Halo Infiniteofficially hits PC and Xbox consoles in less than a week, and the hype train has reached full speed. Despite the game’s initial announcement coming three years ago,Halo Infinite’s campaign is still shrouded in mystery, causing a great deal of speculation among fans of the sci-fi shooter franchise.
A big question is whetherInfinitewill forget about the events ofHalo 5.Developer 343 Industries has saidInfiniteis a direct sequel toHalo 5: Guardians, but all of the trailers leading up to the game’s release so far have seemingly steered clear of any specific references toHalo 5’s story. This could just be clever marketing, making it less daunting for new players to jump into the franchise, or it could be a conscious effort to makeInfinitea soft reboot of the 20-year-old series.
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How Halo 5’s Story Shakes Out
InHalo 5, a team of Spartans called Osiris Team,led by Agent Locke, are sent to capture the Master Chief after he goes AWOL trying to find the remnants of his AI companion Cortana - who “died” in the previous game. By the end of the campaign, Chief finds Cortana, who has decided to try her hand at taking over the galaxy. After a bit of a punch-up, Locke and Chief go their separate ways, with the Legendary ending showing a brand-new Halo ring floating in space.
Halo Wars 2takes place soon afterHalo 5, withCaptain Cutter and the crew of the Spirit of Firefighting against the Banished; a new group of alien extremists made up of species left over from the Covenant. The end ofHalo Wars 2sees a Halo ring being launched into space. Based on released information and expanded universe content, it is still unclear whether or not the Halo rings shown at the end ofHalo 5andHalo Wars 2are the same.
In fact, the time differences betweenHalo 5,Halo Wars 2,andHalo Infiniteis pretty vague as of this writing. The novels that are set afterHalo 5try to limit the scope of the story, with them having no real bearing on the grand scheme of theHalonarrative.
Will Halo 5’s Story Matter in Infinite?
Based on what fans have gathered from trailers and developer interviews, it seemsHalo Infinitetakes place about a year-and-a-half after the end ofHalo 5. Apparently, the player andMaster Chiefare in the same boat when the game starts, with Chief suffering from a case of amnesia. It’s up to the player to find out where they are, what happened, and why they’re in this situation. This points to the game taking a departure away fromHalo 5’s story, as the proverbial slate is wiped clean.
Halo Infinitecreative head Joseph Staten, a lead member of the originalHalodevelopment team, said whileInfiniteis a sequel toHalo 5, and playing the previous games does “enrich the experience,“Halo Infiniteis designed to be an entry point for new players. On the other hand, it’s confirmed thatInfiniteis taking place ona Halo ring called “Zeta Halo.“It’s been heavily speculated that Zeta Halo could be that same ring that appeared in the end ofHalo 5, but there hasn’t been any solid evidence to support these rumors.
It seems as thoughHalo Infiniteis trying to keep the essence and basic story beats from previous games, but is also trying to distance itself enough to get new players on board.The recentHalo Infinitelaunch trailerdoes feature some dialogue from Cortana, so it’s safe to sayInfiniteisn’t forgetting aboutHalo 5’s plot developments altogether.
Halo Infinitereleases December 8 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
