Halo desperately needs to be rebooted

Digital Trends

02-07-2025

2026 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Halo franchise, a milestone very few franchises hit without some major stumbles along the way. Halo is no exception here. The original title was the definition of a system seller for the original Xbox, and was a massive leap in proving that FPS games could work on consoles. Halo 2 set the bar for online play, and Halo 3 pushed things further with Forge and comprehensive gameplay recording and sharing. From a narrative perspective, the first three games appealed to the more casual fan who just wanted some aliens to shoot or to jump into some online deathmatches while also hinting at a deep well of mysteries in the wider universe.
Between the current state of the narrative and the declining relevance the series has been experiencing with controversial and lackluster releases since changing hands from Bungie to 343 Industries (now Halo Studios), Halo is carrying too much baggage. A reboot would give this series a fresh start and a chance to reclaim its former glory.
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Back to basics
Besides the solid gunplay, addictive multiplayer, and striking visual identity, Halo was tied together by a simple but compelling narrative of a super soldier fighting against a covenant of religious aliens bent on humanity's extinction. Master Chief was all but a complete self-insert for the player, speaking in short but direct bursts when called for, while leaving the narrative heavy lifting to characters like Cortana. For the first three games, the plot itself was always straightforward enough: survive and escape Halo, stop the Covenant from activating Halo, and don't let the Flood escape.
At least, it was a simple story on the surface. Halo's early games were so strong because they gave the player specific and understandable goals, but left breadcrumbs about so much more to be curious about. What really are the Halos? Who made them and why? Where did the Flood come from? It made sense that most of those big mysteries would be unanswered in the Chief's never-ending fight, which opened the door for other media to expand the universe.
I have no issue with supplemental media exploring parts of a game's world and lore that wouldn't fit nicely into the games themselves. That's how the Halo novels began, detailing things like how Spartan IIs like Master Chief were made and the first battles between humanity and the Covenant, but it wasn't long before the novels were integrating themselves directly into the games' canon. Once the books and comics start filling in the gaps of what happened between games, introducing new plot elements that would impact future games, and even detailing the fate of important characters, people like me who only focused on the games start to feel alienated. It doesn't feel good to jump from Halo 4 to 5 and realize the game is expecting me to have read a couple of novels and comics to understand what's going on.
That was what pushed me away from the series after 4, and seeing the news of the newest novel being a direct sequel to Halo Infinite, I know there's no way I can reinvest myself in the story. When playing all the Halo games in order isn't enough to give me all I need to understand what's going on, something has gone terribly wrong. There's nothing wrong with telling new stories in the Halo universe through comics, spinoffs, books, and TV shows, but not at the cost of approachability. It also puts Halo Studios in a corner creatively. It is forced to adhere to decades worth of lore, most of it created by other teams.
I view the decision to change from 343 Industries to Halo Studios as an attempt to give this entire Halo experiment a fresh start — to shed away all the bloat and baggage that has come before. In line with that, I want Halo to go back to square one. Reboot the series back to only the most essential elements built on rock-solid FPS gameplay. Halo Studios has announced that it will be sharing information on what it is working on next at the HaloWC 2025 this October, and it is heavily rumored to be a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved. I understand the safety in a remake, but it doesn't solve the core problem the series is suffering from. It can be called a remake to capitalize on the nostalgia and goodwill the original still has, but I hope the game subverts those expectations. Don't take the time to go back to the start only to go down the same path.
I know reboots can be a dirty word at times, but the tangled mess that is the Halo lore is precisely when a reboot is called for.