What you need to know
- 343 Industries has announced that playlists for Slayer, Fiesta, FFA, and Tactical Slayer (SWAT) will be added to Halo Infinite's multiplayer on Tuesday, Dec. 14.
- Variants of the Slayer game mode will be added to the Slayer playlist at a later date.
- Adjustments are also being made to Halo Infinite's challenges in this update, with the developers aiming to remove or adjust challenges that are too difficult or mode-specific while adding challenges that reward good performance.
- The developers are also looking into issues players have had connecting to Big Team Battle and Ranked matches.
Update, Dec, 14 (1:00 p.m. ET): 343 Industries has added the four new multiplayer playlists to Halo Infinite, and has also adjusted several of the game's challenges.
In a new update on Reddit, 343 Industries Community Director Brian "Ske7ch" Jarrard has announced that Halo Infinite's multiplayer will be updated with a Slayer, Fiesta, FFA, and Tactical Slayer (SWAT) playlist on Tuesday, Dec. 14. These playlists will be available to all players across both the Xbox and PC platforms. This follows a previous announcement in which the developer announced that playlists for Fiesta, FFA, and Tactical Slayer would arrive before 2022, while a Slayer playlist would be added shortly after the New Year.
According to Jarrard, the developers decided to delay adding variants of the Slayer mode into the Slayer playlist so that it could be released alongside the other playlists. "As I noted last week, the team's original plans for a Slayer playlist included a variety of new variants that weren't going to be ready in time to deploy before the holiday break," Jarrard said. "To address player feedback for Slayer in the near term, we'll be releasing a basic Slayer offering to start and will look to bolster and expand with more variants in a future update."
Jarrard also confirmed that some adjustments to Halo Infinite's controversial challenge-based progression system are coming with the update, including a new category of challenges that are intended to reward strong in-game performances. "Next week's update will also include adjustments to challenges including removing some particularly frustrating mode-specific ones, reducing some requirements for others, making the weekly ultimate challenge less intensive, and adding brand new challenges specific to the new playlists," wrote Jarrard. "Personally I'm eager to check out a new challenge category that's based on accumulating player score."
Finally, Jarrard noted that the developers are looking into resolving some connection issues players have been having in the Big Team Battle and Ranked playlists. According to an update from the Halo Support Twitter account, an update will be given when 343 Industries has more to share.
Halo Infinite's multiplayer is free-to-play and is available on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One consoles, and Windows PCs. It's a ton of fun, and paired with the Halo Infinite campaign, it's easily one of the best Xbox games available right now.
Update Dec. 14 (1:00 p.m. ET) — New Halo Infinite playlists now live
At Halo Infinite's reset time on Dec. 14, 1:00 p.m. ET, the new Slayer, Fiesta, FFA, and Tactical Slayer (SWAT) playlists were all officially added to Halo Infinite's multiplayer and are now available to all players when matchmaking. Additionally, the developers also pushed their adjustments to Halo Infinite's challenges live, meaning that players should be able to complete weekly challenges with less difficulty and frustration.
This update is part of 343 Industries' continued effort to improve Halo Infinite's multiplayer experience with more content and a less frustrating progression system, which are two aspects of the experience that most fans criticized when the multiplayer launched on Nov. 15. The developers have plans to continue adding more content to the game and to make adjustments to Halo Infinite's progression systems as needed, though we currently don't know any specific details about what the future holds.
A new Great Journey awaits
Halo Infinite's campaign has a great story, incredible gameplay, and breathtaking presentation. It's everything a Halo fan could want, and we can't recommend it enough.
Halo Infinite's multiplayer has launched a few weeks early, compiling its classic arena multiplayer modes, expanded 24-player Big Team Battle, and more into one free-to-play package.
