Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
The Halo franchise has a not-so secret history of troubled launches on PC. Look no further than the nearly unplayable launch of The Master Chief Collection as evidence of that. When we learned that Halo Infinite would be launching for PC simultaneously with Xbox systems, we were understandably cautious. With that in mind, it was quite the pleasant surprise that the game shipped in such a great state on PC, making it our pick for best PC game of 2021.
Halo Infinite runs like a dream on PC. The game is gorgeous looking, whether it be the environments on Zeta Halo in the campaign, or on the different maps available in multiplayer. Halo Infinite also has a wide variety of video and system settings, far more than we would ever expect from a Halo game. This includes shadows, texture quality, render distance, FPS minimum and maximum, as well as many more. Players can fine-tune their Halo Infinite PC experience to what best suits them (and their system).
Halo Infinite is also excellent when played on keyboard and mouse. 343 Industries also shows great handling of its mixed pool of players by offering separate competitive queues for players on controllers vs those on keyboard and mouse. Despite the franchise having strong console roots and being originally designed for controllers, the game is a quality PC experience through and through.
Halo Infinite feels right at home on PC, and that’s about as big of a compliment as we could give a game so strongly intertwined with consoles for most of its 20-year history. The game benefits from having its multiplayer be free to play. It’s also great that it’s available on Steam, meaning less people have to be subjected to the horrors of the Xbox App/Microsoft Store. It may not be pushing the hardware to its lengths, but it’s without a doubt one of the best gaming experiences we had on PC this year.
Watch the Shacknews Awards 2021 YouTube playlist or read our Year of the Games: 2021 article for all of the awards in one place. We will be announcing our Shacknews GOTY 2021 on December 31.