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Halo Infinite’s Unreal Engine Rumor Sounds Like Development Hell

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Max Moeller
Last Updated
  • Halo Infinite’s development might be worse than we thought.
  • The game has allegedly switched from Unreal to the Slipstream engine over the course of its development.
  • 343i might drop the Halo ball for the third time in a row.

Halo Infinite is a controversial title. Since the game’s reveal, players have adamantly despised its visuals and gameplay changes. The backlash was so bad that developer 343i has delayed the game away from the Xbox Series X launch into next year.

It appears that Infinite is going through development hell, despite 343 claiming otherwise . If one insider is to be believed, Infinite’s progress sounds more like Duke Nukem Forever than it does a full-fledged, practically unlimited budget flagship title.

Failing to Progress, no Matter the Engine

On a Halo thread at the Team Beyond forums , insider S0UL FLAME claims Halo Infinite was initially in development on the Unreal Engine. The leaker claims to have known this since 2017, alongside information Infinite would take place on a “very important Halo ring” alongside a semi-open world campaign.

Those latter two claims are true, bringing some validity to this leak. Keep in mind this would be the first time Halo is running on a new engine, as the franchise has used a modified version of Halo 1’s Blam! Engine  since its inception. We now know that Infinite is running on a proprietary Slipspace Engine .

halo infinite chief
Chief looks great, but can the rest of the visuals deliver? | Source: Steam 

Since that knowledge, however, S0UL FLAME claims development moved back to the Blam! Engine, which we can assume is what evolved into the Slipspace Engine.

An excerpt from S0UL FLAME’s post reads:

“Several months of different iterations of Multiplayer and Campaign, art design, level design, weapon sandbox, Utility Weapon starts, advanced movement vs classic, all that has been argued back and forth for the last three years. Eventually they came to what we know now, but didn’t spend enough time fully developing the rest of the game”

According to this, what was recently shown off is not representative of the rest of the game. A game, remember, that was meant to release this holiday season. The public’s complaining convinced the team otherwise. Watch this video below to witness the brutality.

Multiplayer was never meant to be free. The game may have launched with a content drought a la Halo 5, and so on.

Halo Infinite is Going Nowhere

If this is true, Microsoft is in a damned if they do it, damned if they don’t situation. Had they not delayed the game, players would have complained about the lacking visuals and unfinished content.

Now that the game is delayed, however, they have no flagship title for a next-gen console, and people are down on the Halo brand once again.

xbox series x
Just how bad will this delay affect the Xbox Series X? | Source: Xbox 

Is this game anywhere near complete? The fact that we’ve seen a less-than-appealing campaign gameplay demo is worrying. Watch the official video below:

There’s no multiplayer footage or really anything to calm our minds. Will 343i finally deliver with Halo Infinite, or will they drop the ball for the third time in a row?


Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.