It's a good time to return to the 2021 shooter that was so critically acclaimed upon release. For those who don't already know, Battlefield 2042 is looking really good right now (opens in new tab), and after last week's Season 3: Echoes Within update, Halo Infinite's multiplayer is also looking good.

First, the good: Season 3 adds two new arena maps (Chasm and Cliffhanger) and one big team battle map (Oasis) Halo Infinite has been clamoring for more maps since launch, and so far all three are winners! I am happy to report that all three are winners so far. Chasm in particular is the most Halo-like Halo map that 343 has put out.

Chasm is basically two corridors in an unspecified alien facility divided by a bottomless pit (or should I say rift?) and connected only by a few light bridges and hexagonal floating platforms arranged like a 3D platformer.

The symmetrical standoff in the opposing corridors is perfect for a mid-range battle with battle rifle buddies and pistol pros. Since most of the space between each other is a death trap, they tend to stay on their respective sides until the fight is over and then hit each other from the side, which is a nice variation on the usual Halo tactic of "run at each other and punch each other in the face while shooting at each other." It's bigger than you might expect, but not so big that anyone with a sniper rifle in hand on the top floor automatically dominates the map.

There's something very "original Xbox Halo" about Chasm, partly because of the cold, geometric alien architecture that harkens back to Halo's early polygonal days, but more so because of the fact that it's so plain and simple and blocky that no other modern FPS would ever allow. I think it's the fact that it's a map that no other modern FPS would ever allow. Can you imagine Call of Duty's maps being mostly negative space?"

"I think Chasm is an old-school PC arena shooter, a club to which Halo: CE, despite its Xbox origins, belongs.

Halo Infinite Season 3, at a glance:

What else feels good about Chasm is Halo Infinite's first new gun. Infinite's version is called the M392 Bandit, a semi-automatic kinetic rifle built to click heads. It fires a bit slower than its iconic predecessor, the Halo Reach, and has more recoil than the Battle Rifle, but the time between shots creates a rhythm that makes it easier to aim for consecutive hits. I don't expect the Bandit to beat the Battle Rifle anytime soon, but it is better than its full-auto brother, the Commando.

The Bandit can be found in weapon lockers all over the arena maps, but I'm most excited about the big team battles; 343 added a "BTB Unlimited" playlist this week that includes a default pistol loadout with the Bandit and Assault Rifle combo replaced by the "Assault Rifle Combo.

A surprisingly cool addition to Season 3 is a team-based twist on the gun game in Halo Infinite. Instead of hot-swapping a single gun, teams cycle through 11 pairs of weapons in a loose theme. While I've been pretty bad at Infinite's main season mode so far (Last Spartan Standing was a miss), Escalation Slayer is just the right hit. Gun games fit especially well with games with distinctive weapons like Halo, and making it a team sport was a smart choice.

There are free-for-all Escalation variants for gun game purists, but I have yet to encounter them in regular matchmaking.

The quality and quantity of Season 3 is encouraging as someone who loved the game at launch but quit soon after. It feels like there's finally more to do in Infinite, the mile-long playlist selection helps, and it's cool to be able to follow a tense ranked match with an equally tense mongoose race, in a faithful recreation of Mario Kart's DK Mountain.

One part of Halo Infinite that is still stuck in 2021 is the new 100 tier battle path. I'm probably up to tier 9 and already bored to tears. It's nice that it's much easier to earn XP these days, but the path is once again crammed with individual armor pieces and disappointingly few gun skins. The free course is a lonely path paved with awful non-rewards like challenge swap tokens.

Since design changes seem out of the question for 343, here's how I'd fix it: take armor off the battle path and make it its own. It's fun to dress up your Spartan with personalized armor like Tacticool Barbie, but unlocking it with a linear path makes it difficult to envision the "perfect look" and strive to achieve it.

It would make more sense if you had to complete a unique challenge to get a cool samurai helmet instead of randomly unlocking a shoulder guard because you got to tier 11. I'm essentially describing the system that unlocks the gun camo in Call of Duty, a progression ladder that keeps millions of people in the game for a year every year and coexists with a separate battle pass, before 343's monetization department has a heart attack. I will say this: the overpriced skins will still sell.

Anyway, the Halo update is good. It's fun, and I hope 343 can capitalize on the momentum and make Halo Infinite one of those feel-good comeback stories a year from now.

.