20 Years Later, ‘Halo Infinite’ Is Recreating Xbox’s Golden Years

. The 2004 sequel not only solidified the franchise as an entertainment transcendent blockbuster, but it also helped bolster Xbox Live as a premium service. It’s safe to say that without Halo 2, Xbox Live couldn’t have forced the rest of the console industry to embrace online play in a more thoughtful and considered way.

Halo Infinite isn’t the only game getting in on the celebration. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is adding a long-lost Halo 2 level featured in the game’s first E3 presentation back in 2003. While the level didn’t make the final cut of the game, digital archivists and the community tracked down the demo’s original assets, which Halo Studios was able to recreate as faithfully as possible in the current version of the game.

The Halo 2 E3 Demo will be free on Steam Workshop on November 9, exactly two decades after the game’s original release.

It’s been an eventful few weeks for Halo fans. Last month, Halo Studios revealed that it’s working on a new Halo game using Unreal Engine 5. It even showed some early footage of what the game will look like, featuring some photorealistic recreations of Halo iconography.

Halo Infinite is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.