First came the cat ears. Then came the Iron Man armor. But this week, one of Halo Infiniteâs prime cosmetics options is a bit more on the nose: a literal halo.
Okay, itâs not literally on the nose. (But surely the Halo nose ring is moments away.) The cosmetic item, called âPerfect Circle,â actually floats just a bit above your Spartanâs head. Itâs quite nice-looking, too, all done up in the same incandescent blue light that comprises so much tech made by Forerunners (ancient beings in Halo lore). It perpetually rotates, and leaves a little trail of sparkly pixie dust in your wake. Look closely, and youâll see that itâs not just a traditional halo, either: Itâs a digital to-scale model of Zeta Halo, the setting of Halo Infinite, right down to the shattered segment at the belt.
âPerfect Circleâ is currently on sale in Halo Infiniteâs microtransaction store through next Tuesday. You can pick it up for 300 credits (about $3, or a little less if youâre subscribed to Xbox Game Pass).
If that sounds low to you, youâre not alone. Since Halo Infiniteâs launch in November, players have vocally skewered the prices of microtransactions in 343 Industriesâ multiplayer shooter. Armor sets went on sale with price tags as high as $20, including for gear that was available at no extra cost in previous Halo games. (Halo Infinite is the first game in the series to feature a free-to-play model.) Even the cat ears initially went on sale for $10.
In January, 343 Industries said itâd lower the prices of items in the store, and start making items available piecemeal, rather than only as part of pricey bundles. In some cases, that bore out as promised; after the announcement, prices indeed dropped across the board, with some gear decoupled from any bundles. Those were the good, but in other cases, nothing improved. One bundle that went on sale for $20 last year went on sale again for the same price.
âPerfect Circle is a good cosmetic that is reasonably priced, keep it up 343,â one person wrote on Reddit. By and large, responding players agreed, saying it looks good, comes at a fine price, and is a fitting example of the âexperimentalâ pricing model 343 is working out through the rest of Halo Infiniteâs first season. Even one player, who criticized the rest of the prices in the storeâwhich, this week range from $3 (a weapon skin) to $6 (a skull ornament for your warthog)ânonetheless admitted that the sticker price of âPerfect Circleâ was âkind of okay.â
âThe Perfect âCircleâ might actually be aligned properly!?,â one player quipped in a since-deleted Reddit post, seemingly making a reference to the slightly off-centered cosmetics that appeared as free prizes during last monthâs cyberpunk event. âWhat do we rant about now?!â
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