Halo is renowned for two things. First and foremost is its revolutionary FPS formula – Halo: Combat Evolved is often cited as a turning point for the genre, with a lot of its core principles still prevalent today. The term 'Halo killer' was thrown about in the mid to late 2000s as many developers sought to dethrone the shooter as the pinnacle of console FPS gaming.
The second aspect, though sometimes overlooked, is Halo's narrative. It's all that common, even today, for FPS games to offer little context for all the nonsense other than 'that target is bad and deserves to be riddled with holes'. But Halo's original outings were surprisingly multi-faceted and gripping, with plot twists and intrigue that reached far beyond 'these aliens are bad and they should feel bad'.
The story so far...
Halo: Campaign Evolved review: "An FPS in its purest form, but also a wasted opportunity for Halo Studios to put its own spin on a classic"
This narrative was vastly expanded upon in Halo 2. By Halo 3, the universe's core pillars – Humanity, The Covenant and The Flood – were so fleshed out that seeing their motivations intersect in the trilogy created one of the greatest space operas in all of gaming history.
Halo 3: ODST, Reach, and Halo Wars further fleshed this conflict out, telling stories through other Spartans, regular marines, their commanders, and even a squad of elite Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. These perspectives showed the war not through the visor of a super-soldier, but through regular humans facing overwhelming alien doom. The approach helped these titles stand apart from the original trilogy – bolstering the story, rather than competing with it.
I don't think the 343 Industries era of Halo reached that level of narrative prowess. Halo 4 did have the personal drama with Cortana's rampancy and Chiefs reluctance to let her go, but even that at times felt shallow, as did the conflict with the Didact and his Prometheans. As for Halo 5, the only truly gripping sequences in that game were those on Sanghelios dealing with the remnants of the Human-Covie war; a shadow of the franchise's heights.
Halo Infinite was somewhat of a revelation, at least gameplay-wise. 343 made an obvious effort to reference what made Halo so much fun to play in days gone by, and to a certain degree, this was a success. But the story? Not since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a sequel backpedaled on its predecessors so quickly. Somehow the Covenant has returned…. Again.
Keep an eye on the horizon
But 343 is no more, following a rebrand in 2024. Now we have Halo Studios, and a precedent has already been set. Learning from what worked from Halo Infinite, Halo Studios is now looking back at the successes of Halo, and using that to shape its future. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a clear example of this, taking the original stellar game, and more effectively modernizing it than Combat Evolved Anniversary's Reach-colored paintjob could ever even hope to. But the one thing that gives me even more hope for the future of Halo, is locked away in the bonus missions – Operation: Meteorite.
With three new campaign levels set a year before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, this mini-campaign sees Chief and SGT. Johnson infiltrate a gigantic Covenant research vessel. The plot may be soft touch, but there's enough intrigue and environmental storytelling to keep you engaged, and even a couple of narrative easter eggs to make you go 'oooh'. It may just be the re-inclusion of the Battle Rifle, but the prologue genuinely feels like Halo 2 Anniversary in its level design and combat encounters, and the Seraph space combat closer reeks of Reach's Long Night of Solace. Bonus point if you picked up on the use of Reach's OST here.
It makes me think that Halo Studios is making the right call in looking backwards at what came before. But is it looking at the right games?
Full-circle
Narratively speaking, Halo could take cues from Star Wars. The sequel trilogy was undeniably divisive, but much less so are the standalone stories that have popped up filling the timeline. The Mandalorian, Maul - Shadow Lord and Andor to name a few, all succeed in fleshing out the Star Wars narrative, flourish in their independence and aren't crushed by the pressure of continuing the same story beat for beat.
There are examples of this in Halo's timeline too, with Reach being the most prominent. But ODST and both Halo Wars titles offer interesting and provocative windows into the long-running conflict. There's over 25 years of Human-Covenant war before the start of Bungie's trilogy, and we've barely scratched the surface.
This is where Halo Studios could thrive, finding or creating unique story-telling opportunities within this rich history. Halo Wars is the only time we've seen another conflict on humanity's colony worlds, for example. We've not seen a Covenant perspective of the great war, in the games at least, since Halo 2, nor have we seen a UNSC perspective outside of chief's since Reach, (not counting Halo 4: Spartan Ops or Halo Wars 2 as those are post-war).
There's also Pre-Humanity. The Flood-Forerunner war has been covered in extended material, and in-game flashbacks via secret terminals, but playing an FPS from the perspective of a Forerunner soldier, witnessing the fall of their civilization and the buildup to firing the Halo array would be absolutely haunting.
There are so many possibilities for Halo Studios to expand the Halo timeline, and while the main campaign of Campaign Evolved may be a strong, albeit somewhat safe, introduction to this 'new' studio's tenure of Halo Titles, it's Operation: Meteorite that excites me for Halo's future.
We've ranked the best Halo games - but if you want something a little different, our best FPS list has even more recommendations for your next playthrough
