Halo Infinite's better qualities are mired by inconsistent messaging and what seems to be a top-down issue, where higher-ups may be writing checks the dev team is struggling to cash. Even jumping back into the campaign a few months ago was thoroughly enjoyable, though I wish I could have done it with my partner beside me and a few empty tinnies between us. The most painful part is that Halo Infinite is a good game with rock-solid gunplay and frenetic, fun multiplayer that feels like it honors the franchise.

And still, the vagueness persists - I had to watch a 30-minute video to learn that split-screen co-op was canceled. Since then, we've lost split-screen co-op entirely, network co-op and Forge were pushed to November, Season 2 was extended to almost a year, and Season 3 was pushed back five months. At that point, after months of silence, we were finally told how long Season 2 would be, that campaign network co-op was coming in August, and Forge would drop in September (or maybe November, it wasn't clear). In April, I wrote that Halo Infinite's status highlighted the need for clear live service roadmaps, as players had grown confused and frustrated at the lack of concise information. Then there's the issue of repeated delays when it comes to multiplayer seasons and updates in general. We encourage you to continue to use the Halo LFG and the new Discord voice call feature on Xbox to find players to party up with as you continue playing the beta.' This is all fine and dandy, but here's the rub: when were we going to learn that this incredibly useful feature was absent? A representative responded: 'Online matchmaking will not be available with final co-op. The Halo Discord was ignoring my requests and none of my friends had access to the beta yet, so I pinged a question over to Xbox asking whether or not the mode would have matchmaking at launch. While testing out the Halo Infinite network co-op beta in July, I realized that it was incredibly difficult to find people to squad up with.

And it's not just split-screen co-op that's been a victim of shifting goal posts, but also Forge, matchmaking, online co-op - really the entire Halo package. It's not that past updates or conversations with players have seemed to obfuscate the truth, but that the truth keeps shifting, with long gaps between each adjustment. 343 Industries' latest spate of updates is fairly transparent, and that's partly what's so frustrating.

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