Nearly two years later to the day (Halo Infinite launched on December 8, 2021), the first-person shooter game can finally be considered feature complete thanks to the release of the Firefight PvE mode.

　　As you'll probably recall, Halo Infinite had a lot of troubles throughout its entire development. The game was originally meant to be a launch title for the Xbox Series S and X consoles in November 2020, but 343 Industries had to delay it to 'deliver an experience' that could meet their vision.

　　Fans ended up having to wait for more than an entire year, and yet they still didn't have the full feature set available at launch. More specifically, campaign co-op, Forge, and split-screen co-op were all delayed.

　　It took nearly a year before the Winter Update introduced the campaign co-op and the Forge Open Beta, while the split-screen co-op was ultimately scrapped. Today, the new Halo Infinite update introduces another feature long requested by the community: the Firefight PvE cooperative mode.

　　Firefight originally debuted in 2009’s Halo 3: ODST and quickly became a fan-favorite. It later appeared in Halo Reach, Halo 5, and even Halo Wars 2, albeit in various flavors.

　　Halo Infinite has its own King of the Hill-based twist on the mode. Technical Designer Connor Kennelly explained to the official blog:

　　When the game starts, a hill will spawn, and waves of progressively harder Banished enemies will try to capture that hill. Your job is to take the hill from them and hold it until you capture it. A Boss Wave, filled with tougher than usual enemies (and spearheaded by a named High Value Target or Boss), spawns once you’ve reached a certain amount of hill progress.

　　You score a point when you both finish capturing the hill AND defeat the Boss Wave. Then, just like in other Firefight iterations, you’ll get a brief respite to resupply your weapons and equipment, which only respawn in between hills. After that downtime, the hill will begin spawning in a new location, and the cycle repeats.

　　Firefight isn't everything in the Halo Infinite update, by the way. Players can also look forward to a new Repair Field item as well as various improvements to Ranked mode, Forge, Custom Game Browser, and more, as outlined here.

　　In other Halo news, Season 2 of the Paramount TV show was just dated. The new season of eight episodes will begin on February 8, 2024. The story starts around six months after the events of the first season, with human worlds falling one after another to the Covenant War and the Master Chief tasked with saving humankind from extinction.