Halo Infinite won't have assassinations at launch even though 343 love them
Sorry, sneaky Spartans
With all the Halo Infinite information now flying about, 343 is not so stealthily approaching that late 2021 launch window. Your Spartan sneaking capabilities will be similarly out the window at Infinite's initial launch, it turns out. 343 Industries have said that you won't be bopping your opponents in the back of the head for those extra special kills during multiplayer. Assassinations are good fun and all, but 343 have found that they often get turned off due to the disadvantage they create. Bringing assassinations back is already on their radar, but they really want them to "feel meaningful" when they return.
This detail came up in a chat with multiplayer assocciate creative director Tom French during the livestream prior to Infinite's big technical preview at the end of July.
"[Assassinations] are not in for launch," French said. "We actually really love assassinations... but what happens at a lot of levels is people just turn them off because there's a gameplay disadvantage to it."
French recounts seeing a great assassination play during a tournament match in which they were unintentionally turned on. It was a great moment, but French says they're often left off. It sounds like 343 would like to find a way for assassinations to not feel like something that needs to be left out of certain matches.
"One of the things we really wanted to do is take a step back and how do we think about how [assassinations] fit into Infinite gameplay loops," French continues. "When we bring them back we want them to be back and fit right into our sandbox and the loops of the game and bring them back in a way that really just feels meaningful so that they're always an accessible tool but also kind of a flourish moment that people have."
This all followed a bit of other chat from French about ways Infinite will be onboarding new players without overwhelming them. Halo Infinite will have AI bots for you to play against and test your skills. It also has weapon drills that French helped show off earlier in the same livestream.
Even though they won't appear at launch, 343 say that assassinations are already on their radar for things they want to add. They do plan for Infinite to have quite a long life span, remember, with battle passes and free multiplayer mode and all those other things that co-op and PvP shooters have these days. No battle royale mode, they've claimed, though those rumors have gotten new fodder thanks to datamining done during the technical preview.
Ta, IGN.