Did you know: The first Halo was supposed to be an open world game!

With the fresh release of Halo Infinite by 343 Industries, the game has captivated new interest for the iconic science fiction shooter by expanding Master Chief's ability to explore the environment present on Zeta Halo - another Forerunner ring.

While this new, open world approach to the previously linear structure of past campaigns may seem like an innovative leap for the franchise, it's only new in practice. Apparently, Bungie (the original studio behind Halo, who created the first set of games prior to Halo 4) had always intended for Halo: Combat Evolved to have been an open world game but due to hardware restrictions back in the 90s, the processing power just wasn't available to make that concept a reality.

As PCGamesN reports:

Marcus Lehto was the art director for Halo: Combat Evolved during its development at Bungie back in the late ’90s, and in a recent exchange on Twitter, he said that Halo: Infinite – developed by 343 Industries while Lehto himself has started working on the Battlefield series – “brings back the magic of Halo.”

A fan replied, asking Lehto if he wished Halo: Combat Evolved could have had a more open-world structure. Lehto says that the original plans for Halo were indeed to make it an open-world game. “When building the first demo the intent then was to make it open world,” he explains. “Closest we got was The Silent Cartographer.”

Halo has always been a visually stunning game to experience, with environments, textures and aesthetics doing phenomenal work in creating a truly immersive landscape. Halo Infinite has finally brought the original vision for Halo's open world concept to life and players unanimously have responded well to the expansive new environment - that and the introduction of grapple hooks!

Even without the open world setting, the original Halo games remain a staple and will forever stand the test of time as being one of the greatest FPS shooters ever to be produced.

What do you think of the open world in Halo Infinite? Let us know what you think in the comments!

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