Halo Infinite Review – Xbox Series X Campaign & Multiplayer
Halo Infinite arrived on Xbox Series X as 343 Industries’ attempt to reset the series after the mixed reception of Halo 5: Guardians, and for the most part it succeeds. This review covers the single-player campaign and the free-to-play multiplayer suite as they run on Xbox Series X today, after several years of post-launch patches, a co-op campaign update, and the addition of Forge mode. The short version: Master Chief is back in a form that feels closer to the Bungie-era games than anything the franchise has produced in over a decade, even if the open-world structure and a thin story don’t always live up to the moment-to-moment combat.
The campaign opens with Master Chief adrift in space after the UNSC Infinity is destroyed by the Banished, a splinter faction of former Covenant soldiers led by the brute warlord Atriox. He’s rescued by a Pilot, voiced with a nervy, relatable energy, and dropped onto a ring-shaped Halo installation called Zeta Halo. From there, the game shifts from the tightly scripted corridors of earlier entries into a semi-open world divided into several large regions, each stitched together with outposts to liberate, propaganda towers to destroy, and a scattering of collectibles and audio logs that flesh out the ring’s history.
Story and Setting on Zeta Halo
Chief is joined for most of the campaign by a new AI construct known only as “the Weapon,” built to resemble Cortana but explicitly not her. Their relationship is the emotional spine of the story, and it works better than the marketing suggested it might: the Weapon is capable, a little naive about the world outside her intended purpose, and gives Chief someone to bounce dialogue off after Halo 5 largely sidelined him. The larger plot, involving Cortana’s fate and the Banished’s plans for the ring, resolves less cleanly. Several major threads are clearly being saved for sequels that, as of this review, have not materialized, and the campaign’s final act compresses a lot of exposition into a short space.
What the story lacks in closure, the setting makes up for in atmosphere. Zeta Halo looks genuinely alien and ancient, with Forerunner megastructures breaking through pine forests and cliffsides in a way that sells the scale the series has always aimed for. Weather effects, long sightlines, and a score from Gareth Coker that leans on the franchise’s classic Gregorian-chant motifs while adding its own orchestral identity all contribute to a campaign that’s more consistently gorgeous than any previous Halo, especially in its performance mode on Xbox Series X.
Escharum and the Banished
The Banished make for a more interesting antagonist faction than the Covenant remnants of Halo 4 and 5. Atriox himself gets relatively little screen time, but his lieutenant Escharum, an aging brute who respects Chief as a worthy opponent, gets a proper arc and a genuinely well-staged final confrontation. The smaller enemy roster, split between Banished brutes and a rebuilt Covenant faction called the Harbinger’s forces later in the campaign, gives combat encounters more variety than Halo 5’s largely Promethean-heavy midgame.
Gameplay and Combat
Combat is where Halo Infinite is at its best. The sandbox borrows the classic Halo rhythm of shields, grenades, and melee, but adds two tools that change encounter design meaningfully: the grappleshot and a proper equipment wheel. The grappleshot lets Chief close distance instantly, yank weapons and grenades out of enemy hands, or reposition to higher ground mid-fight, and it’s rare that a firefight doesn’t benefit from having it available. Threat sensor, drop wall, and the repulsor round out the equipment options, and switching between them on the fly is fast enough that it never breaks combat flow the way some other open-world shooters’ gadget menus do.
The weapon sandbox mixes returning favorites (the MA40 assault rifle, the battle rifle, the energy sword) with new additions like the pulse carbine and the ravager, a grenade launcher that fires arcing plasma bursts. Weapon variety is generous enough that fights against mixed enemy groups reward switching loadouts rather than settling into one dominant strategy, and the game’s generosity with ammo pickups on Heroic and above keeps that variety in play rather than forcing a fallback to whatever’s most common.
Open-World Structure
The open-world layer is the campaign’s most divisive addition. Liberating Forward Operating Bases unlocks fast travel points, vehicle call-ins, and small side objectives, and the loop of clearing a region before pushing into its story mission is satisfying for the first several hours. By the midpoint, though, the side content runs thin: most FOBs offer the same three objective types (a High-Value Target, a Banished propaganda tower, and a small outpost assault), and the open world itself, while pretty, doesn’t reward exploration with much beyond cosmetic unlocks and audio logs. Players who came to Halo for its traditionally linear, hand-crafted level design may find the open sections slower than the campaign’s best scripted set-pieces, several of which rank among the series’ strongest.
Multiplayer
Halo Infinite’s multiplayer launched as a genuinely strong return to form and has only gotten more content-rich since. It’s free to play on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC, funded by a battle pass and cosmetic store rather than pay-to-win mechanics, which keeps the actual gameplay honest. Core modes like Slayer, Capture the Flag, and Oddball feel close to Halo 3’s arena-shooter DNA, with the grappleshot and repulsor from the campaign folded into ranked and social play as situational tools rather than crutches.
Big Team Battle brings vehicles and larger 12v12 maps into the mix, and it’s arguably where the sandbox shines brightest, with Banished tanks, Wasps, and Ghosts giving fights more spatial variety than the tighter arena maps. Ranked play uses a straightforward Bronze-to-Onyx ladder with map vetoes and a fairly conservative competitive settings package, which longtime Halo esports fans have generally received well. The addition of a proper Forge mode and campaign co-op post-launch filled two of the biggest gaps at release, and the community-made maps and modes coming out of Forge have meaningfully extended the multiplayer’s lifespan on Xbox Series X.
Progression and Monetization
The battle pass system drew criticism at launch for slow XP gain tied to challenges rather than match performance, and while 343 Industries has adjusted the pacing since, it’s still a more deliberate grind than some competing shooters. Cosmetic pricing in the in-game store leans premium, and there’s no way to unlock armor pieces purely through play outside the pass track. None of this affects competitive balance, since all unlocks are cosmetic, but it’s worth knowing going in if the goal is filling out a customized Spartan quickly.
Performance and Technical Presentation on Xbox Series X
On Xbox Series X, Halo Infinite supports a Performance mode that targets 120 frames per second alongside a Quality mode focused on resolution and effects. The Performance mode is the one worth using: it makes the grappleshot-driven combat feel noticeably snappier and is a meaningful upgrade over the base Xbox One version this game was designed around at its core. Load times are short thanks to the console’s SSD, and campaign checkpoints are frequent enough that failed encounters rarely cost more than a minute of progress.
Early post-launch patches addressed several bugs around vehicle physics, audio cutting out in cutscenes, and occasional multiplayer desync, and the game has been stable in more recent sessions. Cross-play and cross-progression between Xbox consoles, PC, and cloud gaming are all supported, which matters for a multiplayer suite this social. The one lingering rough edge is texture pop-in during fast grappleshot traversal in the open world, which is noticeable but rarely disruptive.
Halo Infinite Verdict
Halo Infinite succeeds at the thing it needed to succeed at most: making Halo’s combat feel great again. The grappleshot and equipment sandbox elevate encounter design well past where Halo 4 and 5 left it, the multiplayer is a legitimately strong, generous free-to-play package, and Zeta Halo is the most visually striking ring the series has built. The open-world campaign structure and an unresolved story hold it back from greatness, but as a shooter to actually play on Xbox Series X, it’s one of the platform’s most reliably fun games.
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Campaign | 8/10 |
| Multiplayer | 9/10 |
| Performance (Series X) | 9/10 |
| Overall | 8.5/10 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Halo Infinite worth playing on Xbox Series X in 2026?
Yes. The campaign holds up well thanks to its combat sandbox, and the multiplayer has grown substantially since launch with Forge, campaign co-op, and a steady stream of seasonal content. Running in Performance mode on Xbox Series X, it remains one of the smoothest-feeling shooters on the console.
Is Halo Infinite multiplayer free on Xbox Series X?
Yes, multiplayer is free to play on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC. Only the campaign requires a purchase; multiplayer progression and cosmetics are funded through a battle pass and in-game store.
How long is the Halo Infinite campaign?
A focused playthrough following the main story missions runs roughly 10 to 12 hours. Fully liberating Forward Operating Bases, clearing propaganda towers, and collecting audio logs across the open world extends that closer to 20 hours.
Does Halo Infinite have co-op campaign on Xbox Series X?
Yes. Campaign co-op for up to four players was added after launch and runs on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, with support for online play and split progression through the open world.
What frame rate does Halo Infinite run at on Xbox Series X?
Xbox Series X offers a Performance mode targeting up to 120 frames per second and a Quality mode that prioritizes resolution and visual effects over frame rate. Performance mode is the better choice for both campaign and multiplayer.
Does Halo Infinite have Forge mode?
Yes, Forge mode arrived in a post-launch update and gives players a full map and mode editor. Community-created content built in Forge is browsable in-game and has become a significant source of ongoing multiplayer variety.
Is there a Halo Infinite sequel or story continuation planned?
Halo Infinite’s campaign leaves several plot threads open, including Cortana’s fate and the full scope of the Banished’s plans, but 343 Industries has treated Infinite as an ongoing live platform rather than announcing a traditional numbered sequel to continue those threads.
Can I play Halo Infinite campaign without playing previous Halo games?
Yes, though some emotional beats around Cortana and the Weapon land harder with knowledge of Halo 4 and 5. The core plot of Infinite is introduced cleanly enough for newcomers to follow without prior series knowledge.
What is the grappleshot in Halo Infinite?
The grappleshot is Master Chief’s signature piece of equipment in Infinite. It hooks onto terrain for fast traversal, can yank weapons or grenades directly out of enemies’ hands, and is usable in both campaign and multiplayer.
Is Halo Infinite better than Halo 5?
Most Halo fans consider Infinite a clear improvement over Halo 5, particularly in campaign structure, tone, and the return of Master Chief as the sole playable protagonist rather than splitting time with Spartan Locke’s squad.
Conclusion
Halo Infinite is the strongest the franchise’s core combat has felt in years, wrapped around an open-world campaign structure that’s ambitious but occasionally thin, and a multiplayer suite that has matured into one of the best reasons to own an Xbox Series X. Anyone weighing whether to jump in now is getting a much fuller game than the one that launched, with Forge, co-op, and years of balance work included.