During the just ended gamescom, everyone(including us)expected a re-reveal of the Halo InfiniteCampaign, so as to finally show us the state of the game after 10 months of additional development since the postponement of last November. Unfortunately, this was not the case and many were disappointed by this absence.

The Creative Director of the game Joseph Staten therefore wanted to intervene on the subject explaining that the team is currently working hard to refine the game in view of the launch, and they did not want to take away from this activity the time necessary to prepare a demo, refine it and fix any bugs. Staten also wanted to reassure fans that the game is in excellent condition and that it will arrive in perfect shape at the launch on December 8th. Here's what he had to say in a message he wrote during the flight back from the event:

"I'm currently speeding through the lower stratosphere, on an overnight flight back to Seattle from Los Angeles, having just finished representing the great work of the entire Halo Infinite team at Gamescom: Opening Night Live. It's great to finally be able to reveal our launch date,and we hope you enjoyed meeting Commander Agryna, who you'll get to know much better when we start unrolling the story of Halo Infinite Multiplayer from season to season.

Before boarding my flight, I had the chance to read some of the comments online, and I definitely felt the disappointment of not seeing the gameplay of the campaign during the live. I therefore wanted to take this opportunity to (1) shed light on why we chose not to show the Campaign at this time and (2) dispel your concerns about the state of the Campaign at this point in the production process.

As I mentioned in last week's development update, the entire Halo Infinite team is in shutdown mode. This means that we have finished working on the features of the game and are focusing on removing the most priority bugs. We are spending a lot of time playing the title, checking the fixes and, in general, doing everything we can to ensure that the Campaign (and multiplayer!) it works great on all platforms,from an original Xbox One from 8 years ago to a brand new and ultra-equipped PC. This is a very challenging task, even for a large and experienced team.

In many ways, closing a game is like being in the final approach to landing a plane. And if you forgive me a bit of aeronautical fanaticism, the whole team is essentially in a "sterile cockpit", namely: we are at a critical stage of flight that is Halo Infinite, so it is extremely important to avoid distractions and stay focused only on the critical tasks of the mission. For the Campaign, this means making every effort to make sure that the open and adventure-filled experience that you will all play on December 8th is the best possible. And gameplay demos and trailers not only require a huge effort to be done right, but also subtract development cycles from bug fixes and other game closure tasks.

I would like to share, however, that just before I left for Los Angeles I had to pause a full playthrough of the Campaign that I started at the end of last week. I'm aiming for a 100% run, which means completing all the primary and side missions, finding all the collectibles, etc. I've played the Infinite Campaign multiple times, but every time I do I always find something new hidden on Zeta Halo. Sometimes these are small pieces of environmental storytelling, such as an abandoned but desperately defended Marine reconnaissance post, high on a lonely mountain (fortunately, the Banished did not find the fully charged S7 sniper rifle that the Marines had left). Sometimes these are combat encounters with subtly refined scripting,for example a UNSC advanced base of operations that seemed abandoned... until I heard the laughter and the most mockery elite with energy sword and concealment, while I ended up in their trap.

I hope all of you are comforted by the fact that, honestly, I can't wait to go home, turn on the build and press "Continue" on the Campaign. No matter how many times I play it, but Halo Infinite remains, basically, super fun to play and we can't wait to share all the fun with you through the captured gameplay, trailers and other content once we've brought this plane safely to the ground. But for now, it's time to focus in the cockpit, while we take care of the landing. Please keep your seatbelts fastened and thank you for your patience and support. "

The last two paragraphs are certainly very reassuring and we can only hope that the game will also make us the effect it did to Joe! Stay tuned for all the news!