For the past several weeks, Halo Infinite leaks have been teasing an upcoming battle royale mode. Called "Last Spartan Standing," the description certainly made it sound like a PUBG-style battle royale, with dozens or even hundreds of Spartans all running around trying to eliminate each other to be, as the name suggested, the last Spartan standing. Since then, the teaser trailer revealed a closing red wall similar to Apex Legends, another popular battle royale shooter, and more recent leaks have made more battle royale allusions thanks to a project being named after a WWE wrestler.
Today, 343 Industries gave us our first true look at the new game modes coming in Season 2 of Halo Infinite, and while it includes a battle royale mode, it's not quite what we were expecting.
Last Spartan Standing is not a big battle royale where 60 to 100 Spartans spawn in with pistols and run around gathering armaments to make their one life count as much as possible. Instead, it's a 12-Spartan free-for-all where everyone has a fixed loadout and five respawns. After losing all your respawns, you can leave the game or sit around and spectate to see who wins. Getting a kill provides players with an upgrade to a more powerful loadout, incentivizing combat over camping. Each Last Spartan Standing match takes place on a Big Team Battle map.
Players seem to be of two camps for the new Last Spartan Standing mode. Some are disappointed that a more traditional battle royale mode won't be coming soon to Halo Infinite, while others are excited for a sort of "mini" battle royale that will likely encourage more action than existing battle royale games.
Season 2 of Halo Infinite will also include two other game modes. King of the Hill returns with a slight twist: once a team captures a control point, a new point will spawn somewhere else on the map. Land Grab is another new mode where two teams will vie for control of three capture points. If a team captures all three then three more capture points will spawn after a short intermission to allow the other team to regroup. The first team to capture 11 points wins.
Two new maps were confirmed coming in Season 2, including Breaker for Big Team Battles, and the Arena map Catalyst. You can see both maps in action in the trailer above and get more info on all three game modes over on Halo Waypoint. Halo Infinite Season 2 - Lone Wolf arrives on May 3.