343 Industries and Xbox Game Studios have released the latest Halo Infinite August update preview, detailing to some extent the new features and improvements coming to the sci-fi multiplayer shooter. With the ongoing Season 4: Infection that is said to have been greatly received, the developers are now focusing on this month’s update and hoping to please the player base with plenty of additions and especially community requests.

The highlight is the introduction of a new map, called Dredge, with inspiration from Halo: Reach’s acclaimed map Countdown. But you can also expect a lot of small upgrades including death cam improvements, and quality-of-life changes coming to Forge, the Halo Infinite’s content creation tool.

The Halo Infinite August patch is coming next week, and here is what you can expect to see when it lands.

Halo Infinite August Update Preview:

Dredge

Our newest map, Dredge, is entering Halo Infinite’s lineup next week! With inspiration directly from Halo: Reach’s popular map Countdown, this forged homage is sure to make a lasting impression. When diving into the map for the first time, players can expect a new take on the scenery and refreshed gameplay flow.

Starting next Wednesday, August 9, you’ll be able to play Dredge all day long in the Dredge 24/7 playlist!

Community Requests

You asked. We answered.

In addition to a new multiplayer map, the Halo Infinite team has really been focusing their efforts on top community requests. Let’s take a look at the feedback topics they went after!

Improved Pelican Vehicle Drops

After cracking open the code for Pelican vehicle deliveries in Big Team Battle (BTB), we found a few different systems that used specific markers that worked together to deliver vehicles. While predictable, the outcome was not quite the same as the consistent, symmetrical vehicle drops that Halo
fans typically prefer.

To bring the Pelican deliveries closer in line with those expectations, we’ve improved the system to deliver the same vehicles on both sides of the map in the same wave.

Please note: due to different Pelican flight paths, there may be a difference in the exact timings of delivery.

BTB Fireteam Improvements

In another effort to improve the BTB experience, the team also tackled a common piece of community feedback around intro cameras. Now, Big Team Battle matches will prioritize placing the members of your Fireteam in your in-game squad of four players. That means during the intro camera sequences at the start of each game, the line up shot with four Spartans will also prioritize showing members of your Fireteam.

Extermination

There are not many feelings that can match the rewarding sensation of taking down an entire enemy team and hearing Jeff Steitzer say, “Extermination.”

With the introduction of the Elimination and Attrition game modes in Halo Infinite, there was a desire to help make that medal moment even more special by attributing it to Overkills that helped end a round. However, many of you expressed that this made it feel too tucked away and asked for it to return to all game modes – and that request was heard loud and clear.

We’re happy to say that with the launch of the August Update, the Extermination medal will be available in all multiplayer modes. We look forward to you all sharing clips of your favorite clean sweeps online!

Death Cam Improvements

While this topic was a bit more niche, we saw the posts and comments asking for improvements in this area and the team was happy to jump on it.

Our reasoning for going with static death cams was to help ensure a fair environment in which a team only gathered information that was earned. However, we heard the feedback around the static death cams and we went after it for this update.

Starting next week, after you’ve fallen in combat, you’ll be able to rotate your death cam to look around while spectating teammates – much like in previous titles. We expect this extra bit of freedom will encourage even better teamwork and improve communication while players wait to respawn.

Additionally, to help make sure you can spectate your teammate’s even faster, we’ve increased the speed at which you can cycle through players on your death cam. Now, with this additional layer of player agency, you should always be able to help a teammate in need.

Reactive Water Plane

Season 4 brought the first appearance of a placeable and scalable water object in Forge – the static water plane. Being a static object, it didn’t react to gameplay interactions such as footsteps, bullets, or explosions and was more applicable for map aesthetics. It was a big step forward for Forge, but we knew that having a reactive water plane would be the next big leap.

Next week, you’ll be able to take that leap with the addition of a scalable water plane in Forge. This new water object will react to players, vehicles, and projectiles just like it would on any of our dev maps!

Forge QoL Updates & Bug Fixes

In addition to the introduction of the reactive water plane, Forge will also get some extra love and polish in this update. A quality-of-life (QoL) update for our Forge menu folders means that creators will be able to expand and collapse all the folders in that section with a single action. Beyond that, the team went after numerous community-reported issues for the August Update.

Source: Steam