343 Industries has announced that Halo Infinite will launch sometime in Fall 2021, and revealed further details on certain aspects of Halo Infinite, including graphics, art, and customization.

The developer also shared several new screenshots from Halo Infinite, showcasing its new and improved visuals.

In a new blog post, 343 Industries director of art management Neil Harrison said:

“[T]he reality is that the art and visuals weren’t at the bar we hold for Halo – even in a work-in-progress state.

Much of the feedback we heard from the community aligned with our own views and work we were already committed to doing around things like indirect lighting, material response, foliage and tree rendering, clouds, level-of-detail transitions, and character fidelity.

I can confirm that the facial animation on NPCs were not fully implemented in that [summer] build, which resulted iN Craig’s incredibly deadpan/lifeless look.

There’s been further work done on the material fidelity and more variety added for Brute faces, we’re also working to add some hairdos and beards which was something we hadn’t gotten to in July.

So, whilst we have come to love our dear old Craig, he’s certainly undergoing a significant makeover.”

As for online customization, 343 also discussed its new “coating” system in Halo Infinite, where players can “define colour, wear and tear, patterns, and materials on a region-by-region basis” on a spartan or anything in a game whether it’s armour, weapons, vehicles, or even fuel barrels.

This is finally good news for Halo fans, as several important people in development have left the project (including one of the directors). The game was originally supposed to launch in Holiday 2020 but has been delayed to sometime in 2021.

In the meantime, stay tuned on Kakuchopurei for all the latest news on the Xbox Series X, and check out all the latest updates and developments on all things Xbox to date here.