What you need to know
- 343 Industries recently showed off Halo Infinite's campaign co-op in a developer livestream.
- The stream highlighted how up to four players can play in co-op at once, making shared progress through the campaign together and unlocking items like collectibles and Skulls as a team.
- The Mission Replay feature was also shown, which allows players to replay previous missions with all of their upgrades. It's also possible to have two in-progress missions at any given time.
- Friendly fire is enabled during co-op, and players will not be able to venture more than 1,000 feet away from one another.
- The beta test for Halo Infinite's campaign co-op and the Mission Replay feature is expected to begin on July 15, though this date could change if there are issues with the beta's rollout.
Ahead of the official beta test for Halo Infinite's upcoming co-op campaign, developer 343 Industries has shown off gameplay of the mode, as well as a look at many of the systems that players will be interacting with and taking advantage of while playing with their friends. The VOD of the stream can be watched on the official Halo YouTube channel as well as the official Twitch channel.
During the stream, the developers demonstrated how Halo Infinite's network co-op supports up to four players playing through the campaign at once — just like the co-op available in previous Halo games. However, unlike previous iterations, Halo Infinite's version of cooperative multiplayer allows everyone in the fireteam to make shared campaign progress. Prior to launching campaign co-op, all connected players can designate a save slot to save progress to. Then, the game will automatically launch the furthest mission that all players in the party have reached. During that session, all forward progress made will be saved on everyone's designated save slot. Players can then load that save for both solo and co-op play in the future.
Additionally, Halo Infinite campaign co-op features an enemy scaling system that adjusts enemy behaviors in relation to the number of players in the co-op session, ensuring that the game remains engaging regardless of the size of your fireteam (ammo crates get larger as well). All players also get credit for any collectibles picked up by anyone, and if someone in the group doesn't have a collectible, everyone else in the party will be able to activate it and "collect it for them." When starting a session, all gameplay-altering Skulls collected by players in the fireteam will be selectable as well.
To give players more freedom in Halo Infinite's open world, the developers have given each member of co-op fireteams the ability to venture up to 1,000 feet away from their allies. Once you cross this threshold, though, the game will kill you for "going AWOL." 343 Industries also made the decision to enable friendly fire in co-op, so you'll need to be careful while using explosives.
In co-op, the fireteam leader will also have access to the Mission Replay feature (this is also available when playing solo). By opening the TacMap and selecting a previously-played mission, you and your friends can replay it with all of the upgrades you've unlocked so far. You also have the option of swapping to a different mission mid-session without losing progress in your current one, with Halo Infinite supporting up to two missions with saved checkpoints at once.
Ultimately, co-op looks pretty impressive, and the arrival of Mission Replay is great, too. The beta test for these features is expected to go live on July 15 for Xbox and PC players, though this could change if there are issues with the rollout. Make sure you review our Halo Infinite co-op beta guide for information on how you can get access to the test.
