Halo Waypoint posted a blog today with some new details about the co-op testing period that is planned to begin the week of July 11 for Halo Insiders. Halo Infinite‘s principal software engineering lead Isaac Bender and lead world designer John Mulkey also gave some insight into how the new modes will work.
The multiplayer testing period comes almost seven months after the initial release of Halo Infinite, which launched its multiplayer mode on Nov. 15. Its single-player campaign launched a few weeks later on Dec. 8. Originally, the co-op mode for Halo Infinite was supposed to be delivered six months after the launch of the game. But after seven months of waiting, players are just now getting the ability to try out the co-op campaign mode.
Up to four players can join a co-op campaign and the developers said in the blog post that they wanted players to be able to complete the story together, so each player will play as Master Chief for their own story progression. Players can also jump between co-op and single-player mode and their progress will stay intact.
Because this is the first open-world Halo, players are restricted in how far they can travel from each other.
“We have established what is called ‘Area-Of-Operations’ (AOO),” Mulkey said. “This is the maximum distance that players in a Fireteam can stray from one another as they explore and tackle the challenges of Zeta Halo. If you stray too far from your Fireteam, you will get a warning to return to the team. If you ignore that warning and continue, you will be killed for going AWOL and be spawned back on your nearest teammate.”
The AOO has an 800-foot “warning radius” and also has an outer “kill radius” of 1,000 feet. Bender says that players will be able to tackle large objective areas together with plenty of room to spare.
Upgrades will work on a per-player basis. Players can spend their Cores independently and the choices they make along the way will be retained in that save.
How to sign up for the Halo Infinite co-op campaign testing period
Those with a Halo Insider account should ensure that they have the game’s entitlement in their account, which just means that you’ve purchased the game and it’s reflected in your Insider account. If you want to participate through Xbox, you’ll just need to opt into the Network Co-Op flight program once it goes live during the week of July 11. Those on Steam will be sent a unique key from Halo Insider to download the build on PC.
Players who opt-in to the co-op test will not have their progress carried over into the retail version of the game. This means that anything unlocked, achieved, or progressed will not be present once you go back to the live version of the game.
There is no current release date for Halo Infinite‘s co-op campaign. The testing period is planned for the week of July 11, but the developers have implied that there could be a change of date. Those looking to participate should ensure they’re signed up for Halo Insider to stay up to date on any changes.
