Halo Infinite is finally adding the fan-favorite Infection mode for season 4, 343 Industries has revealed.
There's a trailer showing off the latest iteration of Halo Infection, which includes a new visual take on the Infected, both in Alpha and Beta form. 343 also published a blog detailing the murky player-created origins of the mode and how it's changed and evolved over the years.
For the uninitiated, Infection began as an unofficial player-created ruleset in Halo 2 where the red team was human and the green team was Infected. If an Infected Spartan killed a human, that human would manually switch over to the Infected team via the pause menu and join the zombies whose goal it was to bring all humans to their side.
Of course, Infection eventually became an official game mode in Halo 3 and would feature in every successive Halo game, and now it's being added to Halo Infinite as part of the season 4 update. For those who are familiar with the rules, you'll find yourself right at home in Halo Infinite's version, but if you're new to Infection, here's how it works.
Infection is a round-based mode in which the Infected's goal is to convert all Survivors to their cause by killing them. Before each round, a limited number of players are picked to be the Alpha Infected, which means they start the match as zombies. Meanwhile, the Survivors who don't survive are turned into Beta Infected, which looks just like their Alpha brethren except with more subtle visual accents. The last Survivor alive will get buffed with special abilities like Overshield and unlimited ammo to give them the best chance at surviving 'til the end and winning the match for their side, but their location on the map will always be pinged for the Infected to see.
How this all fits into the overarching story of Halo Infinite's fourth season has to do with the Banished AI Iratus infiltrating the Spartan training simulation and taking control of Spartans by infecting them. That explains why the Infected look just like Spartans but with visual changes to represent the Infection taking over.
Halo Infinite season 4: Infection launches June 20.
For everything else you should be playing, here's a guide to the best Xbox exclusives available today.
