Bringing Back The Vibrant Colours
The Halo Infinite reveal from last week was met with a mixed reception, to say the least. Although many were hyped out of their minds for a new Halo game, some were very concerned about the graphics of the game, stating that it looked past-gen. Today, the devs came out with a statement on HaloWaypoint to shed some light on the decisions that were made.
The most important question of course was the matter of graphics, which some people actually found very appealing. And, indeed, it turned out to be a conscious decision on the developer’s part. In recent gaming, there has been a trend to push back away from the “gritty realism” present in a lot of games (especially shooters), and people have made comparisons of how grey Halo has become over the years. The new aesthetics of Halo Infinite is attempting to reclaim that voice.
Unyshek, a Halo community manager, stated, “Based on our learnings from Halo 4, Halo 5, and Halo Wars 2 – along with strong community feedback – we decided to shift back towards the legacy aesthetics that defined the original trilogy. With Halo Infinite, we’re returning to a more ‘classic’ art style.” He further clarified by saying, “This translates to a more vibrant palette, “cleaner” models and objects with less “noise”, though it doesn’t mean less detail. While we appreciate this may not be everyone’s personal preference, we stand by this decision and are happy to see it resonating with so many fans around the world.”
Of course, a good aesthetic doesn’t mean much if it isn’t executed correctly. So the article goes on to also explain that they are working on retouching some of the assets that may have looked low-fidelity to do their vision justice.