343 Industries Hasn’t Offered a Date For the Fix, But a Promise Is a Promise
With Halo Infinite’s release date set for tomorrow, players are understandably excited. They’ve waited long enough for a new entry in their favorite franchise, and reviews are looking favorable! But if they encounter something they’d love a second dose of, they’ll have to wait a little longer. Because, as it turns out, there’s no way to re-play any missions you enjoyed previously. You’ll need a new save file for that.
Infinite is Halo’s first venture into the open world genre, and the mission structure saw an overhaul. It was once a level-by-level gameplay structure. Now, we have a set of missions and objectives to tackle. And while that certainly has its advantages, one thing it loses is the ability to organically re-play some especially fun sections.
Few open world titles offer anything like this. Not Elder Scrolls, not Far Cry, nothing. Assassin’s Creed has something similar, but that only exists because the game’s unusual premise allows for it. Halo Infinite isn’t living inside a set of memories, so 343 Industries won’t be able to pull that trick. But after hearing fan outcry, they intend to try something similar.
“We haven’t announced a date but that is being worked on,” 343 Industries associate creative director Paul Crocker said in an interview with The Verge. A response like that seems to indicate that the feature isn’t a high priority. Still, an answer this definitive can’t be ignored.
With this news, we can officially add “replaying missions” to the “we’ll add it back in later” pile that 343 Industries has constructed for itself. Campaign co-op, forge mode, dedicated playlists for popular multiplayer modes, proper custom games support… the list is rather long. Not the best place to be for a beloved feature, but hey, it’s better than nowhere.