Halo Infinite has made a number of changes to the beloved series, but one alteration, in particular, has caught the attention of many of the game’s players: the grunts. Specifically, their outlandish behavior, which has not been typical in past titles. Those who have been a part of the Halo universe for a while will remember when these little guys were nothing but cowards. Apparently, the last few years have done something to give these pawns the confidence they needed all along.
Lead narrative designer Aaron Linde recently gave some details regarding this massive change. “One thing that I’m really glad to see people noticing is the higher degree of confidence in the grunts. We wanted to convey a sense of meaningful change for them as part of the slightly-more-egalitarian Banished, where they have more equity—or at least more than they did in the Covenant, where they had none—and more philosophical buy-in on their part as a result. They’re still cowards, and still treated terribly by their peers, but they’re on more even footing with the others, even if only constitutionally. And you’ll hear that reflected by the other species from time to time as well, particularly the Elites (‘go, tiny warrior!’),” he stated.
Players are calling Infinite the funniest Halo title to date, and Linde couldn’t be happier. “For a comedy writer this is about as gratifying as a game launch could be, so I’m deeply grateful to our audience for sharing their favorite moments and all the kind words they’ve slung at us. It’s been overwhelming in the best of ways,” he said.
Halo Infinite was released on December 8, 2021. The title is available to play on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S and on Xbox Game Pass. The title’s multiplayer mode broke the record for Xbox Game Studios on Steam with over 270,000 concurrent players upon release. Currently, Halo Infinite is hosting the Winter Contingency event until January 3, 2022.