With the Season 2 release of Halo Infinite now looming, 343 Industries today gave a look at the brand-new modes hitting the free-to-play multiplayer portion with the update. The deep dive today is similar to the one that dropped last week regarding the two new maps, Catalyst and Breaker, which are also joining the pool in Season 2.
Halo fans should be familiar with King of the Hill, which is returning in Season 2 on day one. As usual, two teams are tasked with capturing and holding neutral hill locations on maps until enough points are accumulated to win the match. There are some twists this time though, as 343 has made changes to the mode to remove annoyances like the point moving to a new location just when a team manages to wrestle command of it back.
Next is Land Grab, where three neutral zones are the targets to capture for two teams, with each cap offering one point. The first team to reach 11 points wins. The Territories mode from Halo 2 and 3 had been the inspiration for this mode,
It"s the third mode that sounds the most interesting: Last Spartan Standing. The mode is a free-for-all experience, where 12 players battle it out for a lone survivor in 12-player Big Team Battle maps. Each player has five respawns, and when they run out, it"s an elimination. Getting kills is required to upgrade the weapon each player spawns with, similar to Gun Game.
To finish it off, there are even drop pods with weapons and even a shrinking danger zone to push survivors together for a final battle.
While sharing some elements with a battle royale, keep in mind this is not the rumored dedicated battle royale experience that is reportedly under development at Certain Affinity. Last Spartan Standing is presented as a mini version of the popular game mode for quick matches in existing arenas instead of a major addition with dedicated maps and rules.
The development team is spicing things up further in Season 2 with multiple variants of existing playlists for limited-time events. These include infinite Energy Sword and Grappleshot matches (Ninja Slayer), Oddball with a buffed carrier (Vampireball), infinite Rocket Launcher and Repulsor ammo (Rocket Repulsors), and more. If these prove to be hits among the community, they will be made permanent playlists.
Halo Infinite Season 2 launches on May 3 for all players on Xbox and PC. The campaign cooperative mode won"t be available at the start of the season, as its release got pushed back again recently.