Halo Infinite's New Base Armor Set for Multiplayer Looks Fit for a True Spartan

In Halo Infinite, the Master Chief has gone from his slick, 343-redesigned Mjolnir armor back to a suit that's very close to what he wore back in days of Halo 2 and 3. That's just one of many ways that 343 is trying to summon the old Halo spirit in Infinite, and the new-but-old armor aesthetic is also extending to Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer. In a new weekly update from the studio, we've now got a great look at Infinite's new multiplayer Mjolnir.

Shown at Halo Waypoint in blue with "Monarch armor coating," the Mark VII Mjolnir armor looks a lot closer in profile and detail to the Spartan designs of Bungie's Halo titles than it does to 343's angular, streamlined armor sets from Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. 343 has shown this design off before as concept art, but this is our first look at the 3D model. This won't be the only appearance style for Spartans in multiplayer—343 has promised deep armor customization—but this is likely a good idea of what a default set will look like in-game.

That chest piece in particular looks very similar to the default option in Halo: Reach, and the head looks like a riff on the Chief's iconic helmet (albeit with some chubbier cheeks thanks to those enlarged vents on the left and right). It's also worth considering that note about the Monarch coating, which is available ahead of release in a promotional giveaway with snack products from Mondelez. This means armor coatings are on the list of options for customization in Infinite's multiplayer.

You may also notice that the forearms of the Mark VII armor lack any kind of special gadgetry. 343 has previously confirmed that the new arm-mounted grappling hook, featured prominently on Halo Infinite's cover, will be a pick-up in multiplayer as opposed to a default ability.

With Halo Infinite delayed to 2021, we still haven't seen any of its multiplayer in action and might not before the year's end. It's possible that the added development time will let 343 roll out a public multiplayer test as it had originally planned to, but prior to the delay the team said it was "not quite where" it wanted to be for pre-release tests.

After announcing the delay, 343 added two new Project Leads to the Infinite team: former Bungie developer Joseph Staten will oversee Halo Infinite's campaign while Pierre Hintze, previously Head of Publishing on The Master Chief Collection, will lead the free-to-play experience. 343 has said there are no plans to abandon current-gen development for Infinite, assuring players that it will still launch for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC next year.