The upcoming Halo Infinite technical preview is the first step towards an open beta. 343 Industries will be conducting a number of such tests and previews to ensure that the game eventually launches as intended; with as few bugs, glitches, and balancing issues as possible. While the developers will appreciate feedback during these technical tests, the main reason to run them is “testing and stressing the technical side of Halo Infinite.”
The Halo Waypoint blog detailed out the team’s overall plan for ‘flighting’ and betas but mentioned that the first technical test will specifically focus on bots and “a slice of the new Academy experience.” The preview aims to focus on these aspects to help the team gather scale data as they introduce new features to the series.
The specific focus areas for the technical test are:
- Arena gameplay vs. Bots
- Arena Maps
- Academy’s Weapon Drills
- Menu & Battle Pass UI
- New Waypoint experiences on web, iOS, and Android
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These areas will be tested via the Bot Arena, a playlist that puts four players against four bots in Arena maps, Bazaar, Recharge, and Live Fire. The technical test will start off easy so that players can acclimatize themselves with the gameplay and the bots, but things will gradually start getting more challenging.
To get you up to speed and used to certain weapons, Halo Infinite will include a Weapon Drills feature which you’ll also be able to try out during the technical test. You can get your hands on the MA40 AR, MK50 Sidekick, CQS48 Bulldog, the Needler, and eight other weapons during this time. The devs kept things competitive by sharing their Weapon Drills high scores internally, and have now asked fans to do the same.
Also discussed in the blog were the game’s battle pass, challenges, and customization systems. The test will gauge how intuitive the UI feels and whether players can seamlessly navigate through certain sections. Some invited accounts will be given a set amount of in-game credits to try out the battle pass system, however no unlocked items will carry over to the final game.
Head of Creative for Halo Infinite, Joseph Staten, also gave us a brief preview to how the bots will behave. “ODST and Spartan Bots will effectively dodge grenades and rockets (Recruits and Marines will not),” they said. “All Bots use equipment, and higher-level Bots will Grappleshot to you to finish you with a melee kill (I’ve seen them do this with Energy Swords which is amazing and terrifying). Bots keep track of power weapon spawns and sprint to claim them. But most importantly: Bots are fair; we don’t change their health and damage values per difficulty level; they just get smarter and more resourceful the higher you go.”
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