Halo Infinite Season 4: Infection has arrived, bringing new maps, the fan-favorite Infection mode, and a brand-new cross-season progression system. The new battle pass features 100 tiers of items to unlock and also marks the introduction of premium coats, which are weapon and armor coatings that work across all weapons/armor cores. The new maps include Forest, an Arena map, and Scarr, a new big Team Battle map.
The Season 4: Infection battle pass features themed armor sets and coatings. The main armor set is the Hazmat core, one of the more distinct-looking armor sets in Halo Infinite. Instead of being primarily metal, the hazmat suit has a more cloth-like look, with a few metal pieces accenting the armor set. The default helmet has a massive visor and a breather, with the default color being the hazmat yellow and black. It’s notable given the common complaints about Halo Infinite cosmetics often looking similar to each other.
For anyone unfamiliar, Infection is a longtime Halo mode, making its return in Halo Infinite Season 4. This mode pits a couple of infected, armed with energy swords, against a bunch of survivors. If a survivor is killed, they respawn as an infected, which continues until the time runs out or there are no survivors left.
The new career progression gives players a career ranking, similar to rankings found in older Halo titles. This ranking never resets and is meant to indicate just how much Halo Infinite someone has played. Players advance from cadet to general in a single tier–like Bronze–before progressing to the next higher tier, with the pinnacle being the Onyx tier. Similar to previous games, just completing matches will advance your rank, but performing well will move you up the ranks a bit faster.
Halo Infinite Season 4: Infection also marks the end of seasonal story cutscenes. 343 Industries revealed that the high-quality story cutscenes that launched alongside each new season would no longer be happening moving forward, due to the development team wanting to focus on higher priority tasks, like making new content for Halo Infinite. For fans waiting to hear more lore about the greater Halo universe, it could be a long time until new Halo story content comes from 343 Industries.