Take Down The Banished And Reclaim Halo Zeta In Halo Infinite's Campaign Mode, Now Live

After six years of development and a delay that pushed it from being a launch title on the Xbox Series X|S, Halo Infinite fully launches today, with the addition of the campaign mode that accompanies the already-launched free-to-play PvP multiplayer mode.

Halo Infinite once again sees players step into the combat boots of the inimitable Master Chief, as he explores the ringworld Zeta Halo, taking down Banished installations and appropriating them for his own use, all while searching for Cortana after the events of Halo 5.

The mission is clear.

Step into Master Chief’s armor in the Halo Infinite campaign now: https://t.co/5BRrAOUqDM pic.twitter.com/rIUlPIY2Ou

— Xbox (@Xbox) December 8, 2021

343 Industries head Bonnie Ross called the launch a "spiritual reboot" and praised her team for "saying we weren’t ready for 2020 and then spent the last year polishing and refining." Head of Creative Joseph Staten chipped in to say that the "game is launching at an incredibly tough time," referencing the COVID-19 pandemic. Echoing the sentiment of many people over the past two years, he said that he hoped the game would make you "feel like a hero, who might be battered and bruised, but who always finds the courage to rise and fight and win."

While we're certainly excited to see the next chapter in Master Chief's adventure, we'd be lying if we said we weren't a little hesitant, too. Given its lengthy, and delayed development, talk of its reduction in scope (down 2/3 from its original size, according to Bloomberg via IGN), and the hiccups that the multiplayer beta has encountered, it's tough for anyone but the most diehard Halo fanatics to be willing to leap headfirst into the mania. I'm oddly hopeful that everything will turn out right, but seeing as how other big shooter franchises have fared recently (looking at you, Battlefield 2042), I'll remain cautiously optimistic until the first few player reviews roll in.