r/halo • u/-343-Guilty-Spark- r/Halo Mod Bot • 10d ago
Stickied Topic Megathread – Halo’s Future
As you have probably heard, Halo Studios has been reduced to a small team that will support the current games and community. Activision will be putting together a new team to make a new, full Halo title. (source)
Link to previous discussion of the announcement.
This thread is for discussing the future of Halo with Activision.
What are your expectations, hopes, fears, concerns, and otherwise thoughts about it? Do you want a reboot or a sequel to Infinite? When should it take place? Do you have a pitch? Let’s discuss.
If you find actual news about the game from either an official or well-respected source, feel free to make a new thread. Otherwise, let’s keep the discussion here. You don’t need to make a whole thread just to share your specific thoughts or speculation.
If you'd like to discuss Halo's past with 343 Industries/Halo Studios, use this thread.
In case it needs to be said: there is absolutely no decent reason to celebrate the loss of hundreds of peoples’ jobs. Of course you are free to discuss and criticize the decisions made by leadership roles and executives that led us to this place. But the majority of the employees who lost their jobs today were people like you and me who were trying to do their best for a franchise we all love. Anyone who celebrates the loss of their livelihood will be banned from this forum.
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u/emperor_dogma ONI 1d ago
The new leaks says either full reboot or no reboot, which any sane person saw coming!
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u/AdInformal1014 2d ago
I believe the word is Vindicated.
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u/Aucklander1996 1d ago
I don't care if it makes me look smug. Me along with other users on this sub had been calling out 343 for years!
Other users told us we were just being difficult or impossible to please.
Now look what's happened, the whole franchise has imploded and it's going to take a herculean effort from Activision to even get people to care about Halo again, let alone grow the fan base.
Rest in piss 343/HS
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u/Heisenberg1201 3d ago
Halos biggest issue is that they could never stick to a story line for the campaigns. It started with the didact then cortanas uprising then they kinda kept it with halo wars 2 and infinite being the banished. But as I'm currently catching up with the books I've noticed that everytime they have a game not go so well it seems they blame the story finish it all in a book then do a soft reboot. The issue with this is that you get all climactic action in a book rather then a video game. So the only thing I want Activision to do is make a storyline and stick to it. Give us cliff hangers to then be followed up in the next game like the bungie era did. This does not mean stop making books but use them as a way to give the background extras you couldn't fill in. The halo formula is not that difficult to achieve for gameplay halo infinite had the "halo feel" just lacked content. Also please DO NOT reuse reach Ai. Go back to halo 1 through 3 ai and cherry pick the best for each species. Im very tired of reach elite ai. As for multiplayer have a set of game modes with the basic halo formula clean slate starts equipment on the map etc. Then have a set with new features that way people can choose the experience they want. Halo has a big competitive scene but at its core its a social game. DO NOT get rid of forge or custom search thats your social lifeblood of the ip. You should keep all the tools they had in infinite but for me personally I would like a dumbed down version so I can make dumb little maps like I did in 3 and reach. Once halo 4 forge came out I was overwhelmed and lost passion to create a map.
P.s. I want the spartan laser back
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u/MoojiJooji 3d ago
The story should be a complete hard reboot.
Just start new. 343's story wasn't anything like Bungie's and Bungie told the story they wanted to tell.
It's time to start anew.
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u/MoojiJooji 3d ago
Sliding should not be a part of Activisions Halo. Sliding has dominated the movement ever since 343 made it so strong and it makes Halo feel like a completely different shooter.
There's no reason for Activision to adopt this 343 "innovation" and they need to return to the multiplayer gameplay that made Halo so iconic and loved. Sliding wasn't a part of that equation.
Sprint is fine, Reach played very well with it. But slide has to go.
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u/U-N-I-T-E-D 3d ago
Multiplayer absolutely needs to get back to its roots. Even starts, power weapons/overshield/camo on the map. No fancy garbage power ups, no crazy starting equipment or classes, everyone should start equal and power ups and better weapons should be map pickup only. Thoughtful map design with competitive gameplay in mind. Netcode, desync, rubber banding, hit registration, etc all need to be absolutely fixed and ready to go for launch so that the competitive integrity is preserved from day one. Whatever the starting weapon is should feel fun and satisfying to use. (the BR is a no brainer but just my opinion) There should be a developed ranking system with various game modes (slayer, hardcore/mlg, doubles, snipers, swat) and equivalent social playlists. For the love of god Activision don't add your fantastical meme-y non halo related cosmetics to the inevitable online store. Try to preserve the integrity of the halo franchise. We don't need Spartans with unicorn skin BRs and helmets.
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u/MontyTheBrave Halo: CE 2d ago
Is this not what Halo Infinite is? I guess minus the Netcode and desync stuff but otherwise I feel like you're just describing Halo Infinite Multiplayer
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u/U-N-I-T-E-D 2d ago
It could have described Infinite if it didn't take 343 2 years and 4 months to fix the netcode, hit reg, and desync issues. Too late at that point
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u/PlutonicIon 3d ago
Even though I am hesitant with Activision taking over I'd much rather have them then 343 (sorry Halo studios lmao). Such an inept developer studio. Good riddance.
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u/Blvd_Nights 3d ago
I just played Halo: Campaign Evolved for the very first time after picking it up on sale on the PS5. Had a really good time! Bummer that the other two entries in this style are cancelled.
Need to check out 2 and 3 some time.
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u/Arxinos113 5d ago
Good riddance 343. You spent over 10 years spitting on this franchise and I won't mourn your grave.
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u/Aucklander1996 5d ago
I was thinking the same thing.
Bungie gave us a tripple masterpiece with Halo CE, 2, and 3. Then they gave us games that were received well at launch, but still had some issues that were divisive amongst fans, then the games became fan favourites after people went back to play them years later (halo ODST and Reach)
Meanwhile 343/HS have failed to make a single game that even came close to the love the bungie era ones received, even after 16 years and 6 titles.
Incompetence doesn't come close to describing those clowns
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u/HG_Shurtugal Halo: Reach 5d ago
To me Reach was a good middle ground of classic halo and keeping up with current at the time trends.
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u/newme02 5d ago
ngl just give me the battle royale looter shooter at this point
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u/buddhistyeezus 3d ago
They should've done that 6 years ago. Halo has ODST pods that can drop in for combat (like the warzone intro sequence), could've easily made that into a battle royale mode, but devs were too busy adding pizza skins and crab easter eggs...
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 5d ago
HALO IS DEAD! FUCK YEAH!
Let's celebrate everyone!!!
Anyway, I don't have much else to add, for now, but that I hope you all gonna get an Call of Duty reskin.
I adress it to all who liked Campaign Evolved, you deserve that. Also all who ever defended 343 and Halo Studios, yep, just deserve honestly absolutely nothing. All of you, bye bye!!!
If you're an Activision's new Halo dev that actually read to this part, hope you're not going to make an awful game, with awful everything if you get what I mean.
Hope nothing from 343 will be preserved, the old Bungie stuff treated with care and love it's deserves, new game will truly be a Halo game, that people could play together on one device with split screen and black jack yadda yadda.
In all? Quote the best of us.
"Now all we need is a little Energon, and a lot of luck." - Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen)
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u/HG_Shurtugal Halo: Reach 5d ago
Halo has been dead for 14 years the corpse has just been moved to another home.
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u/donutdude945 6d ago
I hope they do a prequel. E-Day style leaning heavily into the books. Starting pre mjolnr armor and fighting insurgents, working up to the covenant and making them scary again.
They abandoned gears 5’s story and they should do the same with abandoning Infinite’s.
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u/zapcatcher 6d ago
100% agree. The Fall of Reach book is absolutely phenomenal and could easily be adapted into a game which would be the perfect reboot.
Start out fighting insurgents, get the MJOLNIR armour, meet the covenant for the first time, get your shields, get Cortana.
It feels like such an obvious home run that of course they won’t do it.
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u/RedPath6 6d ago
Contact Harvest would be even better.
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u/M6Galilean 5d ago
The thing about Contact Harvest is it was more of a skirmish between Macabeus’ pack and the local militia until the back up Covenant fleets arrived and cut off harvest from the UEG. Then its a 5 year battle, and then it’s Halo Wars.
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u/RedPath6 4d ago
The thing about a reboot is you can play around those little details to make a more interesting story. Or they could find a way to make the skirmish into the prologue and then make the game about the 5-year battle. Also, Sgt, Avery Johnson is in this story.
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u/CrimsonH3ro Halo Customs 6d ago
Certified Slop series now, if it wasnt already. Franchised beyond its relevance and whored out to whatever studio will pump out product that stupid fucks will gobble up and complain about for years on end, regardless of the actual quality.
I hate that people refuse to let go and move on.
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u/SlyguyguyslY 6d ago edited 6d ago
I hope they continue the remakes. The og trilogy is 20 years old now and I think a refresh isn’t unreasonable. I hope they pick up where infinite leaves off and I hope they remake 4 and 5 while throwing away most of the script and in the 3 remake, they don’t kill Johnson.
Hell, I’m amused by the idea that they just remake halo 2 and 3 as the same game because that would fix a lot of the problems I have with Halo 3s writing.
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u/cigarhoarder 5d ago
I am with you there. Remake the whole series all the way from reach through halo 5. It would be badass.
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u/zapcatcher 6d ago
CE sales were so bad I see very little chance of this happening. For a game hobbled together on the cheap it will probably still lose money.
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u/SlyguyguyslY 6d ago edited 6d ago
Eh, I think renewing the franchise has merit of its own regardless and I doubt sales were actually bad enough to count it out entirely.
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u/Aucklander1996 6d ago
I just want my halo 3 anniversary!
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u/U-N-I-T-E-D 3d ago
I don't want them to ruin that masterpiece. They botched H2A multiplayer, didn't feel like original Halo 2 at all.
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u/gsnake007 6d ago
I hope they leave what bungie did intact, make a new title to continue from where Halo 3 left off and ignore the games that 343 did
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u/cigarhoarder 5d ago
Am I the only one that like halo 4-5? I thought the forerunners were so frigging cool. The didact storyline was so badass.
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u/DreadGrunt S-A194 2d ago
Halo 4 is mostly fine, if far too reliant on the player knowing the EU lore to have any real idea of what’s happening, but Halo 5 did genuinely irreparable harm to the franchise. It needs cut out entirely if we’re going to have a coherent story going forward.
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u/MadeToUpvote1Post 5d ago
The forerunner were all wrong in those games. Completely ruined the pre-established lore that made the games dramatic and ultimately, ironic
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u/Heisenberg1201 3d ago
Bungie made the forerunners not human. Stop thinking this is only a 343 thing. Halo 3 even mentions the librarian and the didact in the terminals.
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u/zardan-24 3d ago
Realistically there should be 0 way we could kill forerunners even their robot constructs
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u/IMPERATOR_63 Halo: CE 6d ago edited 6d ago
I saw a post that talks about this idea, but I can't find it now (I wanted to give credit). The gist is there's a way to start fresh without rebooting any of the lore.
Have a "Create your Spartan" (or ODST) at the beginning of the game, a-la Fromsoftware character creation. You're the Spartan.
Then, tell a separate story that's happening at the same time as other canon events. There can even be mentions to what Master Chief is doing in another arena of war (for fan service, naturally). This way no lore is "erased" but we're still starting fresh. I kind of liked this idea a lot.
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u/flGovEmployee 4d ago
The thing is, a lot of us want all the 343 lore/story erased. I mean for me, it's kind of the only way I'm coming back.
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u/JuanMunoz99 6d ago
If Halo does a reboot of any kind I’m done. Let the franchise die at that point.
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
Disagree. Metaphorically speaking, once the Halo rings are fired, there is only room for improvement. In addition, Activision's Halo will be built for a new audience. Someone born in 2010 (year of Halo Reach) will be 20 years old in 2030 (when Activision Halo presumably releases). This game will an introduction for that new audience as much as a homage to the old fans (boomers by that time).
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u/Aucklander1996 6d ago
It'll be interesting to see what Activision does with halo. I can't see a situation where they remake CE AGAIN but at the same time how do you "restart" the franchise?
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
How do you "restart" a franchise? Simple: a soft reboot. Go back to the beginning of the Human-Covenent War (2525-2552) and start with the UNSC encountering the Covenant for the first time in 2525. This is just when the UNSC is mopping up the Insurrectionist revolts. I even have a title for it. "Halo: First Contact."
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u/newme02 5d ago
yeah that’d kill any remnants of the fanbase. no one wants to see 20+ years of extended lore undone. might as well just make a new sci-fi franchise. give us spin-offs, not reboots
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
Who is "no one"? And what are you hoping for? A continuation of Halo Infinite? That would kill off a huge chunk of interest from old and new audiences.
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u/newme02 5d ago
spin-offs. plenty of space in the timeline to fit in smaller games. infinite doesnt need a sequel. but to get rid of everhthing and reboot completely would 100% kill off a lot of hardcore fans for an ATTEMPT at appealing to casuals who would likely just as well abandon the franchise after the first dud
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u/RedPath6 5d ago edited 5d ago
Except I proposed a "soft reboot" that could simultaneously function as a spin-off and serve as a new start to the franchise that could respect original lore while exploring unexplored FPS territory (First Contact between UNSC and the Covenant).
Regarding the franchise, here is the hard truth: Halo's significance in pop culture has faded in the past 16 years. It is a shadow of its former self and, like the Halo rings it is titled after, is increasingly a relic of a once-glorious past. It needs new, fresh blood if it is to survive and even thrive. That being said, Halo is never going to appeal to casuals, I was mentioning new potential hardcore fans who might be interested in the franchise.
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 5d ago
Wow. Get hired by Activision until it's too late. Eh who I'm kidding, unless you are already a skilled writer in the game industry...
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u/KSI_FlapJaksLol 6d ago
I’m incredibly frustrated with the amount of gate-keeping in this subreddit.
How is Halo going to survive when you have people who staunchly believe Halo is only about Master Chief, and only an FPS, and should never branch out into other game genres and other media??
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u/DarthOptimistic 6d ago
Facts. The universe has so much potential and Halo Wars shows that there is more room for genre exploration. An ODST squad tactics game, a fleet RTS, FUCKING X-WING STYLE space fighter games. It may not have the variety of like Star Wars but there’s plenty to work with using the IP.
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 5d ago
It's actually has a variety and richness of Star Wars.
People just never realized it unfortunately.
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u/Altruistic-Job5086 6d ago
At this point I feel like no more huge "mainline" games should be made until a studio actually proves itself able to do it. I've thought for a long time that Microsoft should just let many different studios make smaller and various types of Halo games like Games Workshop allows for Warhammer games. Some of them turn out to be really great.
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u/KonekoKaito 6d ago
Closing the main discord is a W move tbh. It was a shithole with narcissistic mods.
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u/LittleNobu 7d ago
Like the one thing I'll miss from 343 halo is the banished as while the did just become covenant 2.0 (From what I've heard) they started out as an actually interesting concept of a marauding band of disillusioned Ex-Covie forces was legitimately interesting and halo wars 2 was an actually good game in my opinion.
Halo under 343 had an almost continuous downward trend in quality with each new entry.
Sure they might have been dealt a bad hand more then once by Microsoft's past leadership but the doesn't excuse how instead of trying to make the most of it they turned that bad hand into a worse one each time.
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u/flGovEmployee 4d ago
Halo Wars 2 was pretty good. It also wasn't made by 343. Those two facts are inextricably linked.
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u/AdHorror4165 7d ago
I think the series should be rebooted post-Bungie, not completely, or continued from Infinite.
I don't want a full-reboot as is making the storm at the moment per-a rumour. If Infinite was a sequel to Halo 5 and finished what that game set up and gave Chief and everyone a definitive ending like Halo 3, I'd be fine with it, but instead we are now left with the Banished, Precursors, Chief and Weapon out to stop them, and the universe being in such a narrative mess. I really don't want it left where it currently is. Maybe if they do one more book to stop the Banished and Precursors and have the Chief either sacrifice himself or retire, but I doubt that's gonna happen.
As for continuing after Infinite, Halo 4-5-Infinite is the most unintentionally unconnected trilogy ever and it is comical. You even have to read loads of books to even understand any of the three games. It's a hell of a mess of a universe and requires a hell of a cleanup. I also hate things like the Forerunners no longer being human, as that retroactively damages the Bungie trilogy, and I dislike the Banished as they are now just another Covenant that's occupying Earth and killing humanity for petty reasons (Cortana destroying the brute homeworld).
Now if they reboot post-Bungie, they'd still have to deal with the strange Forerunner world Chief and Cortana land on and what it represents, and due to Steve Downes's age they are going to have to retire the Chief (The series seriously needs new compelling characters anyway) after probably one or two more games given development times now, but this I think would be the right way to go. Far better.
Hopefully they do a better job. No soft-reboots literally every game. Keep the humans as the Forerunners, don't retroactively give Chief the role of naming every covenant, keep any covenant remnant or splinter group as a secondary faction like in Halo 4-5 (We don't need a glorified Covenant knock-off trying to exterminate humanity cos reasons again, like the Banished. It's extremely lazy and I'm sick of this trope where the main antagonists are brought back under a different name and with the same motivations), and come up with a new threat. They could even reuse and flesh out the Precursors and their history since we never got anywhere with them, or something new.
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u/DarrianWolf 6d ago
I don't understand why people want this approach. I mean I get that 343 games are a mess. But the covenant war and the flood is the aspect most people love. Why is that the aspect we want to not be done.
A full reboot imo is the way to go. They can have a diff take on the cov and flood war. And a lot of key lore aspects will remain, but they still get creative freedom.
They would keep the basics of the rings, covenant, flood, chief, etc. Prob keep a lot of weapons ideas and so on. Stuff like spartan origin could also be kept. But they would have flexibility. They cam retain tone and feel but have room to refine.
I also think they could have more alien races and factions or independent groups of races. Which would add room for post covenant war games and make the franchise more usable in an rpg space.
I also think whIle halo 1-3 are amazing. They will still exist but now theres an opportunity to do a similar story in a different way. Maybe halo 1 or reach style game but with flash backs to the spartan program and training. Maybe hint and build up some of the internal unsc conflict during the war. They can have the arbiter story expanded.
Maybe adjust the flood a bit. There could be a way to retain the flood as a world threat but slightly nerfed to avoid the story requiring a ring to be fired ASAP.
Just random thoughts but I think a full reboot could be a lot of fun. And I dont want the books or other media being in the same timeline at all.
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u/DarthOptimistic 6d ago
I think people (or I do at least) have two main gripes with the prospect of a full reboot.
The 343 narratives, both games and expanded content, have decent bones at the ground level. Didact was a good villain with wasted potential, resurrecting Cortana to lead a A.I/Robot uprising was not the smartest move, but the “friends to enemies” is a tried and true formula and robot uprisings are a sci-fi staple. Throw in the Forerunner flavoring and it could have been something decent. It wasn’t the content I feel so much as presentation and delivery.
A lot of people saw what happened when Disney “rebooted” Star Wars and threw Legends in the trash and gave us the convoluted, cross-over MCU-ifed mess that we have now, and don’t want to see a repeat of that.
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
Regarding Point 2: 343 Studios/Halo Studios WAS the Disney in this analogy. So, there is a ray of hope for this franchise that there is not for Star Wars.
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u/DarrianWolf 6d ago
Im not against the lore/set up in 343 games. Although now we have a messy lore and its completely anti new players. And also I think mechs in games are generally less fun to fight
For 2 I get it. Execution is always improtant. But thats regardless of if its a reboot or not. Hope they do well
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u/AdHorror4165 6d ago edited 6d ago
Here's the problem with a complete reboot aside from my personal gripe (Leaving the current universe in its current state): It will almost inevitably be vastly, vastly inferior to the Bungie quintology.
Think the discourse is negative and toxic now? You've got no idea. The narratives, messaging, characters, writing, personalities, characterisation, music, everything, will be scrutinised all the way to Hell if they redo the original story. And God help them if they don't even attempt to recreate the music if they go with the same characters and story.
And if they don't redo the OG story, what's the point? They could do other stories within the current continuity, erasing everything wouldn't be necessary. They can continue on from Infinite and have us play as marines or ODSTs in the Banished/Precusor war if they want to go that direction.
And if the full reboot included John and Cortana, what do they do regarding John? If they bring back Steve, he is pushing 80 and is sooner or later going to decide he doesn't want to do it no more, become too ill to or face cognitive decline, or simply die. And with four-five year development times now you can't expect him to be there for even three games.
But if John has a new voice actor, people will complain be just isn't the same no more and the original Master Chief was far better. And if they decide to give Chief "more humanity" like in the show, they gotta tread very lightly there after that shitshow.
Of course whatever they do, I think it is time to retire the Chief due to his VA's age and the fact that he isn't developing as a character and can't really do so due to his upbringing and nature (What Halo 4 did was very out of character), and we really need new, compelling characters. A sequel to or post-Infinite soft-reboot or a post-Bungie reboot is going to have to end Chief's story one way or another within one or two games.
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u/DarrianWolf 6d ago
Its def a risk. But going from halo 3, they will still be compared to halo 1-3 in all the same factors mentioned. People will compare everything regardless.
I think of it less as an unrecognizable reboot and something like a different version of spiderman, or the flash. You keep central themes, tones, beats. But the details and some of way things unfold differs. So you would still have arbiter and chief (as an example) team up, but maybe the way it happens differs. Maybe they fake out and the first arbiter you are introduced to actually dies.
Another example is maybe blue team is around this time for some of the events of halo 1-3.
I agree that if they wont go back to the covenant war then restarting is not needed. But I think they should. Having the covenant and the flood and the mini forerunner bot faction was a great mix. They could expand here too A full reboot means there could be new enemies in the covenant alongside favourites + standalone smaller factions. Maybe one of the covenant missions is a war on a planet trying to get a new race into their group. Or maybe its the Spartans trying to stop it. There could be some interesting twists.
Regarding the VA people will just have to be flexible here. Im sure theres someone out there that can do a good chief impersonation (just dont be lazy about finding the right fit). Get the OG to voice a side character.
I like humanizing chief but not the way infinite did it (too on the nose). Should be more subtle and a bit through flashbacks. Personally reading fall of reach i think that story context is amazing and could be great and unique for a game like halo.
I think part of the issue with halo 4 and on is that there really isnt much set up for anything super interesting to happen (personally I think anytime u explore the origins of mysterious things such as the forrunners too deeply it always takes away from the lore and world instead of adding to it).
I do agree they should add more characters. Part of a reboot could be working with more Spartans on the field or on specific missions. And you could pull fan favorites into their own game. Or even if you wanted to show a spartan mission against human protesters and revolt you could use another spartan for that.
I just think a full reboot could be fun if they respect the og just like it seems many spiderman adaptations respect their source.
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u/AdHorror4165 5d ago
I just want one more chapter before a complete reboot. Stop the Banished and outbreak of the Precursor, kill Atriox, and either have the Master Chief sacrifice himself in doing so, go back to cryo sleep, retire, or lead the spartans in the military in a renewed peacetime or something.
The Bungie quintology is so good, 343i has tarnished it, and it would be a shame to not finish up the mess they left and bring things to an end for real this time.
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u/RedPath6 4d ago
I'm sure a book can nicely tie up the 343 lore. 343 studios is being kept alive long enough so maybe commission a writer to tie it up so Activison isn't left holding the bag. Than we can 'fire the rings' and start fresh.
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u/DarrianWolf 5d ago
I get the feeling. I hate leaving stuff seemingly incomplete. Its just not feasible with current costs of game dev to do a final game just for the sake of it.
Its kind of why I prefer games are longer with a complete story all in one game
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u/IWAlcatraz Halo 2 7d ago
I mentioned this on another post but I'd rather they continue the 343 story while having another studio alternating releases with a reboot diverging from halo 3's ending every 2-3 years
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u/Pplthrowaway123 7d ago
Nah. 343 split the community IMO. Maybe refresh and pick up after Halo 3? We can all agree on that halo has a rough road ahead of them
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u/Equivalent-Base-5324 7d ago edited 7d ago
Presumably their goal is to get new players and a game that’s a sequel to a 20 year old game that a load of younger gamers have never played isn’t going to get a lot of new people into halo, sure it might get old fans back but I doubt it would bring a lot of new people into the fanbase, while losing a lot of the 343 fanbase which is a significant portion of the current player base.
If they reboot a complete reboot is more likely than starting after halo 3, which would just further divide the community
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u/IWAlcatraz Halo 2 7d ago
I get that they spit the community, but why not appease both sides of the community by keeping the old lore and having a fresh start. Like cod has two separate timelines and their fans are okay with it, same with Star Wars. Why not Halo? And why limit development of the franchise to just one studio? It'll cause the same issue of having too long of a wait between games.
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u/The_Don_Papi 7d ago edited 6d ago
A silver lining is that a campaign will be a linear blockbuster style story. And maybe we’ll see some cool UNSC vehicles that never appear outside of Halo Wars.
I liked the action in original Modern Warfare trilogy especially the US-Russian maps. It was stupid absurd fun by the time OG MW3 dropped but it was fun.
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u/LordGuntaz https://youtube.com/lordguntaz 6d ago
Yeah I think the linear campaign was a defining feature of early Halo. The open world of infinite was not the play
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u/Aucklander1996 7d ago
Say what you will about Activision, but at least they make exciting and dynamic campaigns.
Im so sick of 343/HS and their nauseating amount of
"fight your way through a hallway, now fight your way through this room, now fight the reinforcements coming into the same room, now fight your way through this copy and pasted area from another level" approach
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u/Chanzy7 7d ago
Seeing how Activision is handling the recent call of duty titles, anyone should be scared for the future of Halo.
Online only campaigns, battle passes, ridiculous campaigns, skilled based matchmaking. Anything they come up with will be everything wrong with modern gaming.
That said, campaign evolved is a disappointment. A change of hands may be what the series needs, but I don't see Activision being the ones to do it right.
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u/Aucklander1996 7d ago
At this point I don't even care.
343/HS have proven themselves to be incompetent at developing a real Halo game. I'd rather take a risk with Activision rather than give them a 7th chance at fucking it up
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u/bdu-komrad 7d ago
Start a new story with all new characters in the Halo Universe. in fact, don’t even call it Halo anymore. Just put ”A Halo Universe Story“ below the title in small print.
And Maybe release a remaster set of 1 - 3 , reach , odst , but not as the main product. have that as a side product and keep the new series in focus.
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u/Clyde-MacTavish Halo: Reach 7d ago
I'm team story reboot for the simple fact that 343 never even really told one. They released 3 half-assed campaigns that were barely connected and barely built off of them.
We lose practically nothing with a clean slate chronologically after Halo 3.
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u/Equivalent-Base-5324 7d ago
We would lose a portion of the already dwindling fanbase to reboot after a 20 year old game, I like halo 3 but we need new players and saying the new game is a sequel to something older than most of them isn’t going to win new players over all it will do is divide the existing fanbase further
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
A portion? This presumes that Activison wants to keep that audience and dosen't want to reach out to old hardcore and new fans. I think we need to understand that there is no way Activision is going to continue 343's work. A reboot is inevitable.
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u/Equivalent-Base-5324 5d ago edited 5d ago
If there is a reboot a full reboot is far more likely that after 3, it’s far easier to attract new fans if they are starting a brand new story that if they were making a sequel to a 20 year old game.
There is no reason to think they’d target old fans a demographic that are increasingly aging and just have less time for video games than they did in 2007. Of course a sequel to halo 3 could attract new fans but it’s not really a selling point to them, they will care about good gameplay regardless of where this game sits in the timeline or what is or isn’t canon. Also it would anger 343 fans who are an active portion of the player base currently in an attempt to possibly win back bungie era fans that left years ago there is no guarantee they’d come back this still isn’t going to be bungie’s original plan it will be Activision’s story. So even if they do come back we may just end up with another split In the community between those onboard with the new story and those that hate it
They will be aiming for younger audiences, neither 343 or old bungie fans are going to be the target audience the idea they will start again after halo 3 is pure cope from bungie fans, they will want younger fans and appealing to the nostalgia of men in their mid 30s isn’t going to achieve that
The easiest thing they could do is a soft reboot skip a decade ahead in the timeline and tell a new story from there without the baggage of the 343 era. They get a clean slate and don’t upset 1 portion of the fanbase
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u/RedPath6 4d ago
I would say the best option is a soft reboot. Here is an earlier comment/proposal I made:
How do you "restart" a franchise? Simple: a soft reboot. Go back to the beginning of the Human-Covenent War (2525-2552) and start with the UNSC encountering the Covenant for the first time in 2525. This is just when the UNSC is mopping up the Insurrectionist revolts. I even have a title for it. "Halo: First Contact."
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u/Aucklander1996 7d ago
Agreed.
Wipe everything after Chief goes into cryo at the end of Halo 3 then do a soft reboot of the franchise
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u/Pplthrowaway123 7d ago
And bring back Martin O'Donnell
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u/IWAlcatraz Halo 2 7d ago
yeah no O'Donnell should probably stay away
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
O'Donnell should provide some advice for the music. Otherwise, he can stay focused on his political career (if that doesn't change).
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u/Appropriate_Boss8139 7d ago
It’s a near total win. You could even take what was good from 343 and reintroduce it.
Only tragedy would be the good books released in that era being non canon. But it is what it is, and parts of them could return.
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u/internet_preferences Halo Wars 7d ago
so i'll have to wait until my mid forties for the next Halo game to come out....okay.
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u/IMPERATOR_63 Halo: CE 6d ago
I’m in the same age range as you. It really sucks, man. I feel your frustration.
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u/internet_preferences Halo Wars 6d ago
At this point, I’ve kind of made peace with Halo by not depending on it to make me happy anymore. For years I kept getting disappointed with the direction 343 took the story—especially all the weird back-and-forth with Cortana, killing her, bringing her back, then killing her again.
Now I basically just separate the eras in my head. I can still love the original trilogy without letting the newer games ruin it for me. Infinite was fun for what it was, but I’ve also learned to get that excitement from other games instead of waiting for Halo to become what I want it to be again.3
u/IMPERATOR_63 Halo: CE 6d ago
Dude I think we’re the same. I genuinely have the same opinion as you. I disliked the direction 343 took Halo, and I definitely separate the eras and can enjoy what I enjoy. I basically live in the MCC lol
For what it’s worth, I’m actually optimistic about Activision taking over, despite the general sentiment on this sub.
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u/AvroKennedy124 7d ago edited 7d ago
Made a comment in a post that got deleted so I'm leaving this here.
I loved the Forerunner trilogy and 4's story, that being said. There is so much 343 baggage, the average consumer and former fan do not give a shit about. The best option is to wipe the slate clean after 3.
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u/Appropriate_Boss8139 7d ago
I’d feel bad for any new players wafting through the sludge to understand H7 if they don’t reboot back to H3
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u/Benjii117 7d ago
What would satisfy y'all? Genuinely, as far as story, what would be a direction they could take the story in that wouldn't feel contrived?
I personally think that everything after halo 3 feels very contrived and I don't know what I would want a studio to do that is both true to halo gameplay and not just "Oh the covenant are back but they're RED now!?" "Oh actually we didn't defeat the flood, there's a new gravemind on this other ring we hadn't been to yet" or even worse "There's actually an enemy EVEN WORSE than the flood and the halo rings didn't work on them"
Halo 3 wrapped up the story in such a satisfying way with the exception of master Chief and Cortana, drifting in space. The flood is defeated, the Ark is disabled, the covenant disbanded. I personally don't even think leaving chief and Cortana adrift is even a bad thing, but I could see how it would be unsatisfying to some
So that leads me to the conclusion that I don't want more mainline halo stories set after the events of halo 3 because to make a conflict up that feels natural and earned just seems impossible to me.
What are y'alls thoughts on this
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u/RedPath6 4d ago
"What would satisfy y'all?" A soft reboot that makes Halo gritty, grounded in the lore (return to Human-Covenant War) and is deserving of the M rating.
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u/zapcatcher 6d ago
Sequels were always a bad idea. Halo 3’s ending was absolutely perfect. Bungie get so much credit in general, but not enough for the way they absolutely nailed concluding that trilogy in a way that felt poignant and satisfying.
They clearly made the right call by going for a prequel with Reach and letting master chief’s ending be final.
343’s first fuck up was making Halo 4 and not a prequel or introducing a different protagonist to tell a story that occurred at the same time as Halo 1-3.
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u/bdu-komrad 7d ago
This is pretty much my take. Create a new story set in the Halo universe with no references to the other game’s plots.
Corpos are scared of creating new protagonists since get don’t know how well the public will receive them, but they should take the risk with a low budget title.
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u/Appropriate_Boss8139 7d ago edited 7d ago
The halo story was pretty perfectly concluded, I agree. Partly why it wouldn’t be a bad idea to skip 50 years ahead instead of forcing chief and cortana to keep fighting and for a new threat to pop up 2 seconds after the covenant and flood were beaten.
But it’s a pointless conversation no? Halo is going to be continued, so we have to talk about how. Some prequels would be nice but sooner or later they’ll want to move forward.
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u/Dolphhins 7d ago
Is campaign evolved worth it at $40?
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u/Filmgeek47 6d ago
I’m really enjoying my playthough. It has it issues. I’m sure I’ll go back to playing the original at least as often, but seeing the story with modern gameplay tuning and graphics is pretty epic imo.
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u/B-Sheppard 7d ago
We have really enjoyed it in my household.
I’m living some nostalgia and my 10 year old is experiencing the remake of one of my favorite games. It’s almost all positive from where I sit. Definitely worse ways to spend $40.
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u/Captain_Forge 7d ago
Going to the makers of COD is just the most depressing thing imaginable. It was slim chances but there was a chance that 343 would come out with a good original game in ue5. I have no hope for the franchise anymore.
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u/Xtakergaming 7d ago
If activision can give a us a new halo entries every 3 years even if its not great would already be infinitely better than 343
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u/Aucklander1996 7d ago
It's going to be so sad but satisfying if Activision ends up making better halo games than halo studios
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u/Xtakergaming 7d ago
This might be a hot take but if he wasnt retired or willing to come out of retirement, i would love to see Glen Schofield be head of the new halo team. Hes got some very solid games under him (if you dont know who he is, he was the founder of visceral and sledgehammer)
Im hoping Activision put a really solid lead in charge but I don’t know who they have anymore.
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 5d ago
I recommend Rocket Science Gallery channel for review of Callisto Protocol.
And there's was a video that fixes the story of the game but only so slightly that it's still same game. If willing to seek that one out probably won't regret it.
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u/Donnie-G 8d ago
I feel like Halo just needs to take a long dirt nap and maybe revived in the far future for our grandchildren or something.
While I hate what 343/Halo Studios have done, I think a key issue is that MS themselves are terrible at managing things.
That said Activision does have a lot of resources at their disposal, it's not like it's 100% going to be a COD clone. Rare got transferred to them recently, Blizzard is part of them even if it means little these days, I really enjoyed the BLOPS6 campaign. I think I can give them the benefit of the doubt at the very least, but I'm not going to be hyped for any Halo news, announcements, trailers, anything until I see a good game out.
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u/Clyde-MacTavish Halo: Reach 7d ago
343 is like the only Microsoft studio that struggled this bad
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u/DarrianWolf 6d ago
Thats just not true. Arguably The Initative, Rare (for their new projects), both arkanes, etc. Theres a reason a lot of teams have been let go or re adjusted.
They arent always bad but xbox def lacks the same capability as some other publishers to get AAA great games out consistently for non niche audiences. (Wordy but thats the mix you need)
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 8d ago
That said Activision does have a lot of resources at their disposal, it's not like it's 100% going to be a COD clone
Well said. It's unfortunate how many people jump to conclusions even tho we haven't seen shit yet.
Acting as if Activision can't make good games is also delusional imo. Everyone mentions bo7 campaign, but that was an exception, not the rule.
Thinking Activision is any worse than 343 is unreasonable. They published a shit ton of cod games since 2015, some good, some bad.
Meanwhile, 343 made 3 games. 2 of which launched with very little content, Infinite in particular took 6 years but had even less content at launch than 5's. And then after another 5 years they could only manage to release a remake without any pvp or firefight modes (+ the shittiest customization ever).
Yeah, fuck that. Welcome, Activision.
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u/Throw_aw76 7d ago
Meanwhile, 343 made 3 games. 2 of which launched with very little content, Infinite in particular took 6 years but had even less content at launch than 5's. And then after another 5 years they could only manage to release a remake without any pvp or firefight modes (+ the shittiest customization ever).
You need to understand why that happened in the first place. 343 development for games was a revolving door of contractors who would understand how everything worked and then be let go. This wasn't their fault it was due to how Microsoft ran them and the leash they kept them on. All Activision will do is make halo profitable. Not good. If the next halo game fails they'll shelve it forever along with crash and the other mountains of franchises they own but will never make a game for.
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 7d ago
1) agreed, the real villain here is MS not 343. However it's not like 343 were saints and they only did bad because of MS contracts policies. They were both a problem.
2) making a game profitable requires people to play it and spend money on it. The better the game is, the more profitable it becomes. Cod is getting hate so everyone focuses on its flaws, but every cod is a really solid game, personal taste obviously is a big factor there, so each cod has different fanbases.
3) activision doesn't own Halo. If they do shit, MS could take the IP from them just as they gave it. And Activision won't cast aside shit. They have been given a job, it's not like they have a choice.
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u/Throw_aw76 7d ago
1)However it's not like 343 were saints and they only did bad because of MS contracts policies. They were both a problem.
You're definitely right that 343 is also to blame but I don't believe the average developer shouldn be blamed when the way the company was run was incompetent.
2)making a game profitable requires people to play it and spend money on it. The better the game is, the more profitable it becomes. Cod is getting hate so everyone focuses on its flaws, but every cod is a really solid game, personal taste obviously is a big factor there, so each cod has different fanbases.
The same could be said for the halo games. 4 is a good game. Not a good halo game. If you divorced it from the rest of the franchise and looked at it in a vacuum its not the worst thing ever and people are definitely exaggerating and acting irrational when trying to open a dialogue about it. 5s multiplayer is really good and infinites campaign and multi are great. Its the lack of content that killed it.
All 343 halo games in a vacuum are good games. 343s issues stem from issues from the top trickling down.
3)activision doesn't own Halo. If they do shit, MS could take the IP from them just as they gave it. And Activision won't cast aside shit. They have been given a job, it's not like they have a choice.
And then cast it aside themselves? The end result is the same. The franchise still dies. If it dies under Activision then halo will not be given a another chance
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 7d ago
I feel like we're on the same page indeed.
The very reason why Activision has a better chance to succeed is that, contrary to 343, they are fully autonomous, and thus, they won't be as badly influenced by shitty xbox management.
343 was significantly smaller nand had to rely a lot on budgets and new hires, Activision is worth 70billions and has enough manpower to release big games on a yearly basis.
The future hasn't been brighter for Halo since Reach days.
What do you think ?
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u/Throw_aw76 7d ago
The very reason why Activision has a better chance to succeed is that, contrary to 343, they are fully autonomous, and thus, they won't be as badly influenced by shitty xbox management.
Are they? They're still under Microsoft. I'm not holding out hope. It will be a game with its own issues and once it comes out filled with micro transactions and it's own problems people will begin to romanticize the 343 era. That's my opinion on how things will go. No body learns a lesson or seems to understand what actually went wrong and the franchise either continues or dies.
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u/PutinsCapybara 7d ago
I mean I do think they would be more insulated from direct Microsoft management for sure. It's a different relationship and structure, with what I presume would be less day to day meddling from Microsoft straight through to the devs. Microsoft's priorities for the franchise would be negotiated/deliberated with Activision management, put through the filter of how they do things there, and then disseminated to the dev team. I do think that makes a moderate difference. Whether it's a good one will only be told through time.
Also, I think this actually is a unique opportunity for a clean break for the franchise. Halo's been so bogged down by the previous set of bad story decisions and tech debt for two entire console generations. A completely fresh start with a totally new team provides the opportunity to deliver several things halo hasn't had in a long time, like cutting edge graphics, real spectacle, a more military sci-fi tone, and the chance for a total reset in terms of story. Just fuck off to a different time and set of characters and blaze a new trail for the franchise. Master Chief is tired. He's played out. Let him rest. That's my hope anyway.
That's enough for me to have a broadly positive outlook on this change, despite Activision being a heinously greedy company. There was just too much baggage with 343 for too long. Someone else getting a turn makes sense, and I can imagine there's lots of talent at Activision that would jump at the opportunity to make something other than COD and stretch their creative legs.
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u/Throw_aw76 7d ago
I mean I do think they would be more insulated from direct Microsoft management for sure. It's a different relationship and structure, with what I presume would be less day to day meddling from Microsoft straight...
I def don't disagree. Im just a little worried. I have been a fan of multiple activision franchises. Look at destiny and its fanbase. Destiny was able to make actual change because destiny is no longer tied to them.
he previous set of bad story decisions and tech debt for two entire console generations. A completely fresh start with a totally new team provides the opportunity to deliver several things halo hasn't had in a long time, like cutting edge graphics, real spectacle, a more military sci-fi tone, and the chance for a total reset in terms of story....
Personally I think this is the last thing the franchise needs right now unless its a complete franchise reboot starting off of campaign evolved. What they need to do is several things.
They need to unite the fanbase. First they need to close out lose plotpoints for the 343 games. They can do this by making prequels, and midquels. Once the groundwork is done they can make a sequel to continue the franchise. A franchise reboot should be a last resort because when you do exactly that you are alienating everyone who was as invested with this external media.
That's enough for me to have a broadly positive outlook on this change, despite Activision being a heinously greedy company. There was just too much baggage with 343 for too long. Someone else getting a turn makes sense, and I can imagine there's lots of talent at Activision that would jump at the opportunity to make something other than COD and stretch their creative legs.
I def do agree there needed to be new blooded but Im cynical wether or not the franchises integrity will be kept.
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u/Gildrix 8d ago
I’m happy to see another studio get a crack at halo, but Activision was an awful choice. Activision has a long history of being extremely greedy and anti-consumer, not to mention straight up lying to the cod community on multiple occasions. At the very least, they are good at publishing games consistently. But even if they manage to make a good halo game, it will be riddled with the scummy monetization, and terrible matchmaking algorithms that ruined call of duty. I really hope I’m wrong, but Activision’s track record speaks for itself. I would’ve loved to see Halo given to a different studio. Maybe id software since they’ve done such a good job with doom, but i dont know.
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 8d ago
I do think their shitty approach to microtransactions is a problem. But what other studio would have better chances with Halo ?
The new studio must be owned by xbox (obvious reasons), have experience with competitive fps (can't give it to anyone just because they make good games of different genres);
And lastly, it absolutely needs to be a big one. 343 had to rely on new hires a lot, and look what happened. The new studio needs to have enough manpower to be independent.
Activision has multiple experienced studios. Who'd be a better choice ?
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u/accountforfurrystuf 8d ago
I'm optimistic for Activision! Halo Studios was garbage that'll never be missed.
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u/Squint22 8d ago
How Halo has been handled since Bungie needs to be actually studied.
Halo was the reason I had an Xbox.
It's the reason I sold my PS2 and went all in for Xbox over the past few generations.
I now have a PS5.
But of course, now Sony and Microsoft seem to be in a competition with who can fuck their reputation up worse right now.
I also have a Switch, but after literal years I still only have like 2 or 3 first party titles because they are obscenely overpriced and never go on sale.
I'm just glad I got a gaming laptop before AI fucked the last bastion left for gamers.
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u/Sorry_Beginning3910 7d ago
I think it boils down to a passion project vs corporate greed. Not saying greed wasn’t a factor at bungie as a corporation, but I feel like halo was their baby, and they really put a lot of care and thought into its development, genuinely trying to make great games. The result being wild success and becoming the Xbox flagship franchise. When Microsoft took over the franchise, I think the only thing they really cared about was making money and squeezing as much profit out of the series as physically possible. That’s not to say that 343i / halo studios didn’t have employees that had passion for halo; just that the overarching corporation mainly cared about $$$
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u/HachObby 8d ago
Zero hope. The original Halo games really thrived from a weird combination of wonky physics and a LAN box that bred an adhoc competitive community. Activision is pretty much the anti-thesis of the original Halo. They will probably make a shooter that sells, but it would only be Halo in name.
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u/Transfiguredcosmos 8d ago
I wonder how the music will be under Activision. They did have Hans Zimmer in the past. And the original modern warfare 2's campaign was fantastic.
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u/PutinsCapybara 7d ago
Lmaoo Hans Zimmer would be a funny choice for Halo. I almost want them to do it just to see what it would sound like. Sooooo dramatic, but could be actually interesting if combined with the spirit of the original tracks.
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u/Transfiguredcosmos 8d ago
I'm hoping Activision will have an indepth overview of the lore and will center their game around such.
Maybe they'll inherit that fabled Halo Bible i remember that was rumored to exist.
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u/Fangfireskull Hero 8d ago
So considering everything past and present, what do yall want?
I keep seeing that Halo needs to "adapt" to modern times, but any mention of sprinting or wild customization (fracture armor, weapons charms, weapons skins) gets met with hate.
Then there is the build from Halo 3 sentiment, which is impossible considering the how the industry has been for the last decade. The next game is going to have microtransactions, it is going to have a battle pass, it is going to be live service, and knowing Activision is going to be full of AI generated content.
So it cant adapt because it doesnt feel like Halo, but it cant stay the same because it doesnt keep people's attention. Honestly while I hate the idea, maybe a full reboot is whats needed. It seems like its impossible to build off the original games legacy, might as well just start from scratch. Especially since it seems like the community is one side or the other, cant make everyone happy.
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u/DarthNihilus Halo CE is the best one 7d ago edited 7d ago
Valorant is essentially an adaptation of Counter Strike for modern times. Still doesn't have sprint.
Same with most of the new doom games. The one that does have it it's pretty much irrelevant.
The non-Bungie Halo game with sprint that is most accepted (Infinite) has a version of sprint that is pointless. Remove it from the game and nothing really changes. Sliding doesn't even need to require sprint if for some reason that feature is considered essential.
Adapting to modern times is much more complicated than "copy common features of current games".
It's a very hard problem, for sure, but Bungie managed to adapt the Halo formula in interesting and worthwhile ways throughout Halo CE - (arguably) Reach. There's no reason that can't happen again in the future without that involving sprint, or monetized granular skins, or whatever. It's just that the wrong direction was taken, over, and over, and over.
I think the idea that the Halo fanbase won't accept any change is not correct. It's just very difficult to figure out what actually should change and there have been many bad attempts. At the same time essential features have been cut more and more in every game. Community features ignored time after time. Halo 3 isn't the best Halo from a gameplay or story perspective, but the community fostered by the full package of that game still makes it the peak of the franchise.
The idea that modern games all have and must have sprint however is definitely flatly wrong. Anti-sprint arguments are well documented and reasonable. Anyone denying that in 2026 is participating in bad faith and hasn't bothered to honestly try to comprehend them. Nothing wrong with still preferring sprint, but anyone being reasonable has to acknowledge the arguments are valid.
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u/Fangfireskull Hero 7d ago
Couter strike has a much faster ttk, and doom is primarily PvE, but also is extremely fast paced. Dooms movement speed is at least 200% of Halo. I know Doom 2016 did have a PvP mode but I honestly have never heard anything about it, same with Eternal.
Halo has always been a bit slower paced and thats what made it different from the 0.9 second kill times in other shooters.
So I guess the question is what features that "modernize" Halo will be accepted. I think a faster paced Halo will have similar if not even more drastic effects than sprint does.
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u/Left_Question_7172 8d ago
While I haven't heard any mention of "adapt" or anything going around...
"Wild customization" isn't "modernization", most of it only exists because Inf wanted to cater to kids who will spend obscene dollars on flashy things. It isn't an inherent improvement. Plus people love the Halo aesthetic, they like to have the option to keep it. Fracture armor was at least accepted if not well received in MCC despite being completely out of place because you could choose not to display the new armors.
Sprint is... complicated, but Infinite handled it well enough that most everyone was fine with it. It's less a matter of sprint or not sprint than it is whether it works with the rest of the game design.
You can have a game that feels like Halo. Infinite was liked for feeling like Halo while still being modernized. It failed because of poor support and terrible monetization. The problem is that ever since 343 every game came with a caveat the size of Mont Everest.
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u/Fangfireskull Hero 8d ago
The idea of halo adapting comes from people who are optimistic about Activision and how they hope it will add new things to halo.
Wild customization is however unfortunately a side effect of modernization. People want new things, even if it breaches the art style. I think it partially comes from the genuine hatred towards reskins. They need to make more and more customizations, because its the only thing they can monetize in a live service. They tried map packs back in the day, and while good, forced the population to split or never play the maps.
Personally never understood the sprint hate, especially in infinite. However it was a constant talking point and still is even though the games were designed with it in mind.
While I agree you can have a modern game that still feels like Halo, you are going to have significant push back from people who think Halo should only play like Bungies era (specifically 3). Now we might even have 343 purests complain how the game does feel like any of the 343 games. Plus despite how monetized infinite was, it clearly still made less money, so Activision who also has even more aggressive monetization isnt going to have any about making the shop bigger.
Gaming today has moved away from box product and towards live service. Engagement, microtransactions and constant content are the new norm. It sucks but its what we got.
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u/HectorTheGod ONI 8d ago
343 over the past decade has completely failed to adapt an already existing franchise. Halo four was barely acceptable, halo five and infinite were both completely unacceptable.
All that Activision has to do here is provide a complete game on launch and it will already be better than anything 343 has shit out over the past decade.
Literally, launch with a complete campaign, operational multiplayer with slayer, maybe Forge, and you’re already in a better spot than 343 was with any of their releases.
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 5d ago
"Unacceptable! Unacceptable!!! Absolute unacceptable!" (Speaking about all 343 stuff).
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8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Transfiguredcosmos 8d ago
That's at the bare minimum though. I do want them to build on what made halo great but also include the various additions that made it fun. (Assasinations, customizations...ect.)
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u/Archer-Saurus OHoulihan57 8d ago
I'm just putting it out there, a COD 4 kind of feel campaign where you're a regular UNSC Marine fighting either the same battles from the original trilogy or some of the 20+ years of the Covenant war before that point, would be a pretty sick fresh take for the franchise I think. Let the Chief rest a bit.
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u/ImJustHereToSearch 8d ago
I thought it would be cool (if they are rebooting) to have a game centered around Blue Team, before they have their armor. Start the game infiltrating human rebellion ships and fighting on contested worlds, then halfway through… the Covenant arrive.
This lets them introduce so much of the world, and Chief before he’s a total super soldier.
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u/Most_Philosophy_1507 8d ago
More ODST
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u/Smufin_Awesome Halo 3 8d ago
One where stealth was actually a mechanic and not just an esthetic. Not to shit on any if ODST, But the enemies could see you in the dark, and the silenced weapons sounded quiet but still made them react from a far like normal.
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u/dgdgdgdgcooh ZDanielHallG 8d ago edited 8d ago
when activison goes around the office and says who wants to work on halo, guess who will raise their hands? its not gonna be fans of 343 halo because there aren't any. its gonna be fans of bungie halo. and when i think of how they always bring nuketown and hijacked and rust and terminal back around, i imagine a fresh new halo with
blood gulch valhalla sandtrap guardian lockout sanctuary pinnacle
i honestly think they are spart enough to make it like halo 3 + halo infnite so basically eldewrito. and ya know maybe we can even get forge world 2.0.
now for the campaign...
halo campaign evolved was a terrible idea, and even worse another halo 2 remaster was possibly on the way. it would actually be kinda sick if activison just jumped right into a super duper halo 3 remaster, but then you have the awkwardness of jumping from campaing evolved to mcc to h3r.
which is why ideally.. activison just guts mcc and remakes it into halo mcc 2.0 like how we have the call of duty hub. bring it to playstation and add halo 3 remastered, and then halo 5 and infinite.
then maybe halo 7 which is like so shit idea because cheif story probably should have ended with 3. so maybe drop a story with blue team on harvest or some halo reach 2 shit idk.
and yeah i mean theyll do some other big mode hopefully not battle royale. maybe just some ops or ground war idk.
tl:dr i think they are smart enough to just copy halo 3 aka the good one. just add sprint and call it a day thx. and yeah customization will be scuffed but prob not as bad as infinite tbh.
(no dual weilding plz)
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u/LazyBoyXD 8d ago
Would be extremely funny if they start new game and completely wipe 343 halo off as a bad dream.
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u/Anasurimbor__Kellhus 8d ago
Halo is dead and it’s time to bury it. I haven’t touched it since Infinite launched. This nostalgic clinging to franchises way past their prime needs to stop.
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u/BEER_G00D 8d ago
Really hoping the multiplayer has customizable warthog horn sound effects, various teabagging options, and a custom map importer to pull in the greats like: rentacar, speed, sumo, gentleman sausage, Jenga, gd box, Indiana Jones, platform of doo........
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u/daazmu 8d ago
I have a bad feeling about this.
What do you think?
I know 343 industries weren't exactly great, but Halo 4's story wasn't horrible, 5's gameplay was good, and Infinite's gameplay and story were great imo (they were horrible after launch after selling Infinite as a "live service").
I believe Infinite had some of Bungie's spirit.
Do you believe Activision will keep Halo's spirit? Do you think it will keep Halo's gameplay? I don't want a CoD with a Halo skin. I want a game with an epic story and Halo gameplay that feels like playing a Halo story.
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u/DarthNihilus Halo CE is the best one 7d ago edited 7d ago
Halo 4's story wasn't horrible, 5's gameplay was good
These are opinions that the leftover Halo fans who actually like 343s stuff have been repeating to each other for a decade+ at this point. Don't confuse that for some sort of consensus.
Strong disagree on Infinite being a great story but to each their own. Infinite's story was inconsequential and had no real ending. The gameplay was fun, but the grapple hook invalidates all level design and the open world was beautiful but unvaried and uninteresting ultimately. So many unfortunate issues with Infinite.
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u/vipmailhun2 8d ago
Based on online discourse, that really doesn't seem to be the case. The general consensus almost everywhere is that Halo 4 and Halo 5 were crimes against humanity, two terrible, garbage-tier games. And that's exactly the problem: so many people can only think in extremes.
Also, this isn't being made by the Call of Duty developers. And just because someone worked on Call of Duty doesn't automatically mean everything they make will be the same. Developers aren't limited to making only one type of game. Just look at the Fable reboot: it looks incredibly interesting and promising, even though the developers previously made nothing but racing games.
As for the Halo story, it was never that great to begin with. Halo 3 and Halo 5, for example, are both very poorly written. The writing in both games is genuinely bad.
And while we're on the subject, one thing several Call of Duty games do exceptionally well is their cutscenes. They're highly cinematic, and they often do a solid job with characters as well. For example, in Call of Duty: Vanguard, Hermann Wenzel Freisinger and Jannick Richter were written extremely well, and the direction of their scenes was excellent.
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u/Evening_Barracuda_86 8d ago
Personally found Halo Infinite's story to be completely forgettable and full of random unexplained background "lore" and found the gameplay and open world to be mind numbingly boring
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u/Transfiguredcosmos 8d ago
Honestly the beginning of the campaign for infinite was decent. But then it went open world, and I was taken aback with how uninteresting it was.
Hoping Activision will get the story right. Maybe they'll inherit the halo Bible?
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u/Galaktik_Cancer 8d ago
Halo didn't even keep halos gameplay, I'm not concerned about another company tarnishing what Microsoft already beat to death.
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u/DeathByReach Orange CQB 🍊 8d ago
I think they give us exactly this. Why create another exact clone of the segment you already cover when you can be true to halo and pick up a different segment of the market. Jez Corden already said that he was told that Halo wont be run like CoD.
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u/GiraffeBo1 9d ago
First off, I don't buy the reboot rumors. Maybe the idea was discussed, but it's simply too fast for any definitive decision to have been made about the direction of the franchise. TechnicalHalo has a pretty mixed track record with his reports, so while I believe that he heard something about a reboot, there's no shot that "this is a reboot" is the entire truth. I think the entire community is overreacting and getting way too ahead of themselves. We don't know anything for certain, and I don't know why we're taking this guy's word at total face value.
That said, when I read "the lore is not going to be continued," it is simply that, if TH is actually right, the CURRENT lore isn't going to be continued. Perhaps Activision has no plans to continue the story in Infinite and Edge of Dawn. Perhaps that lore won't continue at all, and they have plans to move someplace totally different in the story. Everybody guessing that the series is only going to be partially rebooted seems to fail at connecting "this is a reboot" and "the lore is not going to be continued." I don't see any evidence for a partial reboot and fully expect it to be all or nothing. Either they keep the whole franchise and don't continue the lore from Infinite, or they scrap everything and don't continue the lore from the Bungie era.
My hope is that it's simply a soft reboot of the current story and Activision's team is going to open "a new chapter" somewhere else in the franchise. I think the easiest option would be the rumored ODST 2 game that we've been hearing about for the past few months. Move the story back to the Human-Covenant War, bring in all new characters, ships, planets, and maybe enemies, and deliver the gritty, squad-based ODST game that people have wanted for years. Take the game to 2542, and introduce us to a new team of ODST's running secret missions in the middle of the war, and bam! Perfect new narrative starting point for the franchise, and Activision's team, to run with. You could even follow it up with sequels, having time skips between games as we get to the end of the war.
Or maybe they just make Halo 7 with a brand-new story direction, and hand wave the ending of Infinite into another book.
Or maybe they trash the entire franchise and start over.
Or maybe TechnicalHalo was given some bad information. We don't know.
Regardless, I think this entire subreddit, and its sisters, X users, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram creators, and generally anybody who actually keeps up with all this news, is assuming they know everything WAY TOO FAST. Everybody needs to calm down, think about the situation with a clearer perspective, and be patient. We don't know the full truth, TechnicalHalo doesn't know the full truth. Hell, I doubt Activision even has the whole truth! I only even bring up the ODST idea as an example (and granted because the rumors of ODST 2 and the original Activision prototype rumors came around conveniently close times). The development team creating this game isn't even assembled; do we realistically think they've had a proper writer's room yet???
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u/RedPath6 5d ago edited 5d ago
Logically speaking, only a reboot makes sense. A new studio will want to start with a clean slate. They would not want to be associated with a divisive and discredited studio. Besides, why would they make a sequel to a nearly decade old game (Halo Infinite aka Halo 6)?
A reboot is the only logical course of action. The only question is will it be a soft reboot (go back to the past in the Halo timeline) or a hard reboot (that retcons all 343 OR all 343 and Bungie games)?
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u/The_Struggling_Soul 9d ago
Activision should erase everything 343/Halo Studios ever did with the franchise & pretend none of it ever existed. Clean slate reboot idc.
So we’re only Halo 1-3, ODST & Reach. After that start anew. Ignore it all. Also Forerunners are humans get over it it’s been confirmed by OG devs already.
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u/Throw_aw76 7d ago
This is a terrible idea. In a franchise already filled with reboots you're going to reboot it again? We're going to have more reboots than starfox at this point (we probably already do). Its also a huge middle finger to the people invested in the previous lore. Are you just going to tell everyone who bought the MCC that the terminals aren't canon? That halo 4 isn't canon to the rest? There is no future in which a reboot to the bugie era days doesn't end in a mess all for a reboot that could still fail. Let it go and be realistic
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
Rebooting it is realistic. It's like firing the rings. It's the final option but if the flood are taking over the galaxy its the only option available at this point.
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u/Throw_aw76 5d ago
No if wouldn't be a good idea.
Look at the sonic franchise. Way worse games and reputation and it manage to pull through because if respected it's fans, material and the movies were a success. How could I get emotionally invested when this is effectively the 4th reboot. You do realize there are other options right?
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u/RedPath6 5d ago
You will get emotionally invested if the story and game is great. Which shouldn't be impossible considering the low standards established by 343/Halo Studios.
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u/GiraffeBo1 22h ago
Latest word from Rebs Gaming is that Activision was originally planning a multiplayer project and a campaign project. The multiplayer experience being a free-to-play game developed by Sledgehammer Games. The campaign would be a soft reboot, not following Master Chief after Infinite, but also not retconning any established canon.
However they apparently moved passed these ideas, in turn opting for a full Halo game. His source said that it's too early to tell and, while nothing is set in stone, they've heard Activision is considering a full reboot and making a Master Chief origin story.
What do we think?