A Halo action RPG has so much potential that it needs to happen

[FarSightXR-20]

Halo Infinite | UNSC Archives - Unspoken

343 Industries released a new piece of marketing for Halo Infinite, part of the USNC Archives that contain “the untold stories of humanity and heroism behind the Master Chief”.

And I just love the vibe. I love the storytelling, the atmosphere, the presentation, the emphasis on the reality of the war and the unknown heroes (something that Halo: ODST also did with great success).

And I can’t help thinking that it’s a missed opportunity to not to expand the Halo franchise with an Action RPG, similarly to the Mass Effect trilogy and Star Wars: KOTOR I & II (emphasis on storytelling, dialogues, slower pace, etc. I don’t know about choices though because of the canon). Could also be Action-Adventure.

I identified 2 periods in the timeline that I think would be a great fit:

THE BLOODING YEARS AND THE POST-WAR RESURGENCE

The period after the events of Halo 3 and the post-Covenant War conflicts (especially the Treaty period and the Blooding Years) would offer a great setting: unsteady peace and high tensions (see Operation: SUNSPEAR), political intrigues and multiple factions facing each other (the Swords of Sanghelios, the remnants of the Covenant, the ONI, the Insurrectionists…).

Halo 3 ending : the war is over and the Master Chief is presumed dead.

I remember how this war started – what your kind did to mine. I can’t forgive you. But… you have my thanks, for standing by him to the end.

This would allow the player to explore Sanghelios during the civil war and some other alien worlds after the Human-Covenant war.

(Credits: Halo 5 / 343 Industries)

Add in the mix that the savior of humanity is supposed to be dead, the Sangheili-Jiralhanae war and the resurgences of the insurrectionist movements (and the fact that some of the surviving Outer colonies decided to cut all ties with the UNSC as they felt abandonned by Earth during the war) and you have a lot of interesting potential storylines to explore.

Also, remember how great #HUNTtheTRUTH was ?

Hunt the Truth, propaganda

THE HUMAN-COVENANT WAR

The Human-Covenant war could also be an interesting setting, although more complicated because the galaxy was basically in a state of total and holy war.

There wouldn’t be much dialogue possible with the Covenant species (even if we know that there was some sort of uneasy truce between some Insurrectionists and some Kig-Yar with the blessing of the Prophet of Truth, see Halo: The Cole Protocol).

Credits: Halo Reach / Bungie

I guess this setting would offer less possibilities in terms of dialogues and interactions on the alien side. But this would also be the best setting to emphasize on the grim reality of the war on the human side, like the Massacre of the Outer Colonies and the Siege of the Inner Colonies, the food riots (because of the loss of the agriculture worlds), the Insurrection, the propaganda VS the reality, the shady practices of the ONI, the general feeling of helplessness against an invincible enemy (something that Halo Reach also touched in some ways), all these things…

Credits: Halo Reach / Bungie

Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood

ONI in Halo 2: Anniversary terminal

Obviously, such things would require a huge amount of work and great writers (especially since story must remains easy to understand even if you don’t know about the lore). And most important, a developer willing and capable of handling this.

But Halo is one of the biggest franchises in video games and there is so much potential with that universe. I will be sad if Halo doesn’t get its RPG someday.

[DARK-PARADISE]

Mass Effect style Halo cinematic RPG? I’ve been thinking of that lately actually.

[outrigued]

Obsidian and 343 teaming up to make a first-person Halo RPG seems neat to me.

I still hope we see Microsoft acquire Turtle Rock and turn them loose on a Flood-Halo B4B game.

[Mort]

It would be soo good. They have “hidden” so much lore as far away from the games as they can, but it’s really a very fleshed out, interesting, epic universe that would be an amazing fit for a proper ARPG saga.

[Biggzy (Hassan)]

There is indeed so much untapped potential to tell other stories within the Halo universe through the medium of games. Halo has one of the most fleshed out universes in gaming what with the countless books and all that it really is a case of an all you can eat buffet that should be explored more with games.

[PsyDec]

I’ve always loved the idea of specialised Spartans, which is part of the reason I liked reach so much.

An original story featuring a create-your-own Spartan with full skill trees, stealth, melee and ranges combat would be so cool.

Maybe it could canonically be about the newest line of Spartans (IV) or even a new (experimental) type with Spartan V’s allowing for advanced combat abilities that couldn’t be done in a mainstream Halo game.

[Mort]

@PsyDec

I’ve always loved the idea of specialised Spartans, which is part of the reason I liked reach so much.

An original story featuring a create-your-own Spartan with full skill trees, stealth, melee and ranges combat would be so cool.

Maybe it could canonically be about the newest line of Spartans (IV) or even a new (experimental) type with Spartan V’s allowing for advanced combat abilities that couldn’t be done in a mainstream Halo game.

This! It would be glorious.

[BlackheartVinyl]

Nioh but starring the Arbiter.

[andrew_schmidt (HaloGaming08)]

love that idea

[Ironfistchinmi]

I agree that they should make an RPG adventure, but for me, I’d like it set during the 10,000 year war, in the time of the Forerunners, Ancient Humans, etc.

[Zappy5]

I’ve often thought about this and I see the logic. I also see a fairly big problem. If you are trying to reach beyond the Halo playerbase then do people really care about the obscure Halo lore enough to be drawn in? And if the barrier to playing Halo for those people has been the type of game it is then are they now 20 years later going to be interested? Secondly the Halo playerbase will have a large audience who aren’t interested in an RPG. Which means I worry such a game would only appeal to the existing Halo fans who also want to see an RPG game set in the universe. Which may not be a huge chunk of people to be honest.

Personally I would be completely up for this but I do think the above issues are quite significant.

[Stefrah]

I think it could work well if given its own identity. Halo fans would know it was in the Halo world, but give it its own name.

I think things like Halo: Spartan Assualt and Halo: Wars suffer somewhat from being viewed as throwaway spin offs.

I haven’t read any of the books or got into the deeper lore, but from what I understand it is pretty expansive and a massive resource. Creating a massive RPG within that world would be a good use of the material.

[FarSightXR-20]

@Zappy5

I’ve often thought about this and I see the logic. I also see a fairly big problem. If you are trying to reach beyond the Halo playerbase then do people really care about the obscure Halo lore enough to be drawn in? And if the barrier to playing Halo for those people has been the type of game it is then are they now 20 years later going to be interested? Secondly the Halo playerbase will have a large audience who aren’t interested in an RPG. Which means I worry such a game would only appeal to the existing Halo fans who also want to see an RPG game set in the universe. Which may not be a huge chunk of people to be honest.

Personally I would be completely up for this but I do think the above issues are quite significant.

I see what you mean but I think that having the Halo IP makes it less risky than a new IP (as long as the game is great of course, not a catastrophe like Mass Effect Andromeda).

For example, we know that RTS on consoles aren’t doing hot anymore (I think that Halo Wars 2 was the last one released ?). Would have it done better or worse if it was a new IP instead of Halo ? (I think Halo Wars 2 did great considering the state of the Xbox One and Halo at that moment + no Game Pass, no Steam).

Personally, I think the fact it was using the Halo brand helped the game (and even more for the first game). Same for Tom Clancy’s Endwar or The Lord of the Rings : the Battle for the Middle-Earth II.

Or even the Star Wars: KOTOR games. What if BioWare didn’t use the Star Wars IP and universe ? They used a new IP with Jade Empire and if I recall correctly it didn’t set the charts on fire (sadly).

I’m saying a Halo RPG but it also could be an adventure game. Or a TPS (Mass Effect games were a mix of all these genres I would say).

Also, it’s all about marketing and building excitment and this is an area that Halo is very good at in my opinion.

[FarSightXR-20]

@Ironfistchinmi

I agree that they should make an RPG adventure, but for me, I’d like it set during the 10,000 year war, in the time of the Forerunners, Ancient Humans, etc.

Would be great but I think that the Forerunner timeline is too obscure for it to be a game. It helps having the UNSC, the Covenant (or the Arbiter), the Spartans, familiar elements and familiar faces, etc.

[Ruthwik_Rao]

Halo and Gears as IPs are massively underutilized, and hamstrung by their age and how narrow their identity is to their respective fanbases, it’s sad that there isn’t a flood horror game, a Gears horror game, a galactic scale Forerunner vs Flood Plague Inc. style management game, a Halo RPG, a Grunt Musou game (ok this is too much lmao).

[Zappy5]

@FarSightXR-20

…t was a new IP instead of Halo ? (I think Halo Wars 2 did great considering the state of the Xbox One and Halo at that moment + no Game Pass, no Steam). Personally, I think the fact it was using the Halo brand helped the game (and even more for the first game). Same for Tom Clancy’s Endwar or The Lord of the Rings : the Battle for the Middle-Earth II. Or even the Star Wars: KOTOR games. What if BioWare didn’t use the Star Wars IP and universe ? They used a new IP with Jade Empire and if I recall correctly it didn’t set the charts on fire (sadly). I’m saying a Halo RPG but it also could be an adventure game. Or a TPS (Mass Effect games were a mix of all these genres I would say). Also, it’s all about marketing and building excitment and this is an area that Halo is very good at in my opinion.

Yeah I guess the risk is diluting the Halo brand and IP too far.

Halo Wars is a good way to think about it, except I’d say that is a niche title that obviously appeals to the lack of RTS games on console - and Halo is a good fit for it, but its not ever expecting to find a large audience.

[No-1HoloLens-Fan]

To much first person RPG at this point

Something for TPS pls

[Mort]

@No-1HoloLens-Fan

To much first person RPG at this point

Something for TPS pls

Yes, in my head it would be like Mass Effect.

[Ruthwik_Rao]

there’s still a loooooot of games before Halo becomes any diluted as an IP.

If you said Mario is diluted I’d agree more but even then that IP is doing insanely well across genres.

[No-1HoloLens-Fan]

@Mort

Yes, in my head it would be like Mass Effect.

Even choice of switching between first and third mode would be great

I like exploration in third person but gun play in first person