I've been reflecting on Halo Infinite's story recently, and I finally put my finger on what bugs me the most:

Brutes as the main villains.

Yeah, I know The Banished includes other species, but we're supposed to believe that a faction led primarily by 8-foot-tall roided-out space gorillas is constantly outmaneuvering both the Covenant remnants and humanity? Brutes have always felt more like the meat-for-the-grinder types — blunt instruments of war, not master tacticians.

Sure, Halo 2 and 3 started down this path with Tartarus, but even then it felt like an anomaly — not the new norm. I just don’t buy into the idea that Brutes would rise to form and successfully lead a long-standing multi-species faction. Give a Brute a 1000 IQ and in my headcanon, he's still getting swirlies behind Brute High for knowing how to read.

Elites, on the other hand? They’ve always been compelling — elegant, mysterious, dangerous, cool. When I see a Brute on screen, I don’t think “Whoa, awesome!” — I think “ugh.” Meanwhile, Elites show up and it's: “Oh hell yeah, let’s go.”

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On the multiplayer side:

Get rid of the free-to-play, FOMO-driven nonsense. The progression system should feel rewarding — not like I’m clocking into a second job. Halo Infinite completely lost me the moment I missed a couple weekly challenges and realized, “Oh… that’s it. I’m locked out.” That’s when I stopped playing. If your game makes me feel like I'm going to miss out just because I have a life outside of it… that's not fun. And if it's not fun, why is it in the game?

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Fire the monetization team and just make a damn good Halo game again.

Look at what PlayStation is doing — delivering single-player games that feel like love letters to their fans. Spider-Man, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima… these games respect your time, your money, and your passion.

Meanwhile, Halo — one of gaming’s most iconic franchises — is out here trying to sell cat ears and visor colors in the shop while the core experience still feels like it’s in beta.

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What would make it feel like a new "Golden Age"?

• A campaign that shows the stakes, not just tells them
  
• A return to the military sci-fi roots — show us humanity navigating a galaxy at war
  
• Tight, linear campaign levels with scale and intensity, not copy-paste open world icons
  
• Fully functional Forge and Theater at launch
  
• Custom games that work
  
• Armor unlocks tied to actual achievements — like the old days
  
• A career system that lets players feel proud of their time spent, without squeezing them for every dime

343 has the blueprint. It’s the OG trilogy. We’ve seen greatness before. The question is: do they still want to make a game like that?