The Killjoy Challenge in Halo Infinite has drawn a decent amount of attention and criticism, but why? Oh, and how do you actually complete the bloody thing?
Whenever we update our Weekly Challenges in Halo Infinite article, we always keep an eye out for potentially controversial challenges. In Killjoy, we have something that is not only a pain in the backside, but a hilarious pain in the backside. The challenge, which we will get into in a minute, might lend itself to a few laughs, but completely messes up the game for other players. It is a true representation of what makes the whole Weekly Challenge system a massive problem for Halo Infinite's multiplayer.
Now, we'll get into the reasoning behind that last statement in a minute, but we want to make something very clear: we actually love working our way towards getting each week's Ultimate Reward. It's a great gameplay loop, but it is detrimental to all the players who are just trying to have a good game. The Killjoy Challenge? Well, unlike the Buddy System Challenge, this one truly affects everyone else in a match. It's a demonic challenge that must be struck from the records! What is it, though? Well...
For those of you who are less than informed about Halo Infinite's Weekly Challenges system, each week, players are presented with approximately twenty different tasks that they must complete (in a certain order) to eventually receive that week's Ultimate Reward. As of writing this article, players are greeted with a pretty fabulous Combat Rifle skin if they complete all the weekly challenges. It is pretty specky, but requires you to complete something rather tedious...
What Is The Halo Infinite Killjoy Challenge?
The Killjoy Challenge, or Fiesta Killjoy, is a challenge that requires you to kill three players who are currently on a Killing Spree. This must be done in a single match, which can be difficult considering that those people are often very high-level players, and also the fact that there is only so much time in a single match to play around with. The other problem with the Killjoy Challenge is that it incentivizes you to die a lot. Here's why...
How To Get The Killjoy Challenge In Halo Infinite
The easiest way to get all three Killjoys is to allow yourself to die many, many times at the beginning of the match. Why? Well, because a player needs to get five kills to be considered on a "Killing Spree". You and your teammates need to allow the opposing team to all be considered as being on a "Killing Spree" so that you can then go and kill them, thereby earning the Killjoy Challenge.
Killjoys are an absolute pain, especially due to the fact that they require you to track down individuals whom are on killing sprees. This is not as easy as it sounds, as whilst many players can get to that point, it is relatively unlikely that there are going to be that many in a single match. In addition, you then need to identify and get to that player as quickly as possible – so that no one else eliminates them before you do. Honestly, I'd rather grab myself that badass Scorpion Gun in the campaign and blast my way through a few missions than engage in this rubbish!
Why Is The Killjoy Challenge A Problem?
The Killjoy Challenge more-or-less breaks Halo Infinite multiplayer matches. This is for a pretty obvious reason, if you think about it. You need to get three Killjoys, so your opponents need a minimum of fifteen eliminations before you can complete the challenge. That means making sure that your teammates have been killed, without making any eliminations yourselves, usually more than twenty times. This breaks the flow of the game as it just hands out kills to the enemy team, with literally no resistance! As you can see from this Reddit post, people are not happy about this.
Dear 343 - Killjoys are NOT Challenges. They are RNG bullshit. from halo
The true fault in the way that challenges work in Halo Infinite is that XP is generally linked to the challenges you complete and the matches you play. It is not like a traditional shooter – something like Call of Duty or Battlefield – where XP is handed out when you eliminate another player. Instead, players are incentivized to simply chase the challenges and not work on winning matches, scoring kills and mainly... having fun.
To fix this, 343 Industries are going to have to do a lot of work. Halo Infinite's multiplayer is absolutely incredible, with some fantastic maps and some really great new weapons. The gameplay is Infinite's biggest strength, as it was in the game's campaign as well, so the focus should really be implementing mechanics that compliment the gameplay, rather than mechanics that reward behaviors that are antithetical to the gameplay loop itself. Just food for thought.