Agreed with all of this. DF is absolutely right, there are current gen open world games that look better, maybe not at the same 4k 60 fps, but I can think of several current gen open world games that look better than Infinite, including RDR2, AC Odyssey, Witcher 3, and Horizon Zero Dawn. The PC versions of those games are able to exceed the graphics of Halo Infinite at the same 4K 60 fps with hardware of similar spec to Xbox Series X, and I'm sure the same will be true for the upcoming Horizon Zero Dawn PC port. There is just no excuse for Halo Infinite to look the way it does currently, unless they are telling the truth about the build they showed yesterday being an early pre-corona virus build of the game.

They hyped up the Slipspace engine as being next gen, but Halo Infinite looks anything but next gen currently. Don't hype something if you can't pull it off. I mean if those rumors are true, Halo Infinite is the highest budget game ever with a near $500m, more than the $250m budget of GTA V and close to the combined $500m budget for The Destiny 1 and 2, with the 2nd largest dev team ever on a game (only behind RDR2), there is just no excuse for this level of graphics if that is true.

I also agree that they should delay it into 2021 to fix the graphics if necessary. Xbox can't afford another bad launch for the series after Halo 5, and if the like/dislike ratio on the gameplay demo is any indication, neither the fanbase  nor the critics are going to react well to Infinite on launch with the current level of graphics. Xbox Series doesn't need Halo on launch to sell well, even Xbox One, with all of it's announcement backlash, managed to sell out 1st Holiday in 2013. Halo on launch is not necessary, the other launch exclusives are enough to sell out the console this Holiday; Gears Tactics, CrossFireX, The Medium, Tetris Effect Connected, and Yakuza 7 next gen build. They also have marketing on AC Valhalla, Watch Dogs, and Cyberpunk to help sell it. Plus they could have Series S coming in at $250-300 which pretty much sells itself at that price.

Voted Avowed. A big budget RPG by Obsidian set in the Pillars of Eternity universe. All I need to know.

Also have to say, after a day of sleeping on it and now watching the reaction from the Digital Foundry crew, it seems 343 has once again dropped the ball. While I felt it overall looked pretty great and the gameplay seemed quick and fun, it really needed to blow people away in some aspect and it didn't.

When the DF crew said it looks less impressive than some current-gen open world games, that's just not good enough for a flagship title. We don't know how open world Infinite will be either, but even at 60fps it should be at least a noticeable improvement over current-gen titles.

5+ years of development, 2+ years hyping up the Slipspace engine, only developing for Xbox and PC, yet 343 just aren't delivering the goods. Let's hope over the next few months they're working their asses off to really polish this up properly.

A delay shouldn't be out of the question either. I don't see any other big titles likely arriving year one for PS5 or XSX, so the release of Infinite should be able to play a big part in the start of this gen. It can't afford to fall flat again.

I agree that it probably would have been better to delay Halo, but I think it will do more harm than good at this point. The first impression of the game will already be remembered better than anything they show after polishing it. And it won't look good to delay it as during the show they mentioned Holiday 2020 release window once again. If the decision about delay would have needed to be made it should have been made before the show IMO. And it doesn't look good either that MS is already backing off of some stuff they were talking about a week ago. Halo delay will only make it worse.

Fair point, I didn't realize that the demo had a better ratio on the Halo channel than on the Xbox channel and other various gaming channels like IGN and RajmanGaming HD. Alot of it could be PS fanboys downvoting due to console war bs. Still, 18k dislikes on the Halo channel version is not great, and I have seen alot of people besides myself who I know to be Halo fans who were very disappointed with the graphics. 

I mean, look at the Halo 5 Campaign Demo reveal for comparison:

8.9k likes to 352 dislikes, in spite of the controversial decision to showcase an Osiris level instead of a Blue Team/Chief level. If Halo 5 could flop on launch (at least relative to earlier games in the series) with a positive gameplay reveal reception, I hate to think what a negative gameplay reveal reception could do to Halo Infinite on launch later this year. I don't know if 343 can afford to take the chance of releasing the game with a more polished version of the current graphics. Infinite feels like it may be their last chance to revive Halo's glory days, and if you only get one chance, better to delay and make the best looking game possible, especially since they plan for Infinite to be live service game, supported for the remainder of the generation. Do they really want to be adding new content to Infinite in 2025 that looks 10 years outdated by that point? I mean I guess they could always do a complete overhaul of the multiplayer graphics after release, and release future campaign expansions with better graphics than the main campaign, but it's better to fix the graphics for both the main campaign and the multiplayer before release. 

HiddenExperia's breakdown is pretty good Imo, he has a very valid criticisms and concerns over Infinite but his video honestly made me more excited for Infinite. I agree with quite a lot of his points but simply think the negatives aren't deal breakers for me personally as they mostly relate to Graphics/Design. I would honestly say the Halo community as a whole is being a lot more fair this time around.

Also since this video came out it seems some of the criticisms I agree with him on, such as replacing the old Magnum/Shotgun with those ugly modern designs may not actually be true after-all and could be a mistake on IGN's part and they're simply side-variants, also it's pretty cool to notice that the Brutes which come in ODST-like pods don't actually have any weapons so they are basically another variant, like Berserker Brutes.

HiddenExperia isn't a die-hard faithful, I'm pretty sure he's more of an old school fan considering he hates Sprint and I think it's pretty unfair you're dismissing his objectivity without even watching his video, where he has to defend himself as not being an Bungie die-hard cause he makes a few fair criticisms about older games being better in certain areas.

His video is very much well rounded in criticism and praise, his thoughts are well explained and not just "This sucks, That Sucks" so again I'd recommend watching it before dismissing him outright.

Multiplayer is in launch? There's no concerns there.

If we're talking about the majority, the majority of people don't give a crap about graphics, just look at some of the biggest selling games, Halo sells well because of its gameplay, not graphics, that has always been the case. The vast majority of the complaints are regarding graphics and I think when people get their hands on the game they won't care that it doesn't look next gen.

A lot of PC players seem to simply either hate Windows Store or would much rather play via Steam, Microsoft needs to try to get Gamepass on Steam, could potentially blow it up.