There’s little doubt that Grifball has become one of the more adored game types in history of Halo. It’s so popular, in fact, that many longtime fans were initially disappointed to learn that the multiplayer option wasn’t anywhere to be seen in Halo 5: Guardians. Fortunately, it seems that 343 Industries has some big plans in place to bring it back, and the best part is that fans won’t be waiting that long for its resurgence either. Taking to the infamous community hub Halo Waypoint, multiplayer designer Max Grossman confirmed the return of Grifball to anxious community members, and noted the changes that have been made to make it a more balanced and engaging experience for those looking to just kick back and have some fun in Halo 5. “Grifball has seen many variations over the last few games and this time, we wanted to make sure we got it right. We called in the leading expert on all things Grifball, Jeffrey “Nokyard” Fischer. We flew Nokyard out to the studio a few months before we started development of the mode to make sure that we understood exactly what is important to Grifballers. We had many design discussions with Nokyard and he even built the first Halo 5 Grifball Court which will be launching alongside the mode this update (it’s unlike any Grifball court you have ever seen before).” “Nok worked with our Weapons Designer, Daniel Wiksten, on trying to get the damage and impulse blast of the hammer to feel right. This collaboration helped us hammer out (pun intended) the delicate balance of Gravity Hammer vs. Sword vs. Ball that Grifball so heavily relies upon. We leveraged Nokyard’s wealth of Grifball knowledge to try to make the most exciting Grifball yet, complete with thrusting Grif, Ground Pound kills, and ball throwing. Playing Grifball during playtests over the last few months has been some of the most fun we have had in the new building.” Despite the praise Halo 5‘s multiplayer received in our review of the game, news that it’s only going to get better is still more than welcomed. Of course, this is something that fans came to expect after 343 announced that it planned on providing players with 15 multiplayer maps free-of-charge, and (true to its word) the depth of multiplayer game modes and battlegrounds has only grown alongside every update. The Grifball update will officially be arriving later this month – although an exact date is still M.I.A. – so ball aficionados won’t be forced to scratch that itch through the Default means of repeatedly clicking down on the controller’s right stick much longer. There are a handful of other changes coming alongside the update as well, including a slight color change to the beloved Blue Team, so we highly recommend Halo fans check out the full list of changes through the link at the bottom of this post.
