History YMMV / HaloInfinite

* UncannyValley:
** The re-design of the Brutes, primarily in the 2020 E3 gameplay showcase. While the Brutes have ''always'' taken major ape-like influence ([[OlderThanTheyThink and have gone through a major re-design in literally every single major instalment they appear in]]), the fact that they looked like [[MixAndMatchCritters outright hairless gorillas wearing a rhino's skin]] became [[MemeticMutation the single biggest meme in the lead-up to the game's release]]. Opinions had largely shifted to the contrary with the Campaign Overview, with Brutes now sporting a variety of facial hair/fur alongside an overall increase in graphical fidelity.
** The Harbinger also falls into this once we are given a chance to get closeup to her. Whereas everyone has smooth facial animations for talking and expressing themselves, Harbinger's face seems like it's rendered at a much lower framerate and with twitchier expressions that make her face seem delayed and stretching unnaturally as she speaks—however, given the intent of the character, this seems to come off as an InvokedTrope to make her mysterious nature even more unnerving.

** Tremonius can be a pain for fresh Legendary runs, or even Legendary, All Skulls On runs. He's got the Hydra Launcher with its really fast projectiles and a bulldog, and a ground slam attack that has aggressive homing. And this is before you can access the Scorpion Gun.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** [[spoiler:Cortana is revealed to have crossed it by responding to Atriox's defiance with [[EarthShatteringKaboom cracking the Jiralhanae homeworld of Doisac]] while he was ForcedToWatch. While the Spartan training facility she also ordered the destruction of could at least be considered enemy combatants and a strategic asset (as can her destruction of the UNSC Headquarters in Sydney on Earth), Doisac was estimated to have a population of 12.5 ''billion'' lives, many of them civilians not in open rebellion against her.]]
** Atriox in turn was theorized to have one over [[spoiler:deciding to use Zeta Halo in retribution, though this belief made no sense as he was established to be against genocide. Later media clarified he only sought the Endless and revenge against Cortana only]].

** The immensely satisfying ''KLUNG'' produced when using the Grappleshot to deliver a 30mph MegatonPunch.

* GoddamnedBats: Grunts, Jackals and Skimmers armed with either [[LightningGun Disruptors or Shock Rifles]] become this while exploring the overworld with vehicles, most noticeably in aircraft. They always come in groups and their weapons [[StaticStunGun disable vehicles]] in only a handful of shots; it's usually harmless, but it becomes irritating when a player's Wasp or Scorpion gets stunlocked several times in a row because of the sheer volume and surprisingly long range of massed Disruptor/Shock Rifle fire.

* Tremonius can be a pain for fresh Legendary runs, or even Legendary, All Skulls On runs. He's got the Hydra Launcher with its really fast projectiles and a bulldog, and a ground slam attack that has aggressive homing. And this is before you can access the Scorpion Gun.

** Jega ‘Rdomnai’s design design received plenty of criticism for being over-the-top and edgy. In the game, however, the design works well thanks to the genuine NightmareFuel that he brings to all of his scenes, as well as his surprising HiddenDepths friendship with Escharum.

* MagnificentBastard: [[DragonAscendant Escharum]] is a war chief of the Banished who once served as mentor to their warmaster Atriox. Taking command after Atriox goes MIA, Escharum creates a CultOfPersonality around Atriox's visage to maintain order in the diverse Banished and rallies them behind Atriox's plan [[spoiler:to repair and fire the Zeta Halo in retribution for the destruction of Doisac.]] Viewing the UNSC Spartans views as {{Worthy Opponent}}s and desiring a fight with Master Chief himself before [[IncurableCoughOfDeath his age catches up to him]], Escharum creates a specialized team of Spartan Killers to combat them. [[spoiler:Killed by Master Chief, Escharum dies happily at having had a glorious FinalBattle, and is acknowledged by Master Chief as a soldier trying to do right by his people.]]

** Atriox in turn has one over [[spoiler:deciding to use Zeta Halo in retribution, though in his case it at least seems to make a degree of sense in terms of sheer grief]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Cortana and the Guardians, entirely because of what's described below as [[spoiler:they were dealt a CurbStompBattle off-screen, and after Cortana's major revival as a [[FaceHeelTurn corrupted antagonist]] in the previous game, she's unceremoniously killed off again by Atroix while using her last moments to sabotage Zeta Halo.]] The entire game attempts to work up to this reveal only to slap you with the underwhelming fact that the deuteragonist of the franchise [[spoiler:died pitifully to make way for The Weapon becoming a blank-slate "reboot" of her from the ground-up, and the massive threat of the Guardians was swept under the rug to focus on the new threat of the Endless instead.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Cortana and the Guardians, entirely because of what's described below as [[spoiler:they were dealt a CurbstompBattle off-screen, and after Cortana's major revival as a [[FaceHeelTurn corrupted antagonist]] in the previous game, she's unceremoniously killed off again by Atroix while using her last moments to sabotage Zeta Halo.]] The entire game attempts to work up to this reveal only to slap you with the underwhelming fact that the deuteragonist of the franchise [[spoiler:died pitifully to make way for The Weapon becoming a blank-slate "reboot" of her from the ground-up, and the massive threat of the Guardians was swept under the rug to focus on the new threat of the Endless instead.]]

*** That said, it's relatively easy to melee him to death even on Heroic.

* BrokenBase: [[spoiler: Cortana’s HeelFaceTurn. While some parts of the fanbase are happy with Cortana getting a touching sendoff that wraps up her character arc, others view her redemption as forced, undeserving and poorly executed due to her previous actions as a megalomaniacal A.I supremacist who killed billions to enforce peace in the galaxy. Only worsening the matter is Cortana's genocide of the Jiralhanae, which has led many to label her as irredeemably evil and feel that her following HeelRealization was far too little, too late. Cortana's apology makes her sound like she isn't ashamed about committing atrocities, but because she finally picked a fight, she couldn't win and would soon have to face severe consequences for her war crimes. The actual genocidal actions do not matter much to her as we are shown]].

** After ''5’s'' multiplayer caught criticism for its aggressive in-game monetization, this game at least makes the microtransaction model more justified by being free-to-play

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Glibnub, the Grunt comms officer who can be heard broadcasting over the Banished's propaganda towers near-instantly won a fanbase after the game's release for his hilarious and often LeaningOnTheFourthWall commentary on the game's events.

** Jackal Snipers, especially on Heroic and harder, will snipe players out of ''nowhere''. It's worth noting that their lethality has been toned down considerably from previous iterations: each attack is preceded by a lengthy "target acquisition" sequence where the Sniper lines up its shot, during which the player is signposted by a light on the Sniper's helmet, a targeting laser from the weapon itself and, when the Sniper is about to fire, a glistening HUD effect; Snipers also only wield Stalker Rifles, whose individual shots aren't one-hit kills like its Beam Rifle predecessors. Despite all this, players who are caught unawares are still likely to get routinely 3-cycled by Snipers on Legendary difficulty, where they fire their Stalker Rifle fires so fast that it might as well be a one-shot. This is humorously {{Lampshaded}} in the description for [[NintendoHard Legendary]] difficulty.

** Emplaced plasma cannons. Make sure you knock them off their mountings, because if an enemy commandeers one, they can shred you in two bursts on Legendary.

** The Skimmers were intended to be this to past flying enemies, like the Drones and the Promethean Watchers, which tended to be GoddamnedBats that were more annoying than fun to fight because of how difficult they were to hit. The Skimmers' hoverpacks and GlassCannon nature largely afford them the positives of flying enemies, but they are indeed much easier to shoot, as they were functionally more like Sentinels.

** Jackal Snipers, especially on Heroic and harder, will snipe players out of ''nowhere''. Although their individual shots are no longer one-hit kills, the Stalker Rifle fires so fast that it might as well be one. This is humorously {{Lampshaded}} in the description for [[NintendoHard Legendary]] difficulty.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: While ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' was held in contempt for its campaign and story, it still had a hell of a SequelHook with an [[FaceHeelTurn evil Cortana]] leading an A.I. rebellion, the Guardians and an attempt to take over the galaxy as the next major conflict for the series. What does ''Infinite'' do with all of that? [[spoiler:Nothing directly, as Cortana proceeded to pick a fight with the Banished and got her forces utterly thrashed for it off-screen thanks to Atriox on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. This means ''the entirety of 5's ending plot hook was resolved with no input or knowledge from the player'', leaving you to only try to piece together what happened and deal with the Banished forces in the aftermath. All that really came of it was that Atriox managed to wreck much of the UNSC military… [[WorfHadTheFlu which was already on its last legs due to losing much of its advanced technology]], meaning his victory itself felt relatively hollow.]] There's no shortage of players that have expressed that for all of ''5'''s faults, they would have much preferred ''that'' storyline to the unfinished plotline of the final game in ''Infinite''.

* ScrappyMechanic: With the launch of the Beta, the battle pass is proving to be very unpopular with the community. The main complaints are the glacial speed at which progress is made, the lack of XP rewarded to players outside of challenges, and how both of the above pressure players to focus on challenges at the expense of enjoying the game or focusing on the objective. This, on top of the battle pass requiring ten dollars unless one is willing to settle for the bare-bones free version, has left many players feeling irate, as it neuters progression and removes the incentive to play outside of challenges since you literally can't progress if you're unable to finish any for some time.

* ThatOneLevel: Conservatory, specifically, the section where you must battle Skimmers in the circular control room, is infamous for being very difficult to beat on Legendary. There's pretty much no cover, the Skimmers carry Shock Rifles that can kill you in two or hits, and worse, Brute Berserkers spawn in the second phase, who are also capable of two-shotting you, and prevent you from taking cover.

** Jackal Snipers, especially on Heroic and harder, will snipe players out of ''nowhere''. Although their individual shots are no longer OneHitKills, the Stalker Rifle fires so fast that it might as well be one. This is humorously {{Lampshaded}} in the description for [[NintendoHard Legendary]] difficulty.