Theater Mode was first introduced in Halo 3, and it has appeared in every mainline Halo game since. Whether you’re trying to rewatch your best matches, inspect how an opponent got the better of you, or take some photos of your Spartan in action, this is where you’ll want to go. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the features of Halo Infinite’s Theater Mode and some of its limitations.
To access the Theater mode, first select the community tab from the main menu. “Theater” will be the first option; select it and then choose to view your match history. From here, you’ll be able to view your past matches. Pick whichever one you want to watch a replay of, select “Watch Film,” and the replay will begin.
Don’t be alarmed if it takes roughly a minute or so for gameplay to begin once the replay loads; that’s approximately the time it takes for the pre-battle summary and pre-match intros to complete, both of which the replay will not show you. If you want to fast-forward a little, hold down the right trigger until gameplay begins.
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The controls in this mode might take a bit of work to get used to, but luckily, a button layout visible in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen should denote which button does what. We’ve also listed the controls for this mode below:
- Left Trigger: One press skips back 20 seconds.
- Right Trigger: Move forward in the timeline. The speed of this function depends on the amount of pressure you put on the trigger.
- Right/Left Bumper: Change which player the camera is following.
- A: Select various functions on the timeline.
- Y: You can use this to swap between four different camera types — first-person, third-person over-the-shoulder, third-person centered, and free camera.
- X: This button is used to apply/remove outlines from players and objects.
- B: This toggles the mode’s UI. One press will remove the timeline, another will remove the layout and all HUD elements. Press the button again to bring the UI elements back.
- Left Stick: Use this to move the camera, but only when in free camera mode. It won’t work when the camera is fixed. You can also click in on it while in motion to move a little faster.
- Right Stick: This changes the camera angle, but only when in third-person centered or free camera modes. Click in on this stick to perform a dramatic zoom in on your subject.
You’ll also be able to access all of these options via icons on the timeline, which has some additional features of its own. When the replay begins, you’ll see various icons on the timeline, each one representing a kill, death, a mode-specific event occurring, or you receiving a combat medal. Fast-forward to these icons, or just click on them if you’re using a mouse, to jump to them immediately.
Unfortunately, one drawback of Theater Mode is that there’s no way to export photos or videos directly from the game, as the replays are not recorded videos of games but rather in-engine recreations of your previous matches. That said, you can use your Xbox’s recording feature or any PC’s recording software to capture any moments you deem noteworthy in this mode. It should also be noted that Theater Mode has no visual filters, so if you want to spruce up your highlight’s visuals, you’ll have to do so in a separate application.
