Here are 7 big details from the Halo Infinite campaign trailer

New trailer for Monday Halo Infinite showed off a ton of exciting details about 343 Industries’ latest game, launching Dec. 8. But the overview also moves pretty fast, and it’s easy to miss some of the biggest reveals. We’ve gone through the trailer multiple times to pick out all the details.

Below are the top seven reveals that we made in the Halo Infinite campaign overview trailer, which includes vehicle garages, the new Cortana, and Master Chief’s upgrade systems.

“The Weapon,” aka new Cortana

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The very beginning of the Halo Infinite trailer, we see Chief holding a purple Cortana in his hand, a throwback to the AI’s original color for Halo, Combat EvolvedBefore her sequels made her bluer.

The narration (provided by Jen Taylor, voice of Cortana and, seemingly, “The Weapon”) mentions that collecting the new AI will be Chief’s first mission in Halo Infinite. From then on, it seems this new version of Cortana, designed to stop the original, will live inside Master Chief’s head and fill the player in with info — as well as providing commentary.

Cortana, who is now well beyond the age that an AI should reach, has Rampancy. This basically makes her evil. This new Cortana seems based on Dr. Halsey — just like the original — but it’s the AI effectively in her infancy. The new Cortana is naïve to many of Master Chief’s threats, and hasn’t quite settled into Cortana’s more commanding and sarcastic demeanor — because she’s a different AI who will see different things, maybe she never will!

Master Chief bought a garage for himself

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Master Chief has had big “over this” dad energy for years, so it’s nice that he’s finally getting his own garage. Master Chief is seen in the trailer choosing between a few vehicles before embarking on his mission. He passes up on a Mongoose — the two-person motorcycle first added in Halo 3 — and picks a Wasp jet.

The Wasp is dropped by Chief’s Pelican as he flies in. After the Spartan hops in, we see him use his flying vehicle against an enemy base. The players should be able unlock vehicles for orbital drops in the game. Halo Infinite, but that’s not all …

Forward Operating Bases

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It seems that the Forward Operating Bases include a Halo Garage. Halo Infinite. Called FOBs in the map menu, the trailer hovers over FOB Golf for a brief second — just long enough to grab a description:

Once controlled, Forward Operating Bases can reveal Banished or UNSC activity within the region. They serve as quick travel hubs, rally points for UNSC Marine Fire Support, and offer access to weapon variants, vehicle drops and weapons. Gaining Valor unlocks all available resources at any captured FOB. To claim the FOB, defeat the Banished by accessing the control terminal.

Forward Operating Bases are like outposts in Far Cry. It seems that the best thing to do when you arrive in a new area of Zeta Halo is to take control of the closest FOB so that you have access your garage and other weapons. However, the FOBs also offer Fast Travel for Chief Marines as well as NPC Marines that can fill his Warthog tank.

Bases of enemies

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While Chief will need to flush out The Banished — the game’s primary enemy faction — from Forward Operating Bases in each area, he’ll also be able to shut down enemy bases for what looks like experience points.

Ransom Keep in the trailer is an example of a Banished Base with four silos. Chief’s mission, should he choose to accept it, is to destroy four of those silos. Each base is described briefly and collectibles are also included in the game.

We only see one in the trailer’s single map, but it looks like that could be what players do with a large portion of their open world time. Halo Infinite

Earn experience points or upgrade

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That’s correct. Halo InfiniteYou will also get some RPG elements. You might be surprised at how small the upgrade is. It doesn’t look like you’ll be beefing up Chief’s armor or unlocking any cool wrestling moves. This upgrade is all about the equipment.

The Master Chief is able to use a wide range of tools and equipment. Halo InfiniteSimilar to Halo 3’s equipment or the Reach HaloYou can also use armor capabilities. But unlike Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, this equipment doesn’t run out of uses; equipment operates on a charge based system that refills over time. Multiplayer Spartans cannot hold more than one type of equipment at once, but Chief can hold multiple forms and move them around.

Chief used an electrified Grappleshot (the grapplinghook) to take out a Brute in the trailer. We then took a picture of the menu. Only the Thruster is an upgrade that allows Chief to propel himself forward. It has upgrades that reduce its cooldown (it’s safe to assume all the equipment have an upgrade like this, based on the icon), plus one that adds an additional charge and another that adds speed. The final upgrade is the one that Chief unlocks in mid-combat. It cloaks Spartan for a brief time after he dies.

Finally, all the equipment in the trailer has an initial splash page in the menu that says “equipment acquired.” That raises the question of how players might get these items. Is there a Metroid-esque progression? InfiniteGagging players until they are able to use the grappling hook.

This new upgrade can be gained by Chief with Spartan Cores. These upgrades look like collectibles all over the world. However, it seems likely Chief can also acquire these via experience points, which we believe will be called “Valor,” based on the FOB description.

Big bosses

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Halo is known for his inability to be bosses well. But it seems like this. Halo InfiniteMany. With some fanfare we see several enemy types enter rooms, as well as a name enemy equipped with a health bar.

However, the trailer shows us some intriguing villain NPCs. There’s the new Elite that specializes in Spartan hunting; what looks like a very large Promethean woman; and, of course, Escharum, the big Brute that leads the Banished and currently looks like Infinite’s main antagonist.

Targets and Missions

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The map provided two additional hints about the future. Halo Infinite’s structure. There’s a mention of “Targets” on the bumper map at the top. While there aren’t any details about this, we suspect it might look something like the various cult targets in the modern Assassin’s Creed games, or the old mission menu in CrackdownIf you would like to get things back on track, Halo 3 era.

If you’re unfamiliar with those systems, we’d wager the Target menu might call out specially named enemies around the world that Chief needs to kill, either to complete the game or as a side mission. This could include the Brute, who we discussed in the boss section.

The map also has an A button prompt to view “missions,” meaning Halo Infinite’s open world will have some kind of structured missions.

These are just a few of the many details that we noticed. Halo Infinite’s campaign trailer. (The Brutes have hair now, so there’s another one!) Microsoft and 343 Industries likely aren’t finished showing off the new Halo, and we should learn more about its mysterious systems, like targets, before its Dec. 8 release date.