A new mode turns Halo: Infinite into Fall Guys with a "hex-a-gone" minigame

Halo has a history of embracing wacky game modes, and Halo Infinite players are seeing that tradition continue this week with a new playlist of game modes. "Action Sack" is a returning playlist for the series. It first appeared in Halo 3 as a rotating set of modes that would see you quickly cycling through various deadly minigames, from chaotic rockets-only nukefests to panicky punch-ups with ammoless pistols. This time, the playlist includes a familiar geometric hazard that has seen the death of many a bean: the "hex-a-gone" level from Fall Guys.

If you've not experienced the adrenal pleasure of a Fall Guys tournament, the goal of this particular minigame is to hop from one perilous tile to the next, escaping each tile as it falls after being used. There are several floors of tiles. Fall into the void, and you're knocked out. It's a pure playground game made manifest in bright colours and bouncing beanpals. Here's what it looks like in Fall Guys.

As for how it showed up in the multiplayer FPS, Halo Infinite's Forge mode allows players to create their own modes and minigames. So, of course someone imported this battle-royale-in-miniature. Here, up to 16 Spartans can recreate the twitchy standoffs and desperate divebombs of the game I like to call Heinz' Total Wipeout. It's been a custom mode for a while now, but Halo Studios has now deemed it playful enough to include the mode in the official Action Sack playlist.

It'll sit alongside some other fun nonsense. Goose Hunt sees players driving around a dangerously exposed circular track on Mongoose quad bikes, while one player launches rockets at the drivers. Maze Craze will have you running around an intentionally confusing maze, trying to hide from the one murderous player with a gravity hammer. You can see the other modes in the playlist in a post on Steam from the developers.

All this comes shortly after they formalised another goofy returning mode - Castle Wars. This sees two teams standing off in opposing castles with only one direct approach between them. Think of these maps as the spiritual successors to Unreal Tournament's Facing Worlds. They are battles of attrition, and result in many a sniped head. In terms of level design, they should not work at all. And yet... and yet...

I have a lot of time for Halo's player-driven kookiness. As happens within modding scenes, these fan creations can become so popular and well-loved that they get officially folded into the games. The zombie-dodging Infection mode, which sees players fend off a slowly growing team of undead sword-wielding players, was once just a set of playground rules in Halo 2 matches, for example. That's probably unlikely for a borrowed novelty like Hex-A-Gone. But I'm glad we still get to see the spirit of modding survive in a popular shooter.