Halo Infinite Co-op Walkthrough

Andy and Gus tackle the full Halo Infinite campaign on Legendary in co-op, completing the Storehaus channel's run through every mainline Halo campaign (except Halo 5). It's Gus's first time playing the game. The walkthrough runs about 8.5 hours and covers both the linear story missions and the open-world sandbox. Both hosts come away with mixed-but-leaning-positive feelings on the campaign itself, while finding the open world the weakest element.

Intro & Prologue

• The opening cutscene earns immediate praise: "One of the best Halo intros ever." Chief is literally hurled off the Infinity by Banished forces at the start.
• Halo Infinite takes place in 2562 — roughly 10 years after Halo 3. Chief spent several of those years in cryo.
• A UNSC marine they meet later confirms about 6 months have passed since the Infinity went down before Chief shows up.
• The game's visual direction is widely praised: "Peak modern Chief aesthetic." Chief's armor redesign is considered a major improvement over Halo 4 and 5.
• The grapple hook is immediately highlighted — unlimited uses, you get it back quickly. Bungie apparently experimented with a grapple concept as far back as Halo 1.

Foundation (Mission 2)

• First proper level on Zeta Halo (Installation 07). Heavily linear with strong Forerunner architecture reminiscent of both Halo 1 and Halo 4's opening.
• Features genetic repositories — large holographic chambers holding the DNA records of different species, including humans. Particles float through the air around them.
• Cortana echoes/whispers play through the level. Gus is neutral on them; Andy finds them nostalgic and cool as callbacks to the Chief/Cortana relationship.
• The Weapon is introduced here: a new AI created by Halsey specifically to trap and delete Cortana on the ring. Andy finds her unsettling and doesn't trust her. "I do not like the Weapon's creepy-ass face and smile."
• Story clarification: After Halo 5, Cortana was no longer bound to Chief's chip. She allegedly used the ring to enact the Mantle of Responsibility — the Forerunner directive of stewardship over all life. The Weapon was deployed to stop her.
• Power seeds are introduced as a puzzle mechanic — inserting them into terminals to restore power.
• Lore note: Blue Team = Chief, Linda, Kelly, Fred (Samuel died in the original Halo Wars era). Red Team = Jerome's crew. The fate of all Halo 5 characters is left unclear because the Infinity was destroyed — nobody explains what happened to them.

Outpost Tremonius (Boss Fight)

• First named boss: a Brute Chieftain who flies around the arena using a Hydra launcher and a gravity hammer, and switches between weapons mid-fight.
• Shield regenerates very quickly — you have to coordinate to keep pressure on him. Multiple attempts required on Legendary.
• Andy and Gus love the boss structure: "Mini-bosses are a great touch. Bosses work in Halo — I don't know why they only did it in one game."
• After the fight, Tremonius drops the Hydra, which Andy picks up and uses for a while.

Spartan Core Upgrades

• The upgrade system unlocks when you reach the open world. Andy's immediate recommendation on Legendary: max out shields first, no question.
• Later upgrades include: grapple hook cooldown reduction (significant, highly recommended), threat sensor, and various weapon/equipment buffs.
• The 15% shield upgrade "doesn't feel like 15%," but the later grapple cooldown reduction is a game-changer.
• Spartan Cores are scattered across the open world and in mission areas, often requiring the grapple hook to reach.

Open World — Zeta Halo

The game opens into a Far Cry-style sandbox: FOBs to capture, Valor points to earn, HVTs to hunt, propaganda towers to destroy, and UNSC squads to rescue. Andy describes it as "Far Cry Halo."

FOB System:

• Capturing FOBs earns Valor points, which unlock vehicles and weapons at FOB call-in stations.
• Key tip: Walk up to weapon crates at FOBs and hold X to swap them out for your unlocked weapons (e.g., VK78 Commando, Shotgun). This isn't immediately obvious.
• Vehicles unlock progressively with Valor — Mongoose early, Warthog later, Wasp (flier) at 2500 total Valor.
• Once you unlock the Wasp, Andy says "it's GG" for traversal.

Valor sources: FOBs are the primary source; rescuing marines also earns some. HVTs and raid camps appear not to give Valor directly but reward weapon variants.

Marines:

• Rescued marines will follow you and can be mounted on vehicles. Andy specifically drives around with a rocket marine in the passenger seat of a Warthog.
• Marine AI is chaotic — they'll friendly-fire, run into danger, and occasionally get court-martialed by the Warthog.

Enemy variety notes:

• Banished mix Brutes, Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers (flying variants), Elites, and new Skimmer enemies (the "little weirdos" with insect designs).
• No Drones (the flying bug enemies from Halo 2/3) — and neither host misses them.
• HVT boss variants occasionally have unique weapon loadouts or armor designs; Andy wishes these variants appeared more frequently as standard enemies.

Gameplay feel:

• Killing enemies feels good but dying is also extremely quick. "Everyone's OP — it's easy to kill them and easy for them to kill you."
• Legendary here is considered easier than Halo 2 Legendary because the open world lets you disengage or reposition.
• The Mangler (Banished sidearm) is used heavily throughout — great for precision headshots.
• The Battle Rifle is grabbed when found and never dropped.
• The Sentinel Beam is recommended: "Ridiculously good. If you're not using it, you're tweaking."

Open world criticism:

• The world is considered "barren" — interesting concept but sparse content.
• Traveling between objectives without fast travel gets tedious.
• Both hosts feel the open world dilutes the story: "The campaign is so stretched out that the whole thing becomes a forgettable experience."

The Tower / Spires

• A linear story mission that involves scaling a large Banished spire structure.
• Involves clearing Banished forces across multiple vertical levels using the grapple hook extensively.
• The two-tether design for co-op (players must stay within a certain distance of each other) is complained about throughout: "Crackdown 1 from 2007 let you each do a different section of the map. I don't accept this is a technical limitation."

The Conservatory

• Story mission where the Harbinger first becomes the focal point. The Banished and the Harbinger are clearly excavating for something on the ring.
• Contains the mysterious "little things" in stasis pods — later confirmed to be the Endless, an ancient alien species the Forerunners imprisoned on the ring.
• Andy on the Endless: "I think they went about this the wrong way. Instead of saying 'oh there's an even older ancient evil,' it would have been better to make them just isolated aliens with cool tech who collide with the Banished."
• The interior architecture here draws Halo 4 comparisons.

Repository

• Another interior story mission progressing deeper into the Forerunner structures on the ring.
• Features the Bassus boss fight — a large Brute with an energy hammer that hits extremely hard and has rapid shield regeneration. One of the more difficult fights in the game.
• The "chandelier" in the fight room becomes a recurring gag — Gus keeps finding himself grappled to it upside down.
• "Two hunters are the hardest part of the campaign so far" — a room with paired Hunters is considered the toughest non-boss encounter.

House of Reckoning

• "This is where Chak'lok shipped his victims." The House of Reckoning is a Banished torture/interrogation facility.
• Involves an armory section mid-mission where you can restock before the final push.
• Lore questions come up here: "The Harbinger — they've done a really bad job of explaining where they came from and what their purpose is. Are they before the Forerunners?"
• The Weapon notes this is where Chak'lok sent his prisoners; Chief states he knows exactly where to go.

The Harbinger Boss Fight

• Three-phase fight requiring destroying transmitters across a large arena. The Harbinger is trying to "open a connection" elsewhere on the ring to free the Endless.
• She teleports around the arena and has a melee kick attack but deals relatively low direct damage when shielded. "She's really easy once her shield's down — basically target practice."
• Adds spawn from the outer platforms throughout the fight; handling them while tracking the boss is the main challenge.
• Weapon types required for different phases: plasma weapons, hard light weapons, electric/disruptor weapons. The arena has reload stations for each.
• After the fight, The Weapon confirms the connection the Harbinger opened was "sentient — it's searching for something," setting up the sequel hook.

Silent Auditorium / Ending

• The final mission, described as reminiscent of Halo 2's ending in tone and architecture.
• The classic Halo Legendary campaign music plays in a modified form, which both hosts appreciate.
• The Weapon is retained at the end of the campaign — but this is flagged early on as one of the only spoilers Andy knew going in: the fact that she's still present at credits roll hints at a bigger story to come.
• Andy's final take: "Heavily mixed. Interior designs are a lot more fun than the open world. But I'm tired of 'Scooby-Doo missions' in Halo — chasing an AI. We've been doing it for 10 years."
• Gus's final take: "Cool elements poorly executed. Great introductions and mechanics, but squandered execution. The way they wrapped up Cortana kills me."
• Shared verdict: "It was another great start to a trilogy that they won't finish." Both note that 343 is reportedly switching to Unreal Engine for the next game, meaning another likely reset of everything built here.

Lore & Story Notes

• The Endless are the central mystery of Infinite — an ancient species the Forerunners couldn't catalog, imprisoned in stasis on Zeta Halo. The Harbinger is their representative/last survivor trying to free them.
• Cortana's fate: Left ambiguous after Halo 5. The Weapon allegedly deleted her, but both hosts are skeptical. "I'm not buying that a new human-made AI can successfully defeat what Cortana became."
• The Librarian is brought up — pivotal moment in Halo 4, never addressed again. "They probably weren't part of the next team's plan and they just damned her character."
• Atriox and the Banished: Atriox is framed almost as a religious figure by his followers. Andy theorizes Tartarus was a spiritual predecessor to the Banished ideology — his ways of fighting back against the Prophets inspiring what became the Banished.
• Halo Wars 2 connections: The Banished Phantom design appears; stasis beams are referenced. Infinite is noted as many people's formal introduction to the Banished, making the lack of callback to HW2 lore a missed opportunity.