It’s no secret that Halo has seen better days. 343’s trilogy was panned by critics and fans alike, causing many longtime fans to abandon the series altogether. I have previously written about the problems with this trilogy and the things Halo Studios needs to do to rebuild it. However, in order to restore the goodwill of the fanbase, they don’t necessarily need to do that with a direct sequel to Infinite.
Halo’s universe is incredibly vast, with so many interesting characters and storylines to explore. This means that the series is ripe for spinoff games. Actually, the series has already proven how successful it can be with spinoff titles, as it did with ODST, Reach, and Halo Wars. To their credit, 343 Industries did take advantage of spinoffs with Halo Wars 2 and the two mobile games, Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike. However, because public opinion of 343 and Halo Studios is so poor at the moment, the safest and most successful route they could take is to lean more into spinoffs.
Without further ado, here is a list of potential Halo spinoff games we need to see, in no particular order.
Halo: ODST Sequel:
Halo 3: ODST was a hit with the majority of the fanbase. For the first time, players got the opportunity to play as the second coolest soldier in the UNSC – the ODSTs. Despite being badass special operations personnel, playing as an ODST forced us to face down the enemy as weaker, ordinary humans, as opposed to being the near-invincible Spartan supersoldiers. The story introduces us to Alpha-Nine, an elite squad of ODSTs tasked with securing a valuable asset during the Battle of New Mombasa. Just as they are dropping into the city, the Prophet of Regret’s slipspace portal scatters the squad across the metropolis, leaving the newest member of the squad, simply known as “The Rookie”, to find his missing squadmates through clues littered around the abandoned city. What was great about this game was that the campaign could be played in any order, with missions being triggered each time the Rookie stumbled upon a clue. The game also allowed you to play as each member of the squad in the various missions.
A sequel could enhance many of these features. The story wouldn’t necessarily need to continue the tale of Alpha-Nine, and probably shouldn’t since they are all now Spartan-IVs. I would like to see a game set during the height of the Human-Covenant War following a new team of troopers as they battle Covenant forces in treacherous terrain. The sequel could allow for a longer campaign, as the original campaign was only seven-eight hours.
Halo Wars 3:
Halo Wars and its sequel were both a massive success. One thing neither of them did, however, was include space battles. Halo Wars 3 could take a page out of Star Wars: Empire at War and have a mixture of space and land battles, with space battles taking place in the orbit of a specific planet. They could also make a game focused solely on space battles, in the vein of Sins of A Solar Empire. Imagine commanding massive UNSC and Covenant fleets in battle!
Flight Simulator Game
One of my favorite levels in Halo: Reach is “Long Night of Solace” when you get to pilot a Sabre and engage in dogfights with the enemy. Having an entire game dedicated to this would be something a lot of Halo fans would be interested in. Although it is twenty years old now, I think following the blueprint from Star Wars: Battlefront II would make a lot of people very happy.
Arbiter Spinoff Game
As HiddenXperia has said, The Arbiter and Keith David are as inseparable from Halo as the Master Chief. Aside from the fact that we have received so little of him in the recent games, he deserves his own game. My vote for this game’s story would be to take place during the civil war on Sanghelios after Halo 3 from the perspective of the Arbiter. This would give us the chance to further explore Sangheli society, something we’ve only really explored in the novels, and in a few levels from Halo 5. The game could also feature N’thao ‘Sraom and Usze ‘Taham, two characters whom I lamented the absence of in Halo 5. They could play a major role in the plot and could even be playable in co-op as they were before.
Flood Survival Horror Game
This is a game lots of people have been talking about. The Flood are such a great candidate to be the antagonists of a survival horror game. I know of two eligible candidates for the game’s setting that would be awesome. The first is High Charity during the Flood infestation. You would play as a member of the Covenant attempting to evade the Flood as they consume the city. The other is Voi during the attack on Earth. You would play as either a Marine or as a human civilian trying to escape before the Shadow of Intent glasses the area. Horror has always been a staple of the franchise. A survival horror game like this would be a welcome addition to it.
Forerunner-Human War Game
Since the first Halo game, fans have been mesmerized by the Forerunners. Their technological mastery and enigmatic presence have contributed to the character of the franchise. Greg Bear’s Forerunner trilogy opened our eyes to the true history of the Forerunners. It also revealed to us that ancient humanity once had an interstellar empire that rivalled the Forerunners, and through a misunderstanding, went to war against them. Many fans have requested a game where you would get to take part in this conflict, from both sides of it. This would allow us to learn more about both the Forerunners and the ancient humans. We would also be able to see what the galaxy was like 100,000 years before the events of the original series. New characters, weapons, and vehicles would be a must for this. The game would also necessarily have to include the origins of the Flood. Perhaps we could even see the Primordial.
One reservation about a game like this, however, would be that it would further undo the mystery of the Forerunners, which was one of the complaints people had about the Forerunner trilogy. Sometimes it is best to leave things up to interpretation in order to maintain the mystery. I am sympathetic to this argument, and while I think a game like this would be cool, I could live without it if it would simply further divide the fanbase.
Megabloks Game
Almost everyone has seen the leaked footage of the cancelled Megabloks game that came out a few years ago. This would simply be a fun little game in the vein of all those great Lego games we grew up with. I would be satisfied with a short game you could download for $30 on Gamepass. Or they could make it a bonus feature on a different game.
Marine Game
This one would be similar to the ODST sequel in that you would play as a normal human soldier. Instead of playing as an ODST, you would be fighting as a standard Marine. This would bring a sense of realness to the experience as you battle the Covenant alongside a squad of equally limited Marines. The campaign would have the opportunity to take on a very Band of Brothers-esque tone. The story could take place sometime during the Covenant war, further exploring places we’ve never seen before.
Halo Ring Exploration Game
I got the idea for this one from none other than Frank O’Connor himself:
“I’d love to go do a xenoarcheological expedition to the original Halo ring. You know, take some scientists down, drive around, catch samples, do some detective work, maybe there’s a mystery”
Now there’s an interesting concept.
A game where you play as a scientist examining a Halo ring could open up many new possibilities. You could encounter native flora and fauna that had been preserved on the ring since the reseeding process, discover mysteries hidden within the ring’s terminals and systems, and even evade hostile alien forces that want a piece of the ring’s technology.
It could even be designed as a survival/resource collection game in the vein of Subnautica. This could be a game completely different from anything we’ve yet seen from the franchise.
Conclusion:
Those are just a few ideas that come to mind when I think of Halo spinoff games I’d like to see. Let me know what type of game you’d like to see in the comments below!
Postscript:
As I was writing this article, the YouTube MintBlitz released a video about a bunch of proposed Halo spinoff games that have since been cancelled by Microsoft. This is disappointing news to be sure, but in the unlikely case that Microsoft gets their head back on straight, these are the games I would like to see. I don’t think anything else will be able to save the franchise at this point.
Raithwall 