Latest Halo Infinite technical preview gives a big boost to Performance Mode

The latest Halo Infinite technical preview made some marked improvements to Performance Mode, which is a good sign for how the game may run at launch.

The new analysis of Halo Infinite's pre-release build comes from Digital Foundry, who put their experiences in the current Halo Infinite multiplayer technical preview side by side with the previous test. The biggest improvements were spotted for the performance modes of Xbox Series X and - in what they guessed may be a "last hurrah" for Microsoft's former high-end console - Xbox One X, which ended up looking better in many ways than the Xbox Series S version.

Starting with Xbox Series X, Digital Foundry found that Performance mode on the new-gen console would remain at 120 FPS very consistently, with a maximum resolution of 1440p and dips down to around 1080p at the lowest (though some special horizontal scaling tricks which mean it's not the typical flavor of 1080p). This is a big improvement from the first flight, which hit 120 FPS much less consistently.

The big improvement for Xbox One X is the fact that the Quality Mode and Performance Mode toggle actually works now. Halo Infinite Performance Mode on Xbox One X stays at 60 FPS with occasional minor dips and renders at similar resolution range from 1440p to 1080p - basically, it's a strong 60 FPS counterpart to Series X's 120 FPS mode, complete with improved textures and terrain deformation.

343 Industries has said that these test flights are several months of work behind their current internal builds due to the simple logistics of producing a stable build for external players. The early, well, performance of these modes shows that 343 is already making great headway on optimization work for Infinite behind the scenes. It should be even better by the time of Halo Infinite's proper launch on December 8.

This Halo Infinite repulsor trick shot has us excited for the ridiculous stuff people will pull off in the full game.

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.