Halo Infinite open world includes a day/night cycle, upgrades, and more

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has revealed more about the upcoming Xbox Series X games' new open-world, which has finally debuted via a new gameplay demo seen on tonight's Xbox Game Showcase.

In a new interview with IGN, 343's studio head Chris Lee confirmed that the Halo ring seen in the new footage really is as expansive and open-ended as it seems, but will still tell a coherent story true to Master Chief's legacy.

"I would think about it more like kind of delivering on that promise we've had from the past," says Lee. "There's a lot of open gameplay in those previous games, but they're always in these linear levels. This time players will have the freedom to explore the ring. But we are telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end that we want to carry the player through as you go."

The best Halo games, including Halo 5, ranked

"What you saw in the demo that we showed, you have this map, " he continued. There's this huge open section of the ring. As you get to that point in the game, this is several hours into the campaign, then you have the ability to traverse that whole area and explore where you want to go on the ring. That's what we mean by open and explore the different places that you can go to."

"There's definitely a sense of freedom that you haven't had before [in Halo]. You will get to choose your path there. But we do also want to tell that story, so while you're doing that we want to keep the story moving forward versus like a nonlinear story or something like that."

Lee also confirmed that Halo Infinite's play space will contain a full day and night cycle, as well as a new upgrade system that will introduce players to new tools and abilities as they explore. Some of these discoverable toys, be it vehicles or gadgets like Chief's new grapple hook, will even let you traverse more of the world itself.

It won't be too long until we hear even more about Halo Infinite either, as 343 has promised it'll be sharing fresh details on the shooter's anticipated multiplayer component very soon, especially as we near ever closer to its Holiday 2020 launch.

You can watch the full Halo Infinite gameplay demo for yourself in the video below, or check out our list of the best Xbox One games to play right now.