Everything You Need to Know About the Halo Infinite – Fracture: Tenrai Event
Halo is celebrating. Chiefly, the franchise turns twenty this year. Indeed, the OG Xbox console launched with a true titanic flagship. Despite the decline in recent years, Halo Infinite aims to reclaim its crown among shooters. Similar to Fortnite, Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is free to play. Additionally, 343 Industries (developers of Halo Infinite) promised multiple events and live services. This week, the first Fracture slashes into battle. The Fracture: Tenrai event draws its blade.
Fracture: Tenrai Event – Spartan Meet Samurai
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The Fracture: Tenrai event is the first of its kind for Halo Infinite. Primarily, it will debut the Yoroi armor. 343 Industries previously teased this samurai armor and other cosmetics. This and other future events will allow greater customization diversity. To add, Fractures will serve as alternate realities for Halo‘s core canon. Wherein, events share grounded elements with what fans are accustomed to. Additionally, they bring fun and unique lore. Here is an excerpt from the event’s blogpost:
The first Fracture for Halo Infinite is called “Tenrai,” where blessed suits of YOROI are forged using ancient karakuri arts from the raw energies of the land—each hand-crafted for eager young samurai of unimpeachable honor to defend their clan and lands from the barbaric Covenant invaders. This is an example of the world-building “seed” used to inspire a particular Fracture theme — a small overview that gives a flavor of what’s possible in this alternate reality, with further details sprinkled throughout the in-game lore strings that accompany various customization items associated with their respective theme.
The Fracture: Tenrai event is temporary. It is only available for a week. However, the event is reoccurring throughout the season. This grants players multiple chances to tune in. Yet, this can also be a double-edged sword. Unfortunately, Fracture is not free of the slow grind problem.
Falling Sparrow Cut
Fracture: Tenrai brings a unique event pass. This is free to all players. Similar to Heroes of Reach, the event progresses by challenges. These are limited time and only present for the event. Specifically, they are tied to the Fiesta mode but are combined with normal weekly challenges.
This brings players back to a glaring issue. Currently, the event challenges seem to randomize and/or alternate with normal ones. Event challenges are replaced by normal ones after completion. However, it is not always the case vice versa. I used a few challenge swaps. Yet, the new challenges were normal. An event challenge was swapped in only after completing some weekly challenges. This system promotes a slow burn. Players are effectively time-gated due to the nature of the challenge progression system.
It is no wonder the event is reoccurring during the season. In a nutshell, players cannot complete the event in one week. This system ensures multiple weeks of play to unlock event goodies. The number of event challenges is limited during a week as an example. Additionally, the event is monetized. Halo: Infinite’s multiplayer is free to play. Therefore, monetization itself is not an issue. However, a few pieces of the Yoroi armor are locked behind the shop. The credit (in-game premium currency) price is not cheap either. In summary, players completing their samurai set will be stopped by a paywall.
Flow Like Water
The Fracture: Tenrai event is okay overall. It brings fun brevity to the playlist in form of Fiesta. Undoubtedly, both the Yoroi armor sets and lore are immaculate. However, the dragging nature of event progression overshadows the event. Subsequently, numerous Yoroi pieces are unobtainable unless you purchase with the game’s premium currency. There is still time. The multiplayer is still in its beta phase. 343 Industries pledges to continue tweaking progression. You can find the full event blogpost here. Time will tell if there are major changes come December 8th or later down the line.
