/r/Halo Locked Down As 'Halo Infinite' Receives Stellar Reviews

Halo Infinite, the oft-memed and long-delayed next entry in the Halo franchise, finally comes out on Xbox Series X/S and PC this Wednesday. The early reviews seem to indicate it's very good. At the time of writing, the game has an 87/100 on Metacritic, with critics saying the campaign and multiplayer offer a return to form for the series.

Meanwhile, the game's subreddit is in chaos. Over the weekend, moderators of /r/halo temporarily locked down the subreddit due to a fever pitch of toxicity from participants.

On November 15th, Halo Infinite opened a beta of its new free-to-play multiplayer mode and introduced a host of issues that left many of its players frustrated. It follows a "Battle Pass" model, similar to that of Fortnite, in which players compete to complete challenges in order to gain experience and unlock more new cosmetics. As reported by Mashable, the cosmetics unlocked for leveling up were largely dull. Furthermore, players gained experience by completing in-match challenges rather than by actually winning a match. This led to situations where players in matches would look to maximize their own EXP by spending a match hunting down a specific gun instead of trying to win, letting down teammates in the process.

The /r/Halo subreddit has been the site of players voicing their frustrations, and it apparently got so toxic that the moderators had to step in.

"At the end of the day the primary thing the mod team cares about is limiting insults and toxicity, because it makes it impossible to have actual conversation," wrote mod -343-Guilty-Spark-. "This cuts both ways whether you are happy or unhappy with the game as-is. Someone criticizing the game doesn't mean you get to say they're an 'entitled crybaby manchild.' Someone saying they're fine with the game or to give it some time doesn't mean you can call them a 'bootlicking d**ksucker.'"

"Some users on the sub have even been responsible for doxxing and death threats. We're temporarily putting the sub on lockdown so people can hopefully settle down a bit and we can hit the reset button before launch. At the end of the day this is a video game and this level of vitriol is unwarranted."

As of now, the subreddit has reopened, and only time will tell if the temporary lockdown had the intended effect of cooling off the subreddit's participants. Furthermore, there are still two days until Halo Infinite releases, and it will be interesting to see if the angry fans end up sharing the overwhelmingly positive opinion of critics.