In the latest update on HaloWaypoint, the developers from 343 Industries have addressed the community’s unhappiness about the graphics and visuals shown in the campaign demo. And while the positive feedback far outweighs the negative, the team wanted to share a bit more context.
There are two key areas being debated about: overall art style and visual fidelity. Based on feedback and the team’s learning from Halo 4, Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2, the developers decided to shift back towards the legacy aesthetics of the trilogy and stand by this decision:
With Halo Infinite, we’re returning to a more ‘classic’ art style which was a key message going back to the very first reveal that garnered enthusiastic and positive responses. This translates to a more vibrant palette, “cleaner” models and objects with less “noise”, though it doesn’t mean less detail.
The second discussion involves visual fidelity with negative feedback noting flat characters and objects, simplistic and plastic-like, lighting feeling dull and flat, and object pop-in. Fans even offered homemade examples of how the content can be changed. In many ways, the team agrees with feedback: there is still a lot of work to be done to address some of these areas and raise the level of fidelity and overall presentation for the final game.
other aspects of the feedback have brought new opportunities and considerations to light that the team is taking very seriously and working to assess:
“We don’t have firm answers or outcomes to share yet but the team is working as quickly as possible on plans to address some of the feedback around detail, clarity, and overall fidelity. The team is committed and focused on making sure we have a beautiful world for players to explore when we launch.”
