Halo Infinite Does Not Need A Battle Royale Mode
Since the announcement of Halo Infinite it has felt like there has been a lot of discussion about whether the multiplayer game should include a battle royale mode. It seems that anyone who doesn’t bundle a battle royale mode with any game will be labelled an idiot on Twitter. They’ll post pictures of anime or football characters to their profile picture and proclaim that the game is dead.
Halo Infinite developers 343 industries have said in the past that they don’t plan to create a battle royale mode. However, leaks from Halo Infinite both confirmed and disproved the existence of such a mode. We are currently in Schrodinger’s Battle Royale with 100 players who could or may not be hot-dropping onto an adapted version Halo 3’s Guardian map. We are a month away, and the answer seems as uncertain as ever.
Although we don’t know if Halo Infinite ever will have a battle royale game mode, there are enough reasons to believe that a Halo BR mod within Infinite is possible. Infinite’s increased movement options would make BR map traversal much more enjoyable than other games. The core of Halo is about acquiring weapons and dominating the map. Although random spawns of those weapons is a different story, the point remains.
For a variety of reasons, however, I think Halo Infinite does not need a battle royale game mode. First, adding a battle royale game mode because everyone else is doing it doesn’t align with Halo’s M.O. It’s not possible. This series debuted with the bold subtitle “Combat Evolved”, which was a moniker the original Halo more than lived up too.
Except for Alien: Resurrection, which used the twin stick approach to first-person shooters as well, no FPS game at that time offered campaigns or gameplay as complete or strategic as Halo. This trend continued through Halo: Reach before Bungie handed over the reins of 343 Industries. Although Halo 4/5 and 5 were good, they didn’t compare to the older releases.
Halo Infinite wants to return Combat Evolved to its roots. While an open-world approach to the campaign is not the most original thing in the world it’s a step towards the evolution of the entire franchise. The approach to battle passes, on the other hand, is an evolution to multiplayer gaming. What kind of evolution could a battle royale game offer? It would be like jumping on a trend too soon.
This is why Halo Infinite should not be playing battle royales. They seem to be losing their relevancy. Although I don’t think Fortnite and other battle royale games are dead, the actual battle royale format, as it has existed over the years, is not the star feature it was in the past. Fortnite has acknowledged this, adding new features such as Creative Mode, Party Royale, and Imposters to their game. This is a shameless cash-in on Among Us, and the new trend in social deduction games.
If 343 Industries wants to add a battle Royale mode to try to increase clout, then they would be better off adding some social deduction mode. It feels more relevant than BR mode at the moment. It seems futile to add a battle royale mode to Halo Infinite, especially considering that 343 Industries could wait for Forge mode to be released and let the community make it anyway.
This is not meant to be disparaging of the idea of a Halo Battle Royale. It has the potential to be a great game, but it shouldn’t be Halo Infinite. I don’t want the game’s population to be split between this mode and the rest. This would leave some of the more unusual or bizarre modes, such as Oddball, Infection, or Grifball, to be lost. You can’t find any games that play TDM or BR. It should be a standalone game, with battle pass progression able to cross over if necessary, but it should remain separate from Halo Infinite’s main MP experience.
Regardless, if 343 industries thinks a BR game mode would be a) fun or b) more profitable, they will likely do it. I don’t think Halo Infinite needs a battle royale game mode. I also don’t like it. For me, Halo is the last multiplayer shooter that hasn’t jumped on the battle royale train. I hope it’s because the series doesn’t need or want to follow trends. It’s not because there haven’t been any new Halo games in years.
