Surpise! One of Halo 5’s most popular maps gets sudden Halo Infinite release date

A familiar cityscape in an unfamiliar palette.

An image of Halo Infinite's Solitude map, a frozen and abandoned cityscape.
Image via 343 Industries

For Halo Infinite fans who thought all the content season four had to offer came when it launched last week, it turns out 343 Industries had one more ace up its sleeve.

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Today it was revealed that the much anticipated remake of Plaza, a map from Halo 5: Guardians, will be going live in Halo Infinite tomorrow on June 27. While the existence of an upcoming Forge remake of the popular map has long been teased by 343, the developer had been playing coy with a release date up until now. The remake was created via the game’s Forge tools and washes out Plaza’s neon-soaked city streets with an icy and desolate affect.

Launching as “Solitude,” the Plaza remake will be making its debut in not just social play, but ranked as well according to a tweet from HCS. In Halo 5, Plaza was one of the premiere competitive maps in rotation. It was famous for the trick jumps and geometry exploitation that were possible with Halo 5′s movement mechanics, which all contributed to a very unique map in tournament play. As the team behind Solitude also notes, Plaza was “one of the best Strongholds maps” as well.

Whether this storied history as part of the HCS circuit will translate onto Solitude as well remains to be seen. Halo Infinite is, at the end of the day, a different game with a different sandbox that the Plaza remake had to adapt for. That could mean it’s less suited for competitive play, but 343 is going to be keeping a close eye on the reception it receives tomorrow—and when it gets added to the tournament circuit after the Arlington Major—to see whether it has a place in the map pool for the long term.

Related: Iconic Halo mode finally getting added to Infinite in season 4

When Solitude launches on June 27, players will be able to get hands-on with it consistently thanks to the New Arena Unlimited playlist that will also be available at reset. New Arena Unlimited will feature only Forest and Solitude—season four’s two new four-vs-four maps—in rotation, playable with a range of game modes.

With the first event of Halo Infinite’s fourth season also expected to begin tomorrow at the weekly reset, players have a lot to look forward to when they log in.

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Alexis Walker
Alexis is a freelance journalist hailing from the UK. After a number of years competing on international esports stages, she transitioned into writing about the industry in 2021 and quickly found a home to call her own within the vibrant communities of the looter shooter genre. Now she provides coverage for games such as Destiny 2, Halo Infinite and Apex Legends.