When does Halo Infinite season 5 release?

Halo Infinite season 5, formally called “Reckoning,” comes hot on the heels of the 2023 Halo World Championship. Obviously the big addition is the parasitic Flood, who haven’t been in a Halo game in more than a decade and finally debut in Infinite, albeit as cosmetics. But there’s a ton more coming to 343 Industries’ multiplayer shooter.

If you, like me, can’t wait to flood the servers, here’s when Halo Infinite season 5 releases in your time zone.

What time does Halo Infinite season 5 release?

Halo Infinite season 5 kicks off on Tuesday, Oct. 17th, 2023. Developer 343 Industries hasn’t yet specified the exact start time, but Halo Infinite updates roll out at 11:00 a.m. PT each Tuesday, so it’s safe to assume the same for the start of season 5.

Here’s when Halo Infinite season 5 should go live in your local time zone:

• 11 a.m PT for the west coast of North America
• 2 p.m. ET for the east coast of North America
• 8 p.m. CET for western Europe/Paris
• 7 p.m. GMT for the U.K.
• 4 a.m. JST on Oct. 18 for Tokyo

What’s new in Halo Infinite season 5?

Beyond the Flood-themed cosmetics (ew), Halo Infinite will also see a number of notable gameplay changes in season 5:

• Two new Arena maps join the rotation. There’s Prism, which features explosive environmental crystals the look a lot like Needler ammo (fear the pink mist), and Forbidden, a forest level with lots of verticality — and bottomless pits. Everyone who currently trips every round on the existing map Chasm (hi) should be extra careful.

Image: 343 Industries/Microsoft

• Halo Infinite’s battle passes are getting an overhaul for season 5. The seasonal battle pass will drop to 50 levels, down from 100, but retain the same number of rewards as previous seasons; you’ll simply earn more rewards per level. Events, meanwhile, are now called Operations. Those passes remain free, just like event battle passes have, but Operations will last from four to six weeks (an uptick from the week or two events currently last).
• Season 5 has two Operations on the books: Combined Arms, starting Nov. 19, and Winter Contingency 3, starting Dec. 14.
• The Bandit Rifle EVO is a twist on the single-shot Bandit Rifle introduced earlier this year. It’s fundamentally the same but with a small scope.
• The return of Extraction, a popular game mode first introduced in Halo 4. Extraction in Halo Infinite plays a bit like King of the Kill, with teams vying over a neutral area and earning points by successfully protecting it from the enemy team for long enough.
• The march toward true cross-core cosmetics continues. Starting in season 5, you can apply helmets across armor cores.

• Forge, Halo Infinite’s player creation mode, will let you add enemy AI to your designs.
• Firefight King of the Hill is a playable mode coming later in the season. No clue when it rolls out or what it entails (343 Industries hasn’t shared any details beyond the mode’s name) but it sure sounds like the best PvE mode combined with the best PvP mode.
• Finally, there’s a legitimately awesome reward for maxing out your career rank. Hit the max rank of Hero and you’ll unlock Master Chief’s suit from the Halo Infinite campaign as an armor kit in multiplayer.