Halo 5: Guardians to remove much hated feature in the Final Release

It has hardly been three days since the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta began, and the first major improvement is already in place.

Flinch, the fan-hated element is set to be removed from the game following the beta’s conclusion. The feature was first added to the series in 343 Industries’ inaugural outing, Halo 4 which allows your aiming to be affected by incoming fire. Before that, getting hit by incoming fire would bring you out of your scope, if you were using one, but otherwise your aim was unaffected. In Halo 4 and the Halo 5 : Guardians Beta however, getting hit would cause your aim to vary wildly, missing shots that would otherwise have been dead on.

This did not seem to be in the spirit of the game, as Halo is more of an arena shooter which relies on your skill as a player and less on random elements like flinching. And, many players argued, since you are playing as a cyborg superman your aim really would not be impacted simply by having a bullet bounce off of your shield. Spartans are bred for war and should be able to hit headshots from across the map whether under fire or not. These complaints largely went unanswered in Halo 4, but they seem to have been heard this time around with Studio Head Josh Holmes announcing the demise of Flinch.

“We’re aware of a couple of reaction anims that are causing a slight flinch-like effect. It will be fixed post-beta,” said Josh Holmes when asked why Flinch was still in the game. This seems to indicate that Flinch wasn’t really intended to be in the game in the first place, which is supported by previous comments by the developer. However, it certainly is there not. Thankfully, with this confirmation it seems that it will be removed before final release.

The game will be available in Fall 2015 exclusively for Xbox One.