Slice, the online pizzar-ordering app, has rolled out a new promotion where you can get free DLC for Far Cry 6 and a chance to win a PlayStation 5 by ordering with them.
Now through October 21, everyone who orders pizza through Slice will receive the Peso Pack for Far Cry 6. And for this week only, everyone who orders through the app gets entered into a raffle to win one of five PlayStation 5s that could be delivered to your door alongside your pizza pie. Eating pizza may finally be your ticket to securing a hard-to-find next-gen console (but the odds aren’t great–sorry).
Peso Packs come with in-game currency that you can use to buy stuff in Far Cry 6. Pizza companies taking part in this promotion will also offer a “custom Far Cry 6 pizza,” and we can only imagine what this might be.
This is all part of Slice’s new Slice Gaming brand, which was announced on Monday. This will “give independent pizzerias the opportunity to incentivize their local customer base with video game perks, codes, and exclusives rewards,” according to a press release. Ubisoft is the first partner in Slice Gaming’s rollout.
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Far Cry 6 – Watch Giancarlo Answer Fan Mail
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“We are proud to be partnering with Slice and the independent pizzerias in the Slice network,” Ubisoft marketing boss Trevor Shackelford said. “Over the past year and a half, we have all been reminded how important it is to support small businesses and independent restaurants. We’re excited to be able to work with Slice to drive more business to local pizzerias while rewarding our community for eating local.”
Far Cry 6’s October 7 release date is right around the corner. For more, check out the video above in which Giancarlo Esposito, who plays the main villain, answers fan mail.
It’s another incredible week for gaming and tech deals, especially with these latest discounts. eBay has got another incredible discount code on with its trusted sellers (including Argos, ShopTo, AO, and more). You can use code PURCHASE4LESS to get 20% off the likes of PS5, Xbox, and Switch games and accessories. This includes the brand new Midnight Black PS5 Pulse 3D Headset, with preorders available for £76.68 using the promo code.
Players getting into the Halo Infinitebeta test this weekend will only have a few limited windows to enter matchmaking with other players–but the good news is the game’s new Training Mode, part of the overarching Academy experience, will be available to play at any time over the whole weekend. Here’s a bit more detail on what the mode involves and how it works.
Training Mode is one of the Halo Infinite Academy’s three game modes, the others being Weapon Drills, which is also available in the beta test, and Tutorial, which offers players more of a narrative introduction to Halo’s world. Training Mode looks to be the standout of the three, offering a full sandbox for players to experiment with loadouts against bot enemies, able to change whatever settings they want on the fly.
For those asking, Training Mode is a solo gameplay experience where you can load into MP maps and play with and against bots. During the game you can customize all sorts of gameplay options (player loadout, bot skill, etc.) via the Training Options menu.
In the September game update on Halo Waypoint, the Academy team described what Training Mode is, and how it’s set to become a vital part of the Halo Experience.
“Training Mode started as 1v1 Bot experience for players to warm up with more items from the Halo sandbox on our maps. It grew from there to provide a larger literal sandbox where players can experiment with their loadouts and a variety of Bot/player options,” developer David Ellis said. “Do you want to practice your sniper shots on Behemoth with unlimited ammo, zero risk of dying, and then swap to the Shock Rifle and add Bot teammates without reloading the map, playing in matchmaking or delving into Custom Games? You can do that with Training Mode.”
While the customization options for Training Mode will be quite extensive at launch, the Academy team indicated that even more options may be added at a later stage, especially as they start to understand how players are engaging with the game.
“We’ve discussed ways we could give players more control over the difficulty of the Bots they fight against in Training Mode than we’re currently offering for launch,” said Sara Stern. “We’d love for players to be able to toggle off certain behaviors (such as grenade throwing) they didn’t necessarily want to deal with, or to combine the aspects of different difficulty levels to create a Bot experience that better fits their needs than our predefined difficulty levels.”
The developers also indicated that multiplayer could be integrated with Training Mode in the future. Training Mode will be playable in its current form in both upcoming beta tests for Halo Infinite. For more information on the playtests, or to find out how to sign yourself up for them, check out our guide here.
In this video, DeVante talks about new rumors involving Quantic Dream and the possibility that they are developing a new Star Wars game.
A member of Battlefield 2042’s development team speaks on the game’s recently delay from October to November and reassures fans that everything is alright.
Later on, DeVante explains Call of Duty: Vanguard’s open beta hacker problem and talks about Splitgate’s plan to include a forge mode before Halo Infinite.
In every Final Fantasy XIV expansion, jobs get tweaked to and fro–often receiving new abilities or a complete change in rotations. In FFXIV’s Letter From the Producer, director and producer Naoki Yoshida and other staff members introduced the upcoming changes to jobs in Endwalker. We detailed the Reaper and Sage gameplay in a separate article, and the info below covers adjustments to existing jobs.
Out of all of the jobs, Summoner received the largest amount of changes. It’s basically a new job–losing its damage over time abilities, which have been an integral part of the job’s gameplay–for new summoning abilities. In any case, have no fear of your favorite job becoming obsolete: Every FFXIV job is viable and can take you to the endgame. That will certainly remain true for Endwalker.
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Now Playing: Final Fantasy XIV Online Endwalker Job Actions Trailer
Tanks
General
Using mitigation abilities at the right times will increase the effects of said ability.
Combos will not be broken by ranged attacks.
You may notice changed numbers for physical attacks, but magical attacks and physical attacks are of equivalent potencies. (See 1:56:08 if you want the full detailed explanation behind this.) Applies to other classes as well.
Paladin
Requiescat will be equally effective no matter how much MP you have remaining.
Confiteor will launch a new three-attack combo.
Gap closer Intervene gets an additional 5 yalm for a total of 20 yalm.
Warrior
Damage up effects can now be triggered and extended by AoE combos. This will make smoother transitions from single target rotations into AoE rotations.
Onslaught and Upheaval will no longer drain the Beast Gauge. Onslaught will also get a new total charge of three.
Inner Release now can trigger a new action. Inner Release’s recast time is also adjusted to 60 seconds now–making its execution more available.
Dark Knight
Salted Earth will now affect the area immediately around you and make a new action available. You no longer have to “place” Salted Earth.
Your Living Shadow is going to get a new action as well, when you receive one of the new job abilities.
Delirium’s recast time will be adjusted to 60 seconds, affected up to three times.
Plunge will get an extension of 5 yalms, for a total of 20 yalms.
Will receive a new action that is a single target defense buff.
Gunbreaker
Savage Claw and Wicked Talon will swap for Gnashing Fang on the hotbar, making combo execution easier and saving hotbar space.
Continuation will be able to be used following Burst Strike.
A trait will raise the number of cartridges raised to three.
Paladin’s gap closer also will get an extension of 5 yalms.
Melee DPS
General
Feint’s effect will be changed to reduce physical damage dealt, and will also reduce magical damage dealt.
Combos will not be broken by ranged attacks.
Dragoon
AoE rotation expanded.
Weapon skill combo rotation execution will make a new action available.
Blood of the Dragon will become a trait, so there’s no need to execute or maintain it.
Spine Shatter will get changed to two charges.
Lance Charge recast changed to 60 seconds, Litany recast to 20 seconds.
Monk
Chakras will now be unlocked at a lower level.
Perfect Balance activates the chakra system and can be stacked up to two. Each stack is charged up every 40 seconds.
When you light up the three chakra slots, Perfect Balance lets you execute Masterful Blitz. The Blitz changes depending on what weapon skills you used while Perfect Balance was active.
True Strike and Twin Snakes will no longer have directional conditions.
Shoulder Tackle will get removed, but a rush movement will get added. You can target a party member to rush over to.
Samurai
Effects granted by Jinpu and Shifu can also be applied by AoE combos.
New actions in the vein of Taijutsu and Tsubame-gaeshi will be available.
Ninja
Actions linked to Raiton, Doton, and Huton will be added.
An action making it easier to apply Huton will be added.
Shadow Fang–a damage-over-time–will be removed.
New actions will be linked to Bunshin as well.
Ranged Physical DPS
Bard
Each of the three songs can trigger a new action that applies a party buff.
Apex Arrow can trigger a new action.
Wanderer’s Minuet and Battle Voice recast times will be adjusted to match 120 seconds.
Machinist
A new action called Chain Saw will be added.
Automaton Queen will get a new action too.
Reassemble will get two charges.
Dancer
Weapon skill effects like Flourishing Cascade will now be shared across single-target and AoE skills.
New actions will be available upon the execution of Technical Finish, Improvisation, and Devilment. Core of Dancer’s gameplay is applying buffs to party members, and the dev team kept the development of Dancer in that general direction for Endwalker.
Magical Ranged DPS
Black Mage
Enochian will become a trait that is automatically applied while under the effect of Astral Fire or Umbral Ice.
Under certain conditions, swapping between Astral Fire and Umbral Ice will make new actions available. In the Job Action trailer, you saw Black Mage execute a new spell that looked like ice and fire were being simultaneously casted.
When casting Fire IV and Thunder, the resulting proc will be extended.
Red Mage
A new action will be available upon execution of Scorch.
Verflare, Verholy, and Scorch will be changed to AoEs, available as part of AoE rotations.
A defensive party-wide enhancement will be added.
Black Mana and White Mana depletion amount will be reduced.
Displacement and Engagement will have the same potency.
Summoner
Significant rework to the job to make the job feel more like a “summoner.”
All actions applying damage over time will be removed.
Can summon Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan–not just Egis.
When summoning each of the primals, the summoner will gain an elemental aether and will switch into different modes.
Updated flow: You will call forth demi-Bahamut, obtain an elemental property, and be able to summon Ifrit, Garuda, or Titan, and fight using the elemental properties of those different summons. Once you’ve depleted those three, you will be able to call forth the phoenix. There is no specific order that you need to call the Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan in.
Physick and Resurrection were almost removed, but both will still be available.
Healers
General
All healers will get new actions that apply single-target buffs.
Offensive spells cast time will be reduced.
Limit break area of effect will be expanded to 50m.
White Mage
A functionally and visually distinct restorative field actions will be added.
Higher tier for Holy Spell will get added.
Fluid Aura will get removed.
Divine Benison will become a charged action.
Astrologian
Diurnal Sect and Nocturnal Sect will be removed, and basic healing actions will be adjusted to have the same effects as they would have while under Diurnal Sect.
A new action called, Neutral Sect, will get added. Under this Sect, there will be barrier effects that you can use.
The effect of Divination will be changed, and the seals used for new enhancements can be applied to yourself.
Redraw will no longer be a Charge action.
Will get a new AoE spell that has both a healing and offensive component, inspired by White Mage’s Holy.
Scholar
Adjusted so that Scholar leans more towards a barrier healer.
Will receive a unique job action that can enhance the party’s movement speed during combat. Same action will also give a damage reduction buff. The speed enhancement will not overlap with sprint.
Will receive an action that gives an enhancement to a single party member.
Endwalker releases on November 19 for PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, and Playstation 5. This expansion will conclude FFXIV’s 10-year story arc surrounding Hydaelyn and Zodiark, but will not mark the end for FFXIV as a whole. You can check out a short interview we did with Yoshida for more information.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a gorgeous-looking game especially in 4k. Here are the first 20 minutes on the PlayStation 5 which showcases Kena’s staff in action, meeting adorable Rot creatures, and learn about the world. We explore the opening area, find treasures, solve a puzzle, and fight our way through some enemies to embark on our journey.
In Bridge of Spirits, you play as Kena, a spirit guide on a personal quest that sees her stumbling upon a deserted village. The village and its surrounding areas are full of the spirits of the people who once lived there, many of whom can’t move on as a result of their individual traumas. Kena’s goal lies beyond the village, but she’ll only be able to reach it if she helps the spirits she encounters.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a third person action-adventure game created by Ember Lab. You’ll play as Kena, a young spirit guide who uses her magical abilities to help deceased people move from the physical to the spirit world.
Kena Bridge of Spirits releases on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC through the Epic Game Store on September 21, 2021.
In the video above, the game is set to Master Spirit Guide, the hardest difficulty in the game, settings rules such as losing courage when getting hit, enemies becoming much more aggressive, and enemies dealing more damage. We conquer the first minor boss in this mode with no hud and no damage taken to up the ante.
Developer Ember Lab’s debut title, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, is out. The PlayStation console exclusive is available for PS5, PS4, and PC (via the Epic Games Store). If you’re jumping in, you may have noticed that Bridge of Spirits is more challenging than the game’s cute art style originally lets on–we’ve got 13 tips to help you be a better spirit guide.
In Bridge of Spirits, you play as Kena, a spirit guide on a personal quest that sees her stumbling upon a deserted village. The village and its surrounding areas are full of the spirits of the people who once lived there, many of whom can’t move on as a result of their individual traumas. Kena’s goal lies beyond the village, but she’ll only be able to reach it if she helps the spirits she encounters.
For those still on the fence, check out GameSpot’s Kena: Bridge of Spirits review, in which Phil Hornshaw writes, “Kena: Bridge of Spirits is ultimately a game about making those connections, just like it’s about making a connection with the game world around you through the Rot. It centers on characters who tried valiantly but failed to help one another, and what dealing with that pain did to them. It’s about exploring a world and seeing what it once was, and helping to restore it again. And while Kena: Bridge of Spirits is full of familiar-feeling combat and exploration, its ability to find different ways to look at those ideas makes for a beautiful, emotional, and exciting journey.”
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Kena: Bridge of Spirits First 20 Minutes Gameplay
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Kena possesses an omnidirectional shield that she can hold for a pretty long time, which, in a pinch, is a powerful defensive measure. But it’s not one that you want to rely on. Kena’s shield should be considered a last resort–something that you use when all else fails and you know you’re about to get hit.
This is because the shield slows Kena down. Early on, this isn’t too much of a problem, but after the opening hours of the game, you’ll start facing groups of enemies, minibosses, and bosses, all of which are both fast and hit incredibly hard. Standing in place and raising a shield may protect you from the first few attacks, but even once it’s upgraded, the shield can’t withstand multiple blows from groups of enemies or combo platters dished out by hard-hitting minibosses and bosses, some of which can smash through Kena’s shield in a single swing.
So early on, get into the habit of parrying, dodging, and jumping to counter and avoid enemy attacks. Parrying is a crucial skill to get down, and one that can come in clutch later down the line–it’s a skill you’ll just have to practice to get better at. Most of the hardest hitting attacks in Bridge of Spirits have a tiny window of opportunity to parry, so having a solid grasp on dodging is good for avoiding those. Jumping can help too, in that smaller enemies and larger enemies that attack with horizontal swings can’t reach Kena when she double jumps. As you play, you’ll naturally begin to recognize patterns and learn whether to parry, dodge, or jump to protect yourself–and since all three of those actions can lead into attacks, they’re much better than just standing still and blocking, waiting for the enemies to stop pummeling you in order to attack.
When All Else Fails, Stun Interrupt
Beyond just defending, Kena can aggressively stop certain attacks too. As you play, you’ll notice that all enemies–including minibosses and bosses–usually have a couple of attacks with long wind-ups. Parrying or dodging these attacks is all about timing, but there is an easier way of avoiding them: arrows and bombs.
Kena’s long-range arsenal can knock enemies out of their animations (in most cases–not all!), which will stop them from using whatever attack they were preparing. Once you unlock new powers, using an arrow is the easiest way to do so, given the speed at which Kena can fire one off. However, bombs (which you unlock later in the game) can typically work too–the key is that you usually have to hit the enemy in the head, which is easier to do with the bow.
There is a big exception to this rule. You’ll see that some minibosses and bosses have these powerful attacks with huge wind-ups–they’re easy to spot because during the wind-up, the enemy emits a red mist. That red is telegraphing a blow that Kena cannot interrupt nor block–you’re only hope is an exceptionally well-timed dodge.
Be Aggressive
Maybe this advice came through in the description of the last two tips, but it’s worth saying: be aggressive. Bridge of Spirits may look like a charming experience inspired by 3D The Legend of Zelda games–and it is, in many respects–but, as mentioned in an interview with Game Informer, many of the developers at Ember Labs are huge fans of the Soulsborne games and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. And that is really evident in Bridge of Spirits’ combat.
In Bridge of Spirits, combat is hard, and the only way to really alleviate its challenge is through Kena’s powerful Rot-based abilities. They are excellent for dealing massive amounts of damage and controlling the flow of battle to give you some breathing room. The only way to use those abilities is by spending Courage, which can most easily be accrued in combat by dealing damage to enemies. There are other ways to gain Courage–on the two easier difficulties, you also accrue it whenever you take damage–but regardless of difficulty, you want to keep attacking and earn more Courage because beyond damage, Courage is also the only way you can heal during a fight too.
So never back off from a fight unless you absolutely need to (like you see an enemy approaching that’s going to self-destruct)–staying in the thick of combat and weakening enemies is crucial for both dealing the most damage and staying alive. Hitting most enemies also knocks them off-balance, so you’ll often avoid most damage by keeping your enemies reeling.
Achieve Ideal Performance
On PlayStation 5, you can determine whether you want to play Bridge of Spirits on Performance Mode or Fidelity Mode. The former targets 60fps at upscaled 4k resolution, while the latter locks the frame rate at 30fps at native 4k resolution.
Though Fidelity Mode makes the game a whole lot prettier, Performance Mode is better from a combat perspective. Sure, the game won’t be native 4k, but you’re getting more frames-per-second, and that makes it a whole lot easier to get that parry or dodge off in the ideal window. It’s not impossible on Fidelity Mode, but it is a bit harder.
Don’t Heal Until You Have To
Kena has a “just one more hit and you’re finished” state. You can tell when you’re one hit away from death by looking at the health bar–it will be red and flashing. Kena will always enter this state before death. So even if she only has a tiny sliver of health left, if it’s not red and blinking, you have at least one more hit before you’re one hit away from dying.
To maximize the effects of healing, it’s better to wait until you’ve entered this state before you send the Rot to grab more health–you can usually only heal a few times each fight, so just healing whenever is not an ideal strategy. Wait until you really need to heal before deciding to heal.
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Kena: Bridge of Spirits Hardest Difficulty Gameplay
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On PlayStation 5, the DualSense controller will vibrate with a soft heartbeat-like frequency when you’re close to a hidden Rot. The frequency will increase the closer to the Rot you are, so while you’re exploring, be sure to take stock of when your controller might be trying to tell you something. Though you don’t need to find all of the Rot, you’ll have to discover at least 65 of them in order to unlock all of Kena’s abilities.
Pulse Attack
Though Kena’s spirit pulse is primarily a tool for solving puzzles, lighting up dark spaces, and unlocking collectibles, it has offensive potential too. You’ll learn about the most useful aspect it has in combat early on–using it will send out your Rot to collect pieces of gold energy on the ground that fills your Courage gauge. And that’s important to remember!
But the pulse can be used for a lot more in combat. Most notably, it causes your bombs to explode, which helps if you don’t want to wait for the bombs to go off or you want to save your arrows (shooting a bomb with an arrow will also blow it up). One of the best ways to deal with a group of enemies closing in is to throw a bomb into the mix and immediately pulse, damaging the group. Just be sure you’re a distance away, as Kena can damage herself with her bombs.
Even The Playing Field
In most combat scenarios, you’ll have to kill all the enemies in order to reveal the source of the corruption and cleanse the area–you know you’re done with combat when enemies stop spawning. However, there are a few moments where you’ll be put into a fight where there are multiple points of corruption you’ll need to cleanse.
In these instances, one or two points can usually be cleansed right from the start and they’ll just keep spawning enemies indefinitely until you stop them. Try to get to these points first and close them as quickly as possible–they usually spawn smaller enemies that are meant to pester you and distract you from the larger main threat. So getting rid of them early on will make the fight so much easier.
The Enemy Of Your Enemy Is (Kind Of) A Friend
There’s friendly fire in Bridge of Spirits. So even though that unfortunately means that Kena can damage herself with her own bombs, it also means that the bigger enemies in the game–especially minibosses and bosses–can damage and even kill smaller enemies. So if you’re having trouble dealing with a group of enemies, try to angle a larger enemy’s attack to strike the smaller enemies around them. Once the herd has been thinned, you can move back in and finish off the weakened stragglers before focusing on the biggest threat.
Aim For Weak Points
The weak points on enemies, minibosses, and bosses are always marked in yellow–you have to shoot them with your bow, as they require a precise strike. Usually, that yellow is a crystalized chunk of amber and shooting them will knock that crystal off the enemy, which transforms into the gold energy that you or your Rot can collect to fill the Courage gauge and use your Rot-based abilities.
There are a few instances where these weak points can’t be shot at immediately–later on in the game, you’ll start running into foes encased in thick armor or rock and the only way to reveal their weak points is to bomb them. One of the bosses encases her weak points in armor too, so if a tough enemy doesn’t seem to have a weak spot, try bombing them. That will usually reveal what you need to hit.
The True Rot Hammer
Early on, you’ll unlock the ability to have the Rot interact with specific flowers in the environment, called Forest Tears, transforming the Rot into a mass that can water crops, clear corruption, and help solve certain puzzles. But it can be used as a weapon, too!
In instances where you can use that ability in combat or use it outside of combat and bring it to a fight, go for it. Both the spinning and slamming action that the Rot can do deal a lot of damage. Be careful though, as any hit–whether to Kena or the Rot–will immediately cause the Rot to scatter. So get in as many hits as you can before the enemy can touch you.
Don’t Be Frugal
You unlock a whole lot of in-game currency throughout Bridge of Spirits. So don’t feel like you have to be frugal when it comes to buying hats and masks for your Rot. You will be swimming in currency throughout the game even if you don’t spend a lot of time looking for secrets and collectibles, so spend at your leisure.
You’ll also earn plenty of Karma points, from killing enemies and doing things like feeding fruit to the Rot or fixing statues in the environment, to unlock new abilities for Kena at a fairly steady rate. You won’t earn enough that you can just buy whatever you want–unless you plan on searching off the beaten path and completing optional quests, you won’t finish the campaign with all of Kena’s skills unlocked. So if you’re not down to explore, you do have to be a bit more selective there. But when it comes to dressing the Rot in cute outfits, the sky’s the limit.
Pay Attention To The Environment
Though a majority of the puzzles in Bridge of Spirits are pretty straightforward, some–both mandatory and optional–aren’t. They had us scratching our heads, anyway.
But we quickly noticed that almost every puzzle incorporates some sort of hint for how to solve it. In most cases, that’s as easy as noticing that there’s a target in the distance, hinting that you’ll need your bow to unlock the way forward. But in a few cases, the hints are environmental–forcing you to look at the world around Kena in order to figure out what you need to do next.
So if you’re struggling on a puzzle, look at your immediate surroundings–are there crystals that look like they’re leading towards something, an altar where items have been displayed in a specific numeric order, or anything glowing blue you could shoot? You never have to leave a puzzle and go somewhere else for a hint towards the solution. If you’re stuck, the answer is somewhere there in front of you.
Two more Halo Infinite multiplayer beta tests are set to take place this month, one each for 4v4 Slayer and Big Team Battle. 343 Industries ran through all the specifics in its latest installment of the Inside Infinite series, and we’re rounding up the key dates and details below.
Dates
Weekend 1: 4v4 Slayer (September 23-26)
Weekend 2: Big Team Battle (September 3-October 3)
Specific Times
The Halo Infinite betas will only be available for a set period of hours on each day. “Matchmaking will only be up for a set amount of time each day in order to help us test our servers against the highest concurrency possible,” 343 said. “While this does mean shorter time for players to go hands on, it’s critical to our primary goal of ensuring that our online services are ready for launch.”
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Now Playing: 5 Things To Know About Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer Preview
Here is the schedule:
WEEKEND 1 (ARENA)
Thursday evening, September 23:
Build becomes available for download Thursday night
Training Mode and Weapon Drills are available
Friday, September 24 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
Saturday, September 25 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
Sunday, September 26 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
Monday, September 27 @ 10am PT: Flight access closes until Weekend 2
WEEKEND 2 (BIG TEAM BATTLE & ARENA)
Thursday evening, September 30:
Flight access turns on
Training Mode and Weapon Drills become available
Friday, October 1 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
Saturday, October 2 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
Sunday, October 3 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
Sunday, October 3 @ 9pm PT: Surveys go out to a portion of Halo Insiders
Monday, October 4 @ 10am PT: Flight access closes
Wednesday, October 6 @ 10am PT: Halo Support site closes
Halo Infinite’s training mode, weapon drills, battle pass, and customization options will be available when matchmaking is offline.
How To Get In
The purpose of the two betas is to test the Halo Infinite servers at scale, so 343 will invite everyone who signed up for Halo Insider as of September 13 to take part. The second weekend’s beta test will be expanded over the first, so people who may have forgotten to register for Halo Insider by September 13 will have a shot at getting in.
“Preselection” emails for the Halo Infinite beta tests will begin going out in the next 24 hours, so check your inbox for an invite.
Squashing Bugs
In addition to testing the servers, the beta test will help 343 find bugs–by turning to the community. The studio encouraged people to file bug reports with the developer if they encounter any issues. The studio said it will also keep an eye on social media to track down bugs that the community is reporting.
Game Content
Here is a quick snapshot of what will be included in the upcoming Halo Infinite multiplayer tests:
Social Arena (including objective modes and a new map on Sunday, September 26)
Bot Arena (including objective modes)
Big Team Battle (debuting September 30 – October 3)
Three modes on Fragmentation
Training Mode
Weapon Drills
Customization
Battle Pass
New Halo Waypoint app & web experiences
A livestream this Wednesday will run through the specifics so players know what to expect. This stream will also show off Big Team Battle gameplay. Additionally, another blog post with even more details is planned.
The first Halo Infinite multiplayer beta test took place in July, and it was mostly focused on playing matches against bots. These new tests are bigger and more exciting because they feature live matches against other human players and, in the case of BTB, provide a first hands-on with the mode, which increases the player cap to 12v12.
Halo Infinite is scheduled for release on December 8. The multiplayer element is a free-to-play standalone game, while the campaign is included with Xbox Game Pass.
Halo: Infinite will hold two more multiplayer tech previews with the first one starting this weekend. The latest Inside Infinite has been published on the Halo website with details on the upcoming tests.
A Halo: Infinite test will take place at select times from Thursday, September 23 to Sunday, September 26. This beta will only be open to Halo Insiders who registered before September 13. Emails will be sent out to players to know if they are eligible.
The second test takes place at select times from Thursday, September 30 to Sunday, October 3 and will be open to more players than the first test. More specific details on who is eligible for the second weekend test are promised by next week. A Halo: Infinite livestream with more beta test details is scheduled for Wednesday, September 22 on the Halo Twitch and YouTube channels. A new look at the 12v12 Big Team Battle mode will also be shown off.
The tests will not be open for multiplayer during the entirety of the scheduled days. Players will only have access to multiplayer from 10 a.m. PST to 2 p.m. PST and 5 p.m. PST to 9 p.m. PST on Friday through Sunday during both weekends. Training Mode, Weapon Drills, Battle Pass, and Customization are the only modes available from Thursday throughout the whole weekend.
“[The Halo: Infinite tests’] matchmaking will only be up for a set amount of time each day in order to help us test our servers against the highest concurrency possible,” the blog post reads. “While this does mean shorter time for players to go hands on, it’s critical to our primary goal of ensuring that our online services are ready for launch.”
On Friday, September 24 at 10 a.m. PST, the 4v4 Arena mode will be available. The second beta test will include the 4v4 Arena mode and the 12v12 Big Team Battle mode.
