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‘Halo Infinite’ will allow you to push enemies off the game’s ring

It's part of the game's more sandbox design ethos.

343 Industries/Microsoft

When Halo Infinite comes out later this year, it will allow you to do something you’ve not been to do in any previous game in the series: push enemies off the edge of the Halo ring itself. The tidbit of information came from the latest community Q&A Infinite developer 343 Industries held this week (via IGN). A fan asked the team if it’s possible to knock enemies off the game’s new Zeta Halo setting. “The answer is yes,” said Gameplay Director Troy Mashburn, who went on to share how he did exactly that while playing the game recently.

He says he was driving Halo’s iconic Scorpion tank when he encountered a Wraith. “Out of pure luck,” he pushed the Covenant tank over the edge, allowing him to watch it slowly tilt back and fall into the abyss. “So absolutely, you can push things off the edge. It’s going to be difficult, but if you manage to time it just right, you’re going to see it,” Mashburn said.

The fact you’ll be able to do that in Infinite reflects a return to a more sandbox-style design philosophy on part of 343 Industries. The team says they were inspired by levels like The Silent Cartographer from Halo: Combat Evolved to design the game in a way that you could approach an objective with all the tools at your disposal.

To that end, the world of Halo Infinite will be more immersive, with the game featuring a full day and night cycle that will affect how things play out. At night, for instance, you’ll see more shield Jackals and you may even catch Grunts sleeping on the job. Following the game’s fall release, 343 plans to even add snowstorms and thunderstorms. There will also be multiple biomes for players to explore.

The studio ended up prioritizing some of those features ahead of ones players have come to expect from the series. Dual-wielding, for instance, won't be in the game at launch. "We can't do everything," Lead Sandbox Designer Quinn Delhoyo said.