Halo 2 Anniversary appears to cut the Locke and Arbiter scene that sets up Halo 5

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The Halo 2's attachment to the story of Halo 5 meant it made little sense out of context

Halo 5: Guardians
(Image credit: 343)

Halo 2 Anniversary has removed a cutscene featuring Spartan Locke and the Arbiter from the game's main campaign.

As first picked up on by the Halo subreddit yesterday, the remastered Halo 2 Anniversary edition has completely stripped out an introductory cutscene featuring both Spartan Locke and the Arbiter. Now, when you play through the sequel via either a standalone copy or as part of the Master Chief Collection, the cutscene will no longer show up.

However, it's still part of the game, albeit in a drastically reduced role. The scene featuring both characters can still be played via the Movie Viewer in The Master Chief Collection, so you can still go back and view the cutscene that would have played out at the beginning of Halo 2 Anniversary.

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It's a strange move from 343, to cut out an entire sequence from the beginning of the game. If you're unfamiliar with the matter, the Halo 2 Anniversary remaster added in the cutscene featuring Locke and the Arbiter to set up the events of Halo 5: Guardians, in which Locke featured as one of the two playable protagonists. The character was then entirely jettisoned from the Halo continuity, never once being mentioned in Halo Infinite's campaign.

Plenty in the comments section of the subreddit post remark about how little sense the scene made at the time. Taking everything into account, it's a complete non-sequitur of an introduction scene for Halo 2 Anniversary, featuring Spartan Locke character that doesn't even appear for the next three mainline games. Other than establishing Locke is working with the Arbiter to get to a rogue Master Chief by the time of Halo 5: Guardians, the scene serves little other purpose, which could be a reason as to why it's now been removed.

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.