Halo Fans Split Over Halo 7 Open World

Halo fans aren't quite sure what to think about the gameplay structure of the next game in the series. Although a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign is due out later this year, and remakes of Halo 2 and 3 are rumored to follow, the next mainline game, often referred to as Halo 7, has yet to be officially announced.

But that hasn't stopped fans from talking about it. A Reddit thread in the Halo community recently posed the question, "Should Halo 7 continue with the open world type campaign or go back to the traditional linear level design from previous games?" Fans in the comments are divided on the issue, with some praising Infinite's open world structure, and others hoping for a return to form.

Will Halo 7 Be Open World?

2021's Halo Infinite broke new ground for the series, employing a semi-open world for the first time ever. Players unlock new areas of Zeta Halo as they progress through the story, many of which are large maps that can be explored freely. This is a departure from the more linear level design of classic Halo games, which, while not lacking in exploration, were decidedly not open world.

Many longtime fans rejected Halo Infinite's open world on principle alone, but a deeper look reveals that its implementation was flawed. In his review of Halo Infinite, Screen Rant's Mansoor Mithaiwala called its open world segments "done remarkably well," but criticized them for "artificially [extending] the game's playtime."

"Not enough has been done to avoid the repetitiveness of these side quests," says Mithaiwala, "nor has the layout of the open-world been properly thought through."

This was a sentiment echoed by many Halo fans, who found Infinite's open world repetitive and regressive in design. Points of interest were too far spread, and too cookie-cutter. Traversing on foot was tedious, and long stretches of monotony drained the urgency from the story.

Of course, we know nothing about what Halo 7 will look like, but some fans have speculated it could bring the open world elements back. But is that what fans of the franchise truly want?

Halo Fans Aren't Sure That's The Best Move

"A full open world is not the way"

In the Reddit thread discussing the possibility of an open world Halo 7, fans aren't convinced it's what the franchise needs. While some of them acknowledge that Infinite's open world was an interesting experiment, they don't necessarily want any more of it: "Infinite’s open world is cool, but future Halo games should go back to linear campaign," one commenter says.

Others claim that classic Halo did big, open-feeling setpieces better than Infinite's giant map. "CE’s use of confined spaces opening up into vistas, very frequently with a battle underway, felt a lot more open to me than anything Infinite is doing," another fan added.

Still other fans suggested a sort of half-measure, saying that they'd prefer Halo 7's structure to be "linear, but have certain areas of certain missions be big enough so that you can choose your own approach, open-world style, like you could in Infinite."

Regardless of what the fans say they want, though, the world of Halo 7 will likely look very different from previous entries in the series. We'll have to wait for an update on the next release to find out how it's evolved.