Deadlands” to explore, and there are even some caves to venture into… if you’re into that sort of thing.

Weather comes into play just like the time of day

While we considered the time of day above, 343 also said that the weather will affect gameplay when going through the world of Halo Infinite. There will be things like snowstorms and thunderstorms, which will be added post-launch. These will affect how cutscenes happen, what combat engagements you get into, and more.

9to5Toys’ Take

While we still don’t have a hard timeline for Halo Infinite’s launch, the positive thing to take away here is that it hasn’t been delayed further. If anything, we know more about the game now than we did last month, and that’s progress in the right direction. I’m excited to load up Halo Infinite on my Xbox Series X to see if it lives up to the hype, but only time will tell if that’ll happen this year or next.

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