Microsoft’s Halo Infinite Box Art Builds Hype for Tomorrow’s Xbox Games Showcase

Tomorrow, Microsoft plans to release gameplay for Halo: Infinite at their Xbox Games Showcase, revealing what Master Chief will look like on 343 Industries new Slipspace Engine, a move which will transform Halo’s graphical fidelity and feature set on Xbox One, PC and Xbox Series X. 

With these new images of the Master Chief, it looks like rumours of a Spartan grapple hook are legitimate, as John 117’s sporting a new tool on his left arm. Based on this image, we can also see the reflection of what appears to be a brute, cementing the fact that a faction called “The Banished” will be present within the game.   

Last month, Microsoft’s teased the Banished’s return with a short teaser trailer called “Signal Detected”. This teaser takes the form of an intercepted transmission, which says the following. “The hour approaches. Our forces occupy the ring. Within hours it will be under our control. Humanity will burn. Their brazen defiance will be all but a memory. No more Prophets. No more lies. We stand together. Brothers to the end. We are his will. We are his legacy. We are The Banished.”

For those who didn’t play Halo Wars 2, the Banished are a group of ex-Covenant warriors who broke away from the union after the events of Halo 3. This faction disposes humanity and seeks to wipe the species from existence, and it looks like they will be a huge part of Halo 5’s story. 
 
Some fans have also speculated that this Box Art confirms that The Flood will be returning with Halo Infinite. It has been claimed that one of the buildings on the pictured Halo is a location known as the “Palace of Pain”, a location where the Forerunners experimented with the Flood on Humans. Could The Flood be released once again in Halo Infinite?