Halo 4: ‘Exile’ Map Revealed, Official Grifball Mode Confirmed

343 Industries was out in full force at PAX Prime over the weekend to show off Halo 4. The developer revealed a new map, ‘Exile’, and confirmed that the fan favorite, community-created mode Grifball, inspired by the machinima masters over at Rooster Teeth, will be making a return in Halo 4 as an official game mode.

For the uninitiated, Grifball has two teams of four fighting over a “Grifball,” which spawns at the center of the map. All players are equipped with a gravity hammer and a sword, which you’ll need to make use of if you want to stop the enemy team from taking the ball to the opposing goal.

In Halo 4, Grifball will work slightly differently, as you’ll be able to see for yourself in the video below. For starters, you’ll now be able to actually throw the ball, rather than having it thrown from you when you’re on the receiving end of a gravity hammer.

There are a number of other tweaks as well such as the Grifball automatically landing in your hands when you kill the ball carrier with a plasma sword. If you had a gravity hammer, killing the carrier would knock the Grifball away.

As for the new map, Exile, 343 Industries described it as being a combination of Sidewinder, Blood Gulch, and Rat’s Nest. Vehicular combat will play a big role on Exile, and the map was designed specifically for Capture the Flag and Oddball gametypes.

To check out the footage of Halo 4‘s Grifball multiplayer mode, see below.