Before The Next Big Halo Game:
After the massive fallout that came after Halo 5: Guardians, 343 did what they could to perform damage control. They gradually began to phase out the Created storyline and bring Halo back to its core storyline. They promised that the next game would portray a more “human” story that would be centered solely on the Master Chief. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t see this new game until six years later, the longest gap between a mainline Halo title since the one between Halo 3 and Halo 4.
In the interim, many works in the expanded universe were written to build up the story for the next installment. The first one to be released was the short story collection Halo Fractures: Extraordinary Tales from The Halo Universe, a sort of spiritual sequel to the excellent Halo: Evolutions released back in 2009. Some of the stories took place in the wake of the Created Conflict, some took place during the aftermath of the Human-Covenant War, and some even took place during the era of the Forerunners. Overall, it was a decent collection of stories. But many of us began to feel wary of putting much stock into the fiction after being so grossly misled with Halo 5.
Then, on February 21, 2017, Halo fans got something great to hold them over, because Halo Wars 2 was released. So many fans had been demanding a sequel to the original Halo Wars created by Ensemble Studios and were eager to see the continuation of the story of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Halo Wars 2 was developed by Creative Assembly. This game also introduced a new enemy faction known as the Banished, led by the mighty Brute chieftain, Atriox. Atriox was given a backstory in the comic series Rise of Atriox.
Waking up in the year 2558, thirty years after the Battle of Etran Harborage, the UNSC Spirit of Fire finds itself in orbit above the Ark. I have to note here that this is the second time in Halo’s fiction since the third game that we have returned to the Ark before the Master Chief. It makes sense that the UNSC would return to the Ark and try to harness its technologies after the war, but it’s weird that at least two pieces of Halo fiction would so thoroughly explore the Ark again without the Chief. It almost makes Chief’s return feel less eventful, if we ever see it happen, that is. I mean, he is the reason why Humanity even won the battle on the Ark in the first place. The intro begins with a message from the now deceased ship AI, Serina, as the crew prepares to resume their stations. Captain James Cutter and Dr. Ellen Anders return to the bridge to discover a UNSC signal emanating from the Ark below. Cutter sends Spartan Red Team, made up of Jerome, Douglas, and Alice, down to investigate. Upon reaching the UNSC science facility where the signal is coming from, they find a newer AI named Isabel who warns them that they need to get out of there before the enemy arrives. Before they can escape, they can come face to face with the leader of the Banished – the mighty Atriox. Atriox proves to be no pushover and beats down all three Spartans, severely wounding Douglas. The Spartans retreat back to the ship, with Isabel in tow. Isabel explains to the Captain that five months prior, the portal from the Ark to Earth shut down without warning. Then, the Banished showed up. She explains that the Covenant used Atriox’s clan as cannon fodder during the war. Realizing his people were being sent to die for nothing, he and his Brutes rebelled against the Covenant and broke off. Capturing Covenant assets, Atriox rallied as many Brutes as he could muster, recruiting more soldiers as mercenaries. Much like the Covenant, the Banished army is composed of Brutes, Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, and even some Elites. While the Banished have rejected the Covenant religion, their mission is to take control of Forerunner technology in order to rule the galaxy.
Of all the Covenant splinter factions created after the war, the Banished are arguably the best. It makes far more sense that the UNSC would mainly be fighting Brutes after the war, not the Elites. It was the Brutes who sided with the Prophets at the end of the war. It was the Brutes who would have the most animosity towards us after we defeated them. To have most of the post-Halo 3 fiction focus mainly on those Elites who still hold on to the Covenant religion and not the ones who fought alongside us, it almost makes the alliance between the UNSC and the Elites meaningless. It’s not unrealistic that some Elites would hang on to their old beliefs and still hold a hatred for Humanity, but it makes more sense that most Elites would feel immense regret and remorse for slaughtering millions of beings who did nothing to them in the name of a false religion. They may have even more regret if they found out that humans are the Forerunners, if you hold to the old Bungie storyline. So fighting against a Brute faction that either wants revenge or just wants to rule the galaxy makes much more sense from a lore perspective.
After Isabel tells them that they should retreat, Cutter gives a rousing speech assuring her that not only can they fight the Banished, they have no choice but to fight them. The Spirit of Fire launches a campaign to take back the Ark from the Banished. During one of the battles, Isabel fills them in on what has happened in the galaxy since they disappeared. She mentions that the Master Chief saved them all. Jerome says that it’s good to know that John is still out there. Anders discovers a way to call for help – they are going to build a Halo ring and send it back to the previous location of Installation 04. This will alert the UNSC of their situation. Isabel and Jerome board the Banished carrier Enduring Conviction and destroy it from the inside. After witnessing the destruction of the carrier, Atriox and his Sangheli Shipmaster, Let ‘Volir, see the new Halo emerging. Atriox sends all of his forces to the ring to stop the humans from taking it.
Anders makes it to the control room and disables the ring’s firing capabilities. From there, she jettisons the part of the ring the Banished are on into space. With her still onboard, the ring is pulled into a slipspace portal. Once on the other side, she walks outside and sees a Guardian in the sky above her. Back on the Ark, Cutter plans to continue his campaign against Atriox.
Halo Wars 2 was a great game, and unlike the last two 343 games, it actually has plenty of replayability. Much like the original, Halo Wars 2 has a variety of fun missions to play that allow the player to utilize different units. Building off of the first game, this game introduces lots of awesome new vehicles and troop types to send into battle. There are also new gameplay mechanics, such as the ability to drop defensive turrets down from the sky. I also really like the Banished. Their design and their equipment look like a combination of Tolkien’s Uruk Hai and the Orks from Warhammer 40,000. They also possess a great collection of new vehicles. Atriox is a very compelling villain, as well. Much more so than Jul ‘Mdama, in my opinion. It was good to see the Spartans of Red Team given a bit more personality than they had in the first game, especially since we no longer have the charisma of the late great Sergeant John Forge. The cutscenes produced by Blur Studios looked amazing, but one thing I didn’t care for as much was that they completely redesigned and recast the appearance of Cutter and Anders. This was done to match their appearances with the actors that did the motion capture for them. I can understand maybe changing the voice actors eight years after the first game, but I don’t really sympathize with the decision to change their appearances just to have prettier graphics.
An expansion pack called Awakening The Nightmare was released. This time, you play as the Banished. Six months after the events of the base game, Pavium and Voridus, nephews of Atriox, are sent to the site of High Charity to salvage any valuable assets. Pavium urges caution, but the headstrong Voridus pushes away the stories of the Parasite as Covenant propaganda. Pavium reminds him that Atriox told them to salvage the areas around it, but to not go inside the city. Voridus defeats the Sentinel presence guarding the city and disables the massive shield surrounding it. Once they enter the ruins of High Charity, however, they unleash a massive Flood infestation. An infestation that somehow survived the firing of Installation 08 in 2552. This marked the return of the Flood into the modern timeline. Voridus escapes and warns Pavium, who soon engages the new enemy. Pavium orders a tactical retreat but holds out hope that Voridus will contact him. Voridus finally reaches him and informs Pavium that he has discovered an underground Forerunner structure. Pavium makes his way to regroup with him. Pavium and Voridus determine that the only way to burn out the Flood infestation is to activate the salvage drills. Voridus takes an elevator down to the lower levels to reactivate the Sentinel Flood defenses, while Pavium covers his advance and informs Atriox of the situation. Voridus is successful in reactivating the Sentinels, who join the fight against the Flood. A furious Atriox contacts them and scolds them for compromising their campaign on the Ark. Because of their mistake, Atriox has to redirect all Banished forces away from the humans to help stop the spread of the Flood. During their final push against the Flood, they discover a Proto-Gravemind and begin destroying it. Once they destroy it, Atriox arrives and reminds them of his order to NOT go inside. He orders them to clean up their mess.
Then in 2018, the novel Bad Blood, the sequel to New Blood, was released. The prologue of the novel begins on Sanghelios directly after the end of Halo 5. The Arbiter invites Blue Team, Osiris, Halsey, and Palmer to a feast celebrating their victory over the Covenant. It is in this prologue that we finally see the long-awaited reunion of the Arbiter and the Master Chief. That’s right. Instead of giving every single fan what they wanted to see in a game, they hid this monumental moment in a novel nobody read. Other than a goodbye, you don’t even get to see them talk. The novel just tells you that they spent the evening reminiscing about their shared battles before the Arbiter wishes the Chief luck in his new battle against Cortana. The same goes for Chief’s conversation with Halsey. The rest of the novel is about Buck reuniting with his love interest, Veronica Dare, and his fellow ODSTs from Alpha-Nine that have since become Spartans. Corporal Taylor “Dutch” Miles and his wife, Gretchen, also became Spartans.
Another novel released this year was Halo: Smoke and Shadow by Kelly Gay. This story is focused on the exploits of intrepid salvager, Rion Forge, daughter of the lost Sergeant John Forge of the Spirit of Fire. Rion, along with her crew of misfit youngsters, travel the colonies aboard her ship, the Ace of Spades, searching the colonies for UNSC and Covenant tech to sell to the highest bidder. While uncovering the remains of the UNSC Roman Blue on the moon of Eiro, Rion comes across a shiplog providing a clue of what may have happened to her father’s ship. Learning that the Covenant vessel Radiant Perception picked up a navigation buoy dropped by the Spirit of Fire to alert the UNSC of its intended course, the crew of the Ace of Spades decides their next mission is to find the wreckage of the ship and the buoy. Unbeknownst to Rion, one of her crew members is feeding information on their whereabouts to ONI. They also discover that Gek ‘Lhar, one of Jul ‘Mdama’s commanders, is also searching for Covenant wreckage. The crew tracks Radiant Perception’s location to the planet Laconia and discovers that ‘Lhar is already on the planet. Rion and her friend Cade recover the buoy from the ship’s bridge, and also rescue a man named Ram Chalva, whom was a prisoner of the Sanghelli. On their way back, one of Rion’s crewmen, Niko, is able to hack into the buoy and discovers a transmission from the ship’s AI Serina, who reveals that the Spirit of Fire had jumped to slipspace during the Battle of Arcadia and disappeared into deep space. This explains to them why no wreckage from the ship was ever found. It is also revealed that the ONI mole aboard the ship is crewman Kip Silas, who was recruited by ONI after the bioterrorist attack on Sedra, featured in Halo: Nightfall. The Ace of Spades jumps out of slipspace following Serina’s coordinates and comes across massive infrastructure wreckage. Cade recognizes this as planetary debris. The ship lands on a rocky outcropping and drop off Rion and Cade to investigate. Seeing ancient glyphs around them, they discover that this was once a Forerunner facility. Suddenly, Lessa, the ship’s pilot and Niko’s sister, warns them that the same Covenant freighter from Laconia has followed them there. Rion and Cade are ambushed by Gek ‘Lhar, who impales Cade with his energy sword. An enraged Rion forces him to flee after she blinds him, despite escaping with the Forerunner luminary they had found. Before leaving, Rion hears a disembodied voice calling to her. It turns out to be a Forerunner AI, and it tells her that the Spirit of Fire destroyed its planet. Requesting to serve her, Rion agrees to take the AI along with her. After returning to Venezia, the AI, whom Rion now refers to as “Little Bit”, tells her how the Spirit of Fire had used its slipspace drive to destroy the planet. It then shows her a relay feed of her father speaking to the camera and Spartan Red Team fighting in the background. Little Bit tells her that it had tracked the ship’s trajectory after it left the shield world and shows her a list of possible places where it could have ended up. Rion decides to continue the search for her father.
The second novel in the series, Renegades, reconnects us with 343 Guilty Spark’s story, as the last time we saw him was when he commandeered the UNSC Rubicon at the end of Halo: Primordium. Spark first attempts to take the Rubicon to Etran Harborage to acquire an upgrade seed to prepare the ship for the long journey ahead, unaware that the world had been destroyed by the Spirit of Fire in 2531. Complications from taking over the ship led to it crashing on the world of Geranos-a, killing the entire crew. Spark created an armiger for himself to inhabit out of parts from the ship. In 2557, the distress signal sent out by Spark was picked up by the Ace of Spades. Spark offers to help them recover their stolen salvage if they agree to help him find the Librarian. Luckily, Spark only retained the personalities of 343 Guilty Spark and Chakas, making him much more cooperative. The rampant monitor personality that murdered Sergeant Johnson seemed to have disappeared. He and the crew connect on their coincidental quest to find out what happened to Etran Harborage. While on board the Ace of Spades, Spark tells them his life story. Spark led them to the Forerunner planet of Triniel where he was able to find the parts he needed to make sure his new vessel was capable of the journey he intended to make. While evading capture from ONI, Spark leads them to Mount Kilimanjaro, the final resting place of the Librarian. Beneath the mountain, Spark led them to a lifeworker pod. Before entering it, he reveals to Rion what he had known since before arriving on Earth – that her father had died while destroying the Forerunner shield world. He then enters the lifepod and encounters one of the Librarian’s personality imprints. The Librarian causes him to appear as Chakas and addresses him by that human name. She apologized for the pain she had caused him and praised him for his ability to survive. When asked where he could find his old friends Riser and Vinnevra, the Librarian told him that they were long gone and at peace. She informs him that she intends to join her other personality imprints at the Absolute Record and offers to take him with her. Spark tells her that he will not abandon the friends he’s waited 100,000 years to find. She gives him a small-etched box which she refers to as a “key”, and instructs him to “find what’s missing. Fix the path. Right what my kind has turned wrong.” The Librarian simultaneously communicates with Rion, telling her to care for Spark as he is more fragile and important than she could ever know. Back aboard the Ace of Spades, Spark explains to Rion why he had lied to her about her father’s fate, confessing that he could not bear to bring that kind of pain upon her – the same pain he feared the Librarian would bring to him (which she did). He showed her a message from her father he found from Serina’s records that was meant for her. After a funeral for John Forge, he tells Rion of the coordinate key the Librarian had given him. The crew then prepares for their next adventure.
A New Game Is Announced
At E3 2018, the teaser trailer for the highly anticipated sequel to Halo 5 was revealed. The title – Halo: Infinite. The trailer showed us a vast, new Halo ring with a diverse set of environments. The camera pans up from the bottom of a well before cutting to the surface, where a bright light shines above a rock. We then see a forest filled with a pack of deer. We see the inside of a cave with letters of an ancient language etched into its wall. After that, we see a desert landscape filled with mysterious ring-like structures. Within this desert is an UNSC camp with a walkie-talkie receiving a signal. Near the tent is a downed Pelican. We then see a herd of rhinoceros stampeding toward this same light. We even get a shot of the ocean, within which appears to be some type of sentinel. Then, in a lush, green valley we see a squad of Marines marching down a stream, popping a smoke signal, as they move under some of those same ring-like structures from before. The camera then pans out to give us a wider view of the valley, revealing the Master Chief standing atop a ridge wearing his classic Mark-VI armor. At that very moment those iconic piano keys from “One Final Effort” play, harkening back to that classic Halo score from Martin O’Donnell. As we see a warthog drive up a hill, the trailer ends with the revelation of the game’s subtitle – Infinite. This trailer got everyone excited. It showed that 343 was listening to the fans by returning to the classic art style and the classic sound. And what better way to do that than by setting the next game back on a Halo ring?
At E3 2019, another trailer was dropped. This one was called “Discover Hope.” We see a man inside the cockpit of a Pelican awakened by an alert that a breach has been detected. He climbs up to the roof of the ship to seal the breach before falling to the ground. Then a message from his wife and daughter back home plays. Later, the pilot detects a friendly signal out in space. He washes away the soot from the pelican’s windshield to discover the Master Chief floating lifelessly in front of him. The pilot brings him onboard and finds a way to jumpstart his armor, reviving him. The camera cuts to Chief’s point of view and shows him holding an AI chip in his hand. Asking for a status report, the pilot shows Chief through the cockpit window that all UNSC forces in the area are gone. They lost. We see a Halo ring with a section of its infrastructure missing. Something rocks the Pelican, and the pilot says that they need to run. But the Chief picks up a rifle and says that they need to fight. Chief jumps out of the back of the Pelican as another classic Halo track plays. The title for Infinite is revealed, with a release date for Holiday 2020. The trailer ends with Chief walking down to a console in what looks like Halo’s control center, pulling an AI chip from his helmet. In the background, we hear Cortana say “I chose you because you were special. I knew we would be perfect together.”
In 2020, the first gameplay demo for Infinite was revealed. On the Halo ring, Chief’s Pelican is shot down by hostile artillery. The pilot, angry at Chief for leading him back into harm’s way, says he thought they were going home. Chief tells him, “There won’t be a home if we don’t stop the Banished.” The Chief agrees to help the pilot return home after he takes care of the Banished AA guns. Once Chief exits the Pelican, we see a showcase of all of the new human and Banished weapons. Plus, we get to see the brand new grappling hook feature. Once Chief has dispatched all of the Banished infantry at the AA station, he enters a command center where he encounters a holographic transmission from a Banished general, later to be revealed as Escharum. Escharum reveals in this transmission that the UNSC lost the war months ago and their forces are scattered across the ring. He sends a message to the Chief to prepare for the legendary battle that is about to begin. The gameplay demo made many fans cautiously optimistic. Many praised the graphics and the fact that 343 had returned to the original art style, especially in how the alien races were designed. On the other hand, many felt that the quality of the graphics was not yet ready for launch, which led to the “Craig” meme after a closeup of one of the Brute’s faces went viral. Infinite’s director, Chris Lee, revealed that the game would be open world. This was hinted at in the demo when Chief opens up a map of the area with different locations and objectives
Shortly after the demo dropped, it was revealed that the ring the game takes place on is none other than Installation 07 – Zeta Halo. Upon hearing this news, fans around the world were ecstatic. The implications of having the game take place on Zeta Halo were immense. Zeta Halo is probably the most important Halo installation in terms of lore after Alpha Halo. If you recall Halo: Primordium, this is the same ring where the Forerunner ancilla Mendicant Bias was corrupted by the Primordial and turned against its creators. On this ring, Mendicant Bias and the Primordial conducted cruel experiments upon humanity using Flood specimens, doing so in the “Palaces of Pain.” The ancient humans on this ringworld built primitive cities. Eventually, a young human named Chakas, who later became 343 Guilty Spark, was stranded on this world and participated in the adventure of his life. So when we learned that exploring the new open world was encouraged, we were very excited by all the possible things we might find in it. Terminals, echoes of Mendicant Bias, memories of the Primordial, ruins of ancient human cities, alien fauna, and more.
One of the most exciting prospects for Infinite to be announced that year was that Joseph Staten, one of Halo’s founding fathers, was joining the development team as the campaign project lead. This further added to the hope of many fans, believing that bringing back one of the original Bungie developers would restore Halo to its former glory.
A novel that served as a prequel to Infinite was Halo: Shadows of Reach by Troy Denning. The story focuses on the Master Chief, Fred, Linda, and Kelly are sent back to the planet of Reach to recover valuable assets from Halsey’s abandoned lab. Castor, the Brute leader of the Keepers of the One Freedom, a group that holds on to the old Covenant religion, has joined the Banished on Reach. Artriox sent him to Reach to find a secret portal to the Ark. Atriox intends to use this portal to return to the galaxy. Upon reaching Castle Base, Fred encounters ONI agent Veta Lopis, who was introduced in Denning’s previous novel, Last Light. Lopis and her team of Spartan-III operatives infiltrated the Keepers of The One Freedom posing as true believers. Lopis and her team follow the Banished to the Ark. Blue Team retrieves the assets and brings them back to Halsey.
Denning followed up Shadows of Reach with Halo: Divine Wind. Picking up from the perspective of Veta Lopis and the Spartan-IIIs, Ash, Olivia, and Mark, as they follow Castor to the Ark. Castor has made an alliance with the San’Shyuum Prelate Dhas Bhasvod and intends to fire the rings. Lopis and her team make contact with the crew of the Spirit of Fire and go to war against the Banished and the Keepers. The heroes are able to convince Castor about the truth of the Halo rings, but Mark is killed by Bhasvod. Lopis and her team continue the fight against the Banished alongside Cutter and his crew.
Another prequel to Infinite was the final novel in the Ace of Spades trilogy, Halo: Point of Light. Spark discovers that the key given to him by the Librarian leads to Zeta Halo, which is where they go next. Spark, Rion, and Ram make their way to the Cartographer, led by submonitor 091-Adjundant Veridity. On their way there, they pass by the old core of Mendicant Bias. When they use the key on the Cartographer, Rion is pulled into a portal and disappears. The crew tracks her to New Carthage. Rion wakes up trapped in one of Erebus VII’s jungles. She is almost devoured by reptilian creatures known as Anglers that can mimic human voices. After they inject her with some sort of neurotoxin that paralyzes her. She is rescued by survivors of an ONI research team. When the Ace of Spades arrives, they help the survivors rescue the rest of their team. Rion and Spark enter a Forerunner facility on Erebus VII. The monitor of the facility reveals that the final coordinates of the key lead to Bastion, a shield world and the Librarian’s laboratory. When they arrive on Bastion, they are greeted by the archived essences of Forerunners Birth-To-Light and Keeper-of-Tools. They tell them that Bastion must be moved to escape the reach of the Created. Keeper shows them a massive ship called Eden, built to deliver something created by the Librarian. Rion and Spark were brought to Bastion to give them the key to initiate Eden’s launch sequence. Before Keeper departs from this galaxy aboard this ship, Spark asks him what Eden’s purpose is, to which Keeper responds simply with, “Atonement.” Keeper also told Spark that he must be Bastion’s new caretaker. He and Rion share a heartfelt goodbye as he tells her that this is where they must finally part ways. He reveals to her that Leesa, Niko, and Ram told him that they plan to leave the Ace of Spades to pursue other ventures, something they would have found difficult to say to Rion themselves. As she and her shipboard AI, Little Bit, leave the shield world, Spark has one last parting gift for her. He sends her a projection of who he was as Chakas, his true human self. Throughout the novel, Rion experiences many visions of the Librarian tending to her garden. In the final chapter, the Librarian tells Rion that the vessel Eden carries seeds of the Precursors, left behind from Precursors who survived the genocide in Path Kethona. The ship is carrying them to another galaxy, far from the reaches of the Flood, when sometime in the distant future, they will blossom, bringing the Precursors back to life.
Halo: Infinite Arrives
On December 8th, 2021, Halo: Infinite was released free-to-play on Xbox One. Did it surpass expectations? Well first, let’s take a look at the campaign.
The campaign opens up in space above Zeta Halo where we see the Infinity brutally attacked by a Banished fleet, with a Banished ship literally ramming itself through the top of it. Master Chief is bravely battling the Banished forces that have boarded the ship in the hangar, before he is set upon by Atriox himself. Atriox beats the crap out of Chief and drops him out of the hangar into space, after telling him that his face will be the last thing he will ever see. We then pick up where we left off in the “Discover Hope” trailer when UNSC pilot Echo-216 picks up the Master Chief. When Chief is awakened, the player goes through the exact same camera orientation exercise that was present in the first three Halo games, something that was absent in Halo 4 and 5. When the Banished fleet finds them, Chief tells the pilot to give him his pistol as he goes to deal with the enemy ship. The pilot tells Chief he has only one bullet against an entire army, but Chief, being the against all odds hero that he is, tells him it’s enough, and to focus on getting the Pelican’s batteries back online. As Chief flows through space into the ship’s hangar, he causally pushes aside the dead enemies, but is very careful handling the bodies of fallen Marines. It is actually quite moving to see him honor their sacrifice. On board the ship, he comes across a hologram of Atriox, whom the pilot explains attacked Infinity and killed everyone. He was looking for something. Upon reaching the bridge, he sees a holographic transmission from the Banished general Escharum telling Atriox (who is believed to be dead) that they are continuing his legacy by taking control of the ring. After Chief clears the bridge, he begins destroying the ship from within by destroying the cooling centers. As he destroys the ship, Escharum is alerted and sees him. He tells him that the Banished will hunt him down.
Chief escapes the ship and is picked up by Echo-216. Back onboard the Pelican, he tells the ship AI to locate the Infinity, which it cannot. Then it picks up 1,986 USNC tags in the vicinity, although many of them are deceased. At the Banished headquarters, Escharum and his lieutenants assess the damage caused by Chief. Tremonius complains to Escharum that Atriox is at fault for putting them in this position, to which the former Silent Shadow assassin, Jega ‘Rdomnai puts a blade to his throat for insubordination. Escharum declares that the Banished will never bow to anyone again. Not the Covenant, not the Prophets, and not even an unidentified individual. He tells Tremonius that the ring will be operational and then he will have his revenge. He orders ‘Rdomnai to follow the Chief from a distance. Back on the Pelican, the ship AI receives an encrypted message from somewhere on the ring. Chief tells the pilot that they need to go back down to the ring and stop the Banished. Despite protests from the pilot, Chief gets out of the Pelican in search of a “weapon.” He enters the installation through the damaged portion of the ring. As he moves through the corridors toward his destination, he hears whispers from a voice that sounds like Cortana saying, “If you knew how you were going to die…” Chief activates a console which is populated by an AI that looks and sounds exactly like Cortana. This is “the Weapon”, who is basically a younger, bubblier version of Cortana. Six months ago, the Weapon was deployed on Zeta Halo to imitate Cortana and lock her down for retrieval, while Chief was meant to bring her back to the Infinity. But Chief never did this, despite the Weapon telling him that she was already deleted. The Weapon insists that she was also meant to be deleted upon completion of her mission, but he needs her to stop the Banished from activating the ring. Chief notices Cortana’s voice again, but in a nice little nod to Combat Evolved, the weapon tells him it’s just “dust and echoes.” The data from Cortana’s mind also plays quotes from Halsey. The data literally creates an image of Halsey reenacting the time she introduced the Chief to Cortana. The same data contains a fragment of Cortana’s activation index that they take before the Banished can get it. On their way to the surface, they come across a dead Spartan-IV, Spartan Bonita Stone. Stone was killed a month ago by an energy blade. They also encounter Forerunner cylixes, the repositories used to index species for repopulation following the firing of the Halo Array. After that, Tremonius comes down an elevator to kill Chief, but Chief swiftly dispatches him.
Upon reaching the surface, they notice a cylix that has been opened, carrying an unknown species. Still in a Banished outpost, they trigger another transmission from Escharum, introducing him as such to Chief. He vows to hunt him down. They walk outside to the lush world of Zeta Halo. They secure an LZ for Echo-216 whom meets them at their location. The Chief acquaints the pilot with the Weapon. The pilot is shocked at first, thinking she’s Cortana. They explain that Cortana is no longer a threat. I guess this was 343’s way of putting the much maligned Created storyline to bed. Despite the Weapon and the pilot seeing the odds are against them, Chief insists they carry on their fight against the Banished. They fly the Pelican to intercept an UNSC distress beacon. On the flight there, the Weapon asks the Chief why she was assigned to delete Cortana – what did Cortana do that was so wrong? But he only gives her a vague answer. The beacon leads them to a Banished fortress. After defeating the garrison commander, Sanghelli Chak ‘Lok, they find the mortally wounded Spartan Hudson Griffin, who was captured and tortured within the fortress. Griffin tells them the Banished have something they call the Conservatory before dying in the arms of the Chief.
Chief and the Weapon make their way to the Conservatory’s excavation site. They destroy the mining laser-and the dimwitted Brute chieftain Bassus. Deep within the Conservatory, they come across another deceased Spartan – Spartan Vedrana Makovich. Makovich was killed by an energy blade thirteen days ago, just like Spartan Stone. After that, they encountered the monitor of Zeta Halo – Despondent Pyre. Despondent Pyre asks for their assistance against an individual known as the Harbinger, but she is then attacked and brought down by the Skimmers, a new alien race assisting the Banished. As they make their way down corridors trying to reach her, they hear the monitor being tortured as she pleads to an unknown individual to not compromise the ring. She says that the “Endless” cannot be allowed to return. But they arrive too late to rescue her and find her dismantled. While examining her data, they access a memory of a conversation between her and Cortana. Cortana says that they both know that there are worse things on the ring than the Flood. Chief then fights off a pack of Skimmers. After leaving the Conservatory, they find another dead Spartan. This one named Theodore Sorel, killed by several Brutes. When they reach the higher level they come face-to-face with the Harbinger, an anomalous alien being. The same one who escaped from the mysterious cylix and the one who killed Despondent Pyre. She locks down Chief’s armor and tells him that he is not the future. That the Forerunners’ lies are at an end. The Endless will be found. They will ascend. Her teleportation powers are too much for Chief to keep up with and she blasts him back into the wilderness.
Back outside, they notice a massive tower in the distance. Seeking more information on “the Endless”, they make their way to it. At the top of the spire, they meet Adjundant Resolution, the sub-monitor of the Installation, activated only if Despondent Pyre is indisposed. He takes them to the observation deck and the Weapon discovers that the purpose of the Spires is to rebuild the ring. Chief orders her to shut it down, but Resolution discovers them and equips himself with some rather large weaponry. Chief defeats him and they learn there are ten other Spires. Chief makes an epic jump from the imploding Spire and lands in the Pelican, reminiscent of his jump for the Cairo Station. On their flight out, they are shot down by Banished AA guns, exactly like we saw in the gameplay demo. The pilot is fed up with the Chief after the crash landing and tells him that he is going to find a Condor with a working slipspace drive and they are going to get out of there. Chief tells him that they will do that once the guns have been taken out. When they reach the Banished command center, another message from Escharum plays. He says that the ring and a place place called the Auditorium will soon be under their control. The Harbinger and the Banished fight together to honor the will of Atriox. In another message, he reveals that he created the Hand of Atriox, a handpicked group of the galaxy’s greatest killers organized for one purpose – killing Spartans. Escharum has sent these killers after Chief. They later receive a threatening transmission from Hyperius, the Brute who killed Sorel. He later faces down against both Hyperius and Tovarus. After killing them, they find the pilot in the UNSC ship graveyard. The three Condors he saw had been completely gutted, slipspace drives obliterated. The pilot breaks down in tears, revealing that he’s not even in the military. He was a civilian contractor onboard the Infinity who stole a Pelican because he was scared of being killed by the Banished. For that, he says he’s worthless. Chief kneels down beside him and reminds him that everyone fails and makes mistakes. It’s what makes us human. When the pilot asks him how he has ever failed, Chief tells him that he should have protected Cortana and stopped everything from going wrong. Although he failed her, he promises the pilot that he will not fail him. Both Chief and the Weapon assure him that they need him and that they can prevail. It’s the only way to get home.
Back at the Banished headquarters, Escharum and the Harbinger discuss how to defeat the Master Chief. The Harbinger tells him that the Spire harboring the Reformation must be protected. Escharum orders ‘Rdomnai to bring him the Master Chief…alive. On their way to the Spire, the Weapon asks him why he wasn’t able to destroy Cortana, to which he says it’s because Atriox attacked Infinity and defeated him. They still need to figure out who killed her. As they move through the Spire, more whispers from Cortana fill the air. Even some from Captain Keyes. Right after he deploys the Weapon into the main console, she disappears. The Harbinger has appeared and has locked down the Weapon. In order to prevent her from being compromised, Chief prepares to delete her. However, the Weapon stops this. After arguing about it, the Weapon reveals she stole something from the Harbinger. They learn that the Harbinger’s “Reformation” is being conducted in the Silent Auditorium. As they are about to be picked up by Echo-216 above the Command Spire, Jega ‘Rdomnai had boarded the Pelican and brings it crashing down. ‘Rdomnai brings the pilot back to Escharum as bait for the Chief, sending a message to him personally. On their way back to the surface, they witness another memory of Cortana ordering the AI Leonidas to destroy Laconia Station, killing hundreds of Spartans. In another memory, they see an interaction between Cortana and Atriox. When Atriox refuses to bend the knee, Cortana uses her Guardians to destroy Doisac, the Jiralhane homeworld. It is at this moment that the Weapon realizes that she is an exact copy of Cortana. Shocked by this revelation, she wonders if she’ll become what Cortana became. The Chief assures her he won’t let that happen. She restores the deletion protocols and prepares for death, but Chief is prepared to trust her and lets her live. They learn that the pilot is being held at a Banished fortress known as the House of Reckoning. After fighting through hordes of Banished soldiers in the House of Reckoning, Chief comes face to face with Jega ‘Rdomnai, the blademaster. After defeating ‘Rdomnai, Chief finds the pilot in his holding cell, and comes face to face with Escharum, bringing them together for their long-anticipated showdown. After a hard fought duel, Chief brings him down. After freeing the pilot, a dying Escharum comes stumbling toward them. As he falls, Chief lets him die peacefully. The pilot asks him why he would show respect to such a monster. Chief tells him that at the end he was just a soldier, hoping he had done the right thing. The trio realizes that they need to stop the Harbinger from whatever she’s planning and head to the Silent Auditorium.
As they move through the halls of the Auditorium, they see more memories. Atriox got to Cortana before Chief did and demands her surrender, already having defeated the UNSC. He tells her that he killed John. He knew the secrets this ring held and planned to exploit them. It is revealed that in order to help Chief, she destroyed a portion of the ring, killing Atriox and stopping the deletion of the Weapon. Back in the present, Chief and the Weapon run into Adjundant Resolution who apologizes for attacking them earlier, citing that he did not know the Harbinger’s true intentions. They then reach the main room of the Auditorium, the room where Cortana sacrificed herself. The Harbinger reveals herself and states that the Silent Auditorium is where the Forerunners sentenced the Endless. The final battle between Chief and the Harbinger begins. After killing her, Chief sees another memory of Cortana, a message made just for him. She apologizes to him for her betrayal and bids her final farewell. The Auditorium suddenly begins collapsing around them. In a split second decision, they jump through a portal that takes them outside. The Weapon somehow figures out they have been gone for three days since they jumped through that portal. Echo-216 tracks their signal and picks them up. On board the Pelican, the pilot gives Chief a big hug. The Weapon points out that they still don’t even know his name after all that’s happened. They can’t just keep calling him Echo-216, after all. We learn that his name is Esparza. Fernando Esparza. Esparza then asks the Weapon what he should call her. She looks up at Chief, who tells her that she should choose a name for herself. She says she might have the perfect one.
In the Legendary Ending of the game, we listen to a conversation between Despondent Pyre and a Forerunner notable known as the Grand Edict, which took place shortly after the firing of the Halo Array. The Forerunners had discovered the Endless, a species that was previously unknown to them. Due to their inherent danger, and the fact that they were immune to the effects of the Halos, they decided to imprison them on Zeta Halo. They would study them, learn their secrets. Just as they intended to do with the Flood. Despondent Pyre, fearful that she cannot accomplish this task on her own, is reassured by the Grand Edict that she shall not be alone. Offensive Bias has been deployed. As this conversation plays, we see an unknown figure unlocking the chamber holding the cylixes that imprison the Endless. This figure is Atriox, alive and well.
I want to start out by saying that Halo: Infinite was a valiant effort. It is certainly the best game that 343 has put out yet. You could really tell that they were trying to make us feel like we were playing a Halo game again. What’s great about this game is that they took the time to bring back the classic Halo aesthetic that virtually all of the fanbase was asking for. The score by Gareth Coker was probably the closest we’ve got to the classic style of Marty O’Donnell. Unlike the scores composed by Neil Davidge and Kazumi Jinnoucha, who almost sounded like they were making music for a completely different franchise. We hear throwbacks to “Halo”, “Rock Anthem for Saving the World”, “Finale”, and of course, “A Walk in the Woods.” The open world aspect of the game was also a nice addition. You are able to play the game in a very non-linear fashion, playing main story missions and side missions as you choose. The side missions mainly consist of disabling Banished outposts, rescuing captured Marines, and taking down high value Banished targets, which are basically mini boss battles. As you cleanse the map of Banished hegemony, FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) are unlocked. From the FOBs you can order weapons from a console and request vehicles, which Esparza brings to you via Pelican. After killing specific Banished leaders, their unique weapons become available for you to order. You can also find weapons and vehicles scattered throughout the map. The world also features a day and night cycle. It was great to be able to fight alongside Marines again, whether having them follow you into battle or jumping into your Warthog. The grappling hook is also a nice addition.
I also thought the boss battles were generally well done. Boss battles are something that Halo has sometimes included in its games, only systematically implemented with Infinite.
All that being said, the open world still left me feeling disappointed. Every time I entered a Forerunner building or a mysterious cave, I was hoping to find something that referenced the lore that made Zeta Halo so enchanting. I kept thinking to myself, “this is where I’m going to find something about Mendicant Bias…or the Primordial…or the Precursors…or the Ancient Humans.” Yet, each time I came up empty. When 343 said that exploration was encouraged, what they really meant was that they encouraged you to find the hidden weapons and boss battles. The only hidden items that are somewhat interesting are the audio logs dropped by both the Banished and the UNSC. Other than that, the world of Zeta Halo is just dead. This is so disappointing considering how rich Zeta Halo really is in the expanded fiction. What happened to the core of Mendicant Bias, the Palaces of Pain, the Ancient Human cities, the chamber where the Primordial was disintegrated? Having these places to visit in the game should have been a no-brainer. On top of that, what happened to all the wildlife we were supposed to see in the game, the deer and the rhinos? Hell, it would’ve even been awesome to see some gigantopitchecus, considering there was at least one housed on the ring during the time of the Forerunners (if you’ve read Primordium then you know what I’m talking about). The only wildlife we do get are some birds and rodents. Also, we know that Halo rings contain more than one biome, but we only get to explore one in the game. It would’ve been great to have the ability to travel to the alpine biome or the desert biome.
The other negative thing I have to mention is that the vehicle sandbox in this game is just garbage. Vehicles seem to be made of paper mache and explode after three hits. There’s also this really annoying thing that happens when your vehicle locks down and you have three seconds to get out before it blows up. Multiplayer was fine. I only played a little bit of it when the game came out, but I’d say it was an improvement upon the last two.
The story itself is not bad. All the new characters are very likeable. The Weapon is cute and endearing. Fernando “Brohammer” Esparza is a very sympathetic and likeable character. It was interesting to see Chief interact with a civilian who has probably only ever heard stories about him, rather than one of his peers from the military. It’s almost like he represents how one of us would react if we ever met the Master Chief. Escharum is a badass villain, much like Atriox. The gravitas he commands whenever he’s on screen is immense. His portrayal by Darin de Paul was excellent. I also appreciated that he views the Chief as a worthy opponent and has respect for him as a soldier, rather than being a fanatical zealot.
Aside from the audio logs that reveal what was going on with them prior to the events of the game, we still don’t know the whereabouts of Lasky, Palmer, Halsey, Osiris, or Blue Team. We also don’t know for sure what happened to the Infinity.
Infinite took the time to give us an epilogue to the terribly unpopular Created storyline. Instead of having us battle the Created in this game, the story does us a favor by having the Banished finish them off for us before the game begins. What feels cheap about this, however, is that it gives such an important character like Cortana an offscreen death. Of course, none of this would have been necessary had 343 not gone down the idiotic route of making her the new villain in the first place.
Then we have the issue of the Endless, the brand new enemy faction, known as the Xalanyn. The introduction of the Xalanyn confused many fans. How could there be this entire species of beings that survived the Halos, that the Forerunners didn’t even know about, and that we are just now hearing about? It almost seemed like retroactive continuity. Many fans speculated that they were somehow connected to the Precursors and the Flood. In fact, maybe they are Precursors. The theory has merit. The symbol on the Harbinger’s helmet is the same as the Forerunner symbol for Reclaimer. In one of the hidden audio logs, the Harbinger can be heard telling a Marine, “I shall talk and you shall listen,” exactly as the Gravemind did in Halo 2. This would explain why they (the creators of the universe) were the only species able to survive the firing of the array. Hence why Cortana says that there are worse things on the ring than the Flood. While there are still things about them to be fleshed out, I was happy that 343 seemed to be moving back to the original direction of the series, which was connecting the games back to the story of the Forerunner trilogy.
The Aftermath
Despite being dissatisfied with the game overall, I remained optimistic that the game would gradually improve with the addition of campaign DLC, especially with the possibility of seeing Offensive Bias in a game for the first time. But that DLC never came. As late as December of 2023, 343 confirmed that there was no additional content in active development, instead focusing on multiplayer. To make matters worse, Joe Staten left the company in January of 2023, following mass layoffs at Microsoft that adversely affected 343 Industries. Then in April of that year, Frank O’Connor, Franchise Development Director at 343 Industries since 2008, left the company. Not only did 343 fail to deliver on their promises, but it appeared that they were coming apart internally.
In the years following the release of Infinite, 343 released more novels and short stories to make up for the lack of campaign DLC.
The first was Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, written by Kelly Gay, published on August 9th, 2022. This novel picks up immediately after the disastrous defeat of the UNSC Infinity above Zeta Halo. It focuses on a squad of UNSC soldiers – Spartan Bonita Stone, Spartan Nina Kovan, combat medic Lucas Browning, Spartan Tomas Horvath, and Marine Lieutenant TJ Murphy. Many of the events in this story were referenced in the audio logs and thus expanded upon in this novel. As the main characters fight to survive against the Banished, they enact the Rubicon Protocol, which commands them to impede the advance of the Banished by any means necessary. The novel ends with Horvath sending out a final transmission, announcing his intention to search for survivors and that the UNSC needs the Master Chief now more than ever. While an interesting addition to the story, it left many fans feeling like this should have just been part of the campaign DLC they never got.
On August 8th, 2023, we got Halo: Outcasts by Troy Denning. This one takes place between Halo 5 and Halo: Infinite. At this point, Sanghelios is under occupation from the Created, who have disarmed the populace. The Arbiter discovers that a human xenoarchaelogist named Keely Iyuska is headed to the planet Netherop where it is said holds Forerunner artifacts that may hold the secret to defeating the Guardians. He travels there with a Sanghelli bounty hunter known as Crei ‘Ayomuu whom has been contracted to find her. Spartan Olympia Vale also joins in the hunt. As they arrive at Netherop, Atriox and the Banished also show up to take advantage of the Forerunner tech. The ancient Forerunner city on Netherop holds a device known as “the Claw”, capable of destroying Guardians. Unfortunately for the protagonists, it is under the control of Covenant-era Sanghelli warriors that had been marooned on the planet during the war. It is revealed that the planet Netherop is inhabited by Precursors. Somehow, some of them had survived in an ethereal form. They essentially exist in a higher dimension. The epilogue of the novel reveals that Netherop was the origin of the corrupted dust that made the Flood. While the Arbiter is able to convince these lost Elites to abandon their old religion and join with him, it turns out that Iyuska’s true employer was a Sanghelli advisor working for the Banished. Atriox manages to leave the planet with the Guardian killer, which is probably how he was able to defeat Cortana in Halo: Infinite. Atriox warns the Arbiter that he knows of his plan to unite the Sanghelli factions against the Banished, and that the Banished will be there to crush it. It is also revealed that Cortana’s promise to cure all AIs who join her cause of rampancy was not entirely true. The Domain reacted very differently to each AI, and in the case of Governor Sloane, it did not truly cure his rampancy.
Halo: Epitaph by Kelly Gay was released on February 27th, 2024. This was a novel I was genuinely looking forward to because it heralded the official return of the Ur-Didact. With a novel like that, we would finally be getting back to many of the story elements surrounding the Forerunners and the ancient humans. Putting aside the obvious plothole that was introduced when he was “composed”, many fans were happy to see the fan favorite character come back to the Franchise after over ten years. Beginning right after the events of “The Next 72 Hours,” the Ur-Didact finds himself in the Domain. Walking through a barren desert, he reexperiences memories from his past, spanning from his life before the firing of the array to his eventual defeat by the Master Chief. Eventually, he reaches a digital representation of the Epitaph structure, the prison holding Mendicant Bias on the Ark. There, he meets with a Haruspis, who explains to him the nature of the Domain. Together, they travel to the Domain’s void. While attempting to breach the void’s gateway, the Didact is violently repelled by the Warden Eternal. Learning that the Domain is now under the control of Cortana and the Warden, the Didact resolves to free the Domain from their influence. Along the way, he reunites with the essences of many of his former Forerunner comrades. He also encounters his greatest enemy – the Lord of Admirals, Forthenco – and makes amends with him. Through his journey of self-discovery and in the search for his wife, the Didact sees the errors of his past ways and strives to reform himself. Leading a combined army of Forerunner and Human essences, the Didact destroys the Warden Eternal. He then severs the Domain’s connection to the physical galaxy to protect it from further corruption. He agrees to work with Forthenco and the others to restore balance. As a composed essence, the Didact is able to transport himself to Zeta Halo so that he can confront Cortana. Passing through the ring’s systems, he arrives at the Conservatory as Cortana and Despondent Pyre are in the middle of their conversation about the Endless, the same one we witnessed during the events of Infinite. Cortana’s comment that there are worse things on the ring than the Flood perplexes even the Didact. The Didact and Cortana share a brief exchange, the Didact pointing out that they are more alike than she realizes. He points out that she, like Mendicant Bias and himself, was corrupted by the Gravemind and that her current quest to control others will only lead to her own destruction. They discuss how they would apologize to those they once cared for – John and the Librarian respectively. The novel ends with the Didact finally reuniting with the essence of his wife. This novel was very enjoyable. Kelly Gay did a great job capturing the essence of Greg Bear’s characters.
Finally, Halo: Empty Throne by Jeremy Patenaude was released on February 18th, 2025. This novel heralds the return of the one and only Rtas “Halfjaw” Vadum, who had not been heard from since 2015. Lord Hood, Admiral Serin Osman, and AI Blackbox also pick up where they left off from when they were last seen in “Rossbach’s World.” ONI initiates Operation: Bookworm, with the stated goal of capturing the Domain for themselves. To lead this mission, they assign Captain Abigail Cole, daughter of the UNSC hero, Vice Admiral Preston J. Cole. They send her to the planet Boundary, which holds a gateway to the Domain. When a Guardian attacks Rossbach’s World, Cole, along with Spartan Gray Team, extract Hood, Osman, Spartan Orzel, and Black Box to safety. We then meet Banished War Chief Severan, the son of Tartarus, who is put in charge of the Banished forces as Atriox and Escharum depart for Zeta Halo. The novel jumps around again and reveals that James-005, a Spartan-II thought to have been killed during the Fall of Reach, had survived. Meanwhile, Vadum and his crew aboard the Shadow of Intent are still busy hunting down the remaining Prophets. Back on Cole’s ship, it is revealed that the UNSC needs one of Halsey’s flash clones to enter the Domain, and that Black Box knows where to find it. Meanwhile, Cortana destroys Doisac, enraging Severan to the point where he commands an assault on Earth, holding Humanity responsible for the loss of their homeworld. The Shadow of Intent goes after Dovo Nesto, a Prophet planning to take control of the Domain in the name of a reformed Covenant. They meet with Lord Hood and the humans on Nysa to work together in stopping the Domain from falling into the wrong hands. Severan meets with Dovo Nesto on Venezia, who commands him to attack Earth and find a Lythos so that they can capture the Domain. ONI agent Otavio Morales contracts James with finding the Halsey clone, a ten-year old girl named Chloe Eden Hall, and bring her to the Lythos so she can activate the Domain. The UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios track Severan and Nesto to Venezia and engage in a massive space battle with their forces. Another fleet led by Sali ‘Nyon, former leader of Jul ‘Mdama’s Covenant, joins the battle on behalf of Dovo Nesto. Severan conceals his true motive from the Banished: to reform the Covenant in order to restore his father’s lost honor. Dovo Nesto wishes to sacrifice his physical body and become an incorporeal body in the Domain. James picks up Chloe Hall from the world of Cascade and brings her to Boundary. The Banished attack Earth, with Lord Hood leading the defense. As another space battle rages on, one of the Guardians emerges from slipspace to pacify the situation. But just as it’s about to fire its EMP blast, it is deactivated because of Cortana’s self-destruction back on Zeta Halo. Dovo and Severan head to Boundary, now empty with Cortana out of the picture. The Allied forces meet the Banished at Boundary for yet another naval battle. When Severan learns that Dovo had actually intended to give Sali ‘Nyon the things he had promised Severan, he turns on his former master and opens fire on ‘Nyon’s fleet. On his way to the Lithos, his transport is shot down by James. Severan incapacitates James and captures Chloe. Rtas and the Allies are later betrayed by his old friend, blademaster Vul ‘Soran, who had been promised by Dovo to restore the Sanghelli to their pre-Schism glory. Spartan Adriana-111 of Gray Team links up with James and Chloe. She lets them escape. Surrounded by Brutes, James holds them off for Chloe to escape, sacrificing himself in the process. The UNSC fleet destroy the Lithos. Severan kills Sali ‘Nyon and is about to kill the Prophet before Vul ‘Soran comes up behind him and stabs him. Severan’s Brutes rescue him, allowing him to survive wearing life-sustaining armor. With the loss of Sali ‘Nyon, Dovo Nesto’s new right-hand man is Ayit ‘Sevi. Unbeknownst to him, ‘Sevi is acting as an informant for ONI. The novel ends with the Didact and Forthenco watching the events of the novel unfold from the Domain.
So that’s the long, arduous summary of the state of Halo in 2025. On October 6th, 2024, 343 Industries rebranded itself as Halo Studios. Halo Studios is a mostly brand new team tasked with managing the future of the franchise. They’ve also announced that all future games will be produced using Unreal Engine 5. But will this be enough to save the franchise?
What Needs to Change
The current state of the Halo franchise is due to a number of problems. To begin with, its inconsistent and convuluted story. While I do believe that there are many good ideas that came from 343 Industries, their execution has been lacking in quality.
For one thing, the 343 games do not have a consistent story arc that builds off of the last one. Whereas in the original trilogy it was a clear story about stopping the Covenant from activating the Halo rings from beginning to end. In the 343 games, it is unclear what the heroes are trying to accomplish, as each game seems to begin its own self-contained story. If it’s difficult for the hardcore fan to figure out what direction the series is going in, think about how much more difficult it is for the casual fan to keep up.
Additionally, too many major events are happening offscreen, usually in the novels and comics. Novels and comics are great for expanding the story into new areas, but when it gets to the point where fans feel like they need to do homework in order to make sense of the story in the games, then you have a problem. This is why you ended up with so many fans, who after they played Halo 4 and 5, didn’t know who Blue Team was, why the Covenant had returned, and did not understand the Didact’s motivations. If you want to use supplementary material, that’s great. But the information introduced in that material needs to be explained in a way that the casual fan can understand. When these works portray events that bear such significance offscreen, the games are left with very few substantive events to explore. When you have novels like Empty Throne that present such an epic story, one has to wonder why they didn’t just use it for one of the games. In fact, I would argue that doing so would have made Infinite’s already lackluster plot much more exciting. The same can be said of the Ace of Spades trilogy. While these novels are very well-written, why would you relegate the return of a character as important as 343 Guilty Spark to a novel and not have him appear in a game? This is a character who after murdering Sergeant Johnson and betraying Chief for the second time, has been reformed and remembers his humanity. Why pass up the opportunity to have him be one of Chief’s allies in a future game? I would even include having so many events take place on the Ark before having the Master Chief return to it in this category. I would hope that Halo Studios would have learned from this by now, but the fact that the novel Halo: Edge of Dawn is about to be released next month, a story that should have been campaign DLC, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.
The franchise has the opposite problem, as well. They have introduced so many plot threads throughout the years that have yet to be followed through upon. The biggest example of this are the events set up in the Forerunner trilogy. While subsequent novels have continued this part of the lore, we have yet to see very much of it carry over into the games. Yes, Infinite did return to this part of the story in its campaign, but it was very miniscule and left many of us wanting more. Infinite was the perfect opportunity to really delve into Mendicant Bias and the Primordial in a game, two of the most enigmatic characters in the entire franchise. The same can be said about the IsoDidact. I have waited for over a decade to see these characters featured in a game and it still hasn’t happened. I appreciated the Offensive Bias tease at the end, but that’s not enough. There are other plot threads that would add greatly to the lore if they were returned to. For instance, Zo Resken, the friendly SanShyuum minor prophet from Broken Circle, currently hiding out on the Refuge with the Ussans since the end of the Human-Covenant War. They would be great allies to have in the future against the Banished. Another example is the excellent short story, “The Return”, from Halo: Evolutions. This story is about a Sanghelli shipmaster returning to the world of Kholo in 2559, which he destroyed during the war. He reflects on his past sins, seeking atonement. On this world, he finds Kig-Yar pirates engaged in a shootout with a group of humans at an excavation site. The lone human survivor is too far gone to survive, he determines, and leaves him. Then, in one of the tents he finds photos of what the humans were searching for, including those of a monitor. He decides to save the human and question him on what his team was looking for, hoping to find his new purpose. Why 343 still has not followed up on such an interesting story is beyond me. This story does something that I have yet to see in very many post-Halo 3 stories, and that is seeing an Elite dealing with the remorse he feels after what the Covenant did to humanity. This is something you’d think would be much more prominent in 343’s lore, but for some reason, it isn’t.
Obviously, not every story or character from the books needs to be present in the games. It’s perfectly fine to have some characters appear in the games, and some to appear only in the books. Of course, it’s difficult to tie in any existing plot threads when you replace them with an idiotic story about an AI rebellion, something that has nothing to do with any of Halo’s preexisting lore.
I can say the same thing about how we have yet to see certain iconic characters appear in a game since Halo 3, namely Lord Hood and Rtas ‘Vadum. It is a crime that these two characters have been relegated to the books. I don’t understand why, either. Hiddenxperia once said that they may not be able to afford Ron Perlman at this point, but is his career really any bigger now than it was in the early 2000s? It makes no sense why they haven’t contacted Robert Davi, either. Maybe they don’t like his politics, but that would be an incredibly stupid reason considering how amazing his performance was. Having either of these two characters return in a game would have fans off the wall. And once again, the fact that we have still yet to see the Arbiter and the Elites we fought alongside in Halo 2 and 3 team up with the Chief against our new enemies is a crying shame.
Halo needs to get back to the original story 343 Industries seemed to be wanting to tell (if there ever was one to begin with) when they announced the Reclaimer Saga. In “Origins II” from Halo: Legends, we see some very peculiar imagery as Cortana is recounting the events of the Human-Covenant War. First, we see the UNSC and the Covenant battling the Flood on their respective worlds. We then see a shot of a massive UNSC force, complete with cruisers, amassed against an immense Flood horde on what appears to be a Forerunner world. This isn’t how the end of the war played out. One might chalk this up as a different interpretation of the game’s events for artistic purposes, but we then start to see even more images inconsistent with what we’ve seen. We see not just Elites fighting against the Flood, but every other Covenant species fighting them, as well. Odd. We never had an alliance with the Brutes and Jackals in Halo 3. After that, we cut to what appears to be the large lake from Installation 05. A close-up shot of the structure at the end of it reveals a flock of birds flying out of its top. We then go inside the structure and see what appears to be a Flood infection form growing inside of a Forerunner helmet. Then, we see the Master Chief standing in front of the Gravemind on what looks like the landscape of the multiplayer map “Guardian.” The Gravemind hands Chief an AI chip. He is then transported by 343 Guilty Spark to the outside of a Halo Ring. We have never seen any of these events in a game before.
In the commentary for “Origins”, Frank O’Connor said this;
“We didn’t want to just do a recap. We wanted to use this as an opportunity to take the story forward rather than just recall events that already happened, and so, there’s little bits of that in here. And we want this to be something that people think about and interpret rather than blast them in the face and say ‘this is the way things are.’ We want them to think, ‘Well, what does this mean?’ What does this mean for future games? What does this mean for future fiction? And what does this say about Cortana’s mindstate and the current location and fate of the Chief?”
This might explain the unfamiliar imagery we saw in this film.
What was hinted at in “Origins” dovetails nicely with the Precursor’s final test for Humanity that was introduced in the Forerunner trilogy, in which the Flood reappears when Humanity is most ripe to assess if they are ready to attain the Mantle of Responsibility. Awakening The Nightmare gave us a taste of how brutal the Flood can be at their peak, so just think about how insane that would be on a galactic scale. This is the final struggle between the heroes and the Flood that would conclude the Halo series. It is the direction I’ve wanted the series to go in, but it seems like we just keep getting hit with detours along the way, taking the series off course from where it was initially intended to go.
The excellent YouTuber Meaning-In-Between made a video explaining what he thinks are the problems plaguing 343’s Halo. The first thing he lists that the series needs to return to is having the Master Chief be a reflection of the player. The faceless, strong, silent type character that Chief was originally designed as was meant to be a blank slate that the player could see themselves in. Part of the reason Cortana was around was so that she could be the one to voice much of Chief’s exposition. Starting with Halo 4, however, the Chief is talking in pretty much every mission, even during gameplay. Many fans believed this was too much, with some even arguing that Chief’s personality was developing too much. It makes more sense for this to happen in a novel or in Halo 4, where the beginning of the game is just Chief and Cortana, but I understand where people are coming from on this one. Personally, I believe that there can be a healthy balance between the two extremes. I think that most of the talking from the Chief’s point of view can be done by allies like Cortana/The Weapon and Blue Team, and that Chief can still have a distinct personality and speak during important moments without making the player feel like he can no longer see himself in the Chief. The second problem he lists is Chief losing. He doesn’t mean that Chief can’t struggle or face challenges, but when the Didact throws him around like it’s nothing, when Cortana tricks and traps him in a Cyptum, and when Atriox brutally beats him in an opening cutscene, he just doesn’t feel as powerful. The third problem he lists is that 343 really pushed the idea that Chief and Cortana’s relationship was explicitly romantic, when it was never clear in the Bungie games. The final point he makes that I’d like to address is that Chief’s rebellious behavior in the 343 games is totally out of character for him. I’ve already explained that the Chief defying the UNSC in Halo 5 could have been interesting if done right, but when it comes to him refusing direct orders like he did in Halo 4, that’s when it seems off. Of course, this could have been avoided had they not written such an idiotic character as Captain Del Rio. Plus, he’s returned to a galaxy that’s moved on from him since being lost in space. There’s no need to keep around an insubordinate soldier when they have other Spartans and they’re not losing a war.
So my advice to Halo Studios would be this: get back to the story that you intended to tell before Halo 4 and make sure it’s coherent. Do not overrely on supplementary material, but integrate it into the main game. As far as gameplay goes, update it with new features, but don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Make it play like classic Halo. And for the love of all things holy, please launch a complete game upon release. If you can do these things correctly, you have a chance of winning back a demoralized fanbase.
Conclusion
I do not have a whole lot of hope that Halo Studios will correct course any time soon. Many fans gave up on the series a long time ago, anyway. Personally, I am going to give Halo Studios one last chance to redeem themselves with Halo 7. But they are going to have to really knock it out of the park if they want to win back the many disaffected fans. If they can’t do that, then I’m afraid my time with Halo will be coming to an end. Sure, I’ll play a spinoff game if they can manage to put one out that’s decent, but I won’t be holding my breath for a continuation of the Master Chief’s story.
With all that being said, maybe it is truly time for Halo fans to move on. I’m not at all saying that you should forget about Halo entirely. Our love for classic Halo can never be taken away. But we may need to move on from the hope that this series will ever return to its former glory. Maybe the magic that was the Bungie era was lightning in a bottle and can’t be recaptured. At this point, I wouldn’t blame anyone for having the ending of Halo 3 as the conclusion of Master Chief’s story in their own headcanon. It’s a sad thought, but that is just reality sometimes. It’s just the unfortunate state of affairs that we presently find ourselves in, when pop culture seems to be in decline and our favorite franchises have been tarnished. But we’ll see what the future holds.
If you have read this far, thank you so much for your time. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Raithwall 