Seven story beats to remember before starting Halo Infinite

Halo is over 20 years old, and while there’s a lot of lore out there now, Halo Infinite serves as a jumping-on point for both new and lapsed players — Halo’s franchise development director, Frank O’Connor, referred to Halo InfiniteInterview with Polygon. But even so, there are parts of the campaign that will make more sense if you know some light history, or refresh your memory if you’ve been away from the series for a while (or just forgot what happened at the end of Halo 5: Guardians).

Well, we’re here to help. These are the seven story questions that you will need to answer before you can start. Halo Infinite.

[Ed. note: While this article does operate on some assumptions regarding important story beats based on Halo Infinite trailers, it does NOT contain spoilers for Halo Infinite.]

What’s Master Chief’s history?

Master Chief’s history is rather long, so we’re not going to go into all of it here. (Check out our “Everything you need to know about Halo” post if you want the long version.)

Here’s the gist: Master Chief is a human man named John, his code number is 117, and Master Chief is both his rank and nickname. He’s the most famous Spartan — a genetically engineered squad of supersoldiers originally designed by the United Nations Space Command (Earth’s future military) to quell a human insurrection. In the original Halo video game trilogy, he fought a war against an alien group called the Covenant on humanity’s behalf. He won.

John, 6 years old at the time, was kidnapped by military personnel. This was because John was smart and strong for his generation. After being abducted by the military at age 6, he was trained in physical enhancement and became a videogame protagonist in 2000.

He’s 50 years old at the time of Halo Infinite.

Who is Dr. Halsey?”

Dr. Catherine Halsey was the original Spartan-II founder, which led to Master Chief. She’s both a brilliant scientist and a war criminal (you know, for the child abduction and torture). She’s usually pretty grumpy, although she does express some guilt over what she did to John and the others. She’s also the former lover of Captain Jacob Keyes from Halo, Combat EvolvedMiranda Keyes’ mother. Halo 2And Halo 3.

It’s worth noting that Dr. Halsey also created Cortana, the AI with whom Master Chief spends all of his time in the original Halo games. Halsey also modeled Cortana after herself.

Halsey, who is now 69, was born in Halo Infinite.

What is Chief’s importance to Cortana?

Image: 343 Industries/Microsoft Studios

Chief, the Spartan II’s Senior Spartan was responsible for protecting Cortana.

Because he carried her around in his head for so long — through the first two Halo games — the two formed a strong attachment to one another.

At its simplest, they’re best friends. But if you want to look deeper, they’ve shared a headspace for so long that they’re a part of one another — a symbiotic relationship where the eager AI gets to backpack on a body to explore the world and the lonely soldier gets a companion. And while this aspect of their relationship doesn’t really appear in the games, the fact that Cortana is a more open and accessible version of Halsey — arguably a maternal figure for Chief — certainly contributed to their attachment.

So, when Cortana ultimately “dies” in Halo 4And then, he is revived as the villain in Halo 5: Guardians, it’s personally devastating for John. Because Chief is such a loyal soldier, his inability to defend her as he was ordered to does not make sense to him.Combat EvolutionHe is a heavy shopper.

Are we crazy at Cortana, you ask?

Halo 4, Cortana started suffering from “rampancy,” a form of AI malfunction that happens when they gain too much information. Sometimes it causes personality shifts like an urge for violence or power. To prevent AIs such as Cortana from rampant behavior, they are to be disabled after seven years.

Cortana loses control towards the end Halo 4she eventually sacrifices her own life to serve Chief. A small part of her survives and is brought back to power. Halo 5: Guardians.

Cortana is now a rampant savant and has created a faction called The Created. It is basically an AI army that seeks to overthrow the people who made her. At the end of, she arrives on Earth. Halo 5: GuardiansThey are prepared to effectively enslave the entire planet.

That’s the last time we see Cortana in-game before Halo Infinite.

How do the Halo rings work again?

Image: 343 Industries/Xbox Game Studios

Halo rings, weapons worshipped by Covenant. (Remember the alien cult Master chief who fought in the three first games? They were created by the Forerunners, a precursor race. The Forerunners created them to stop the Flood. These parasite-like zombies can infect virtually every living thing. But the Halo rings don’t kill the Flood; they kill Flood food (i.e., every living creature in the galaxy).

Halo Rings often also have other abilities. After activation, the rings can be used to conduct research on species or run experiments. They also have the ability to return life into the universe. Each Halo is different and each has its own functional ecosystem.

Seven Halo Installations are available. Installation 04 is the home of the first Halo game, while Installation 05 hosts the second. Halo InfiniteThis will be on the Zeta Halo.

Who are the Banished & Atriox?

The Banished, a rebel faction within the Covenant, are now extinct from its main religion cult. They don’t follow the Covenant religion, and instead act mostly as a horde of pirates. The Covenant being destroyed, the Banished rose in power and used some Covenant resources to grow their operation.

Atriox, the founder and leader the Banished is Atriox. His Banished and he were the main villains. Halo Wars IIAtriox led Atriox’s army to Zeta Halo just before the beginning of Halo Infinite.

I just played the first hour of Halo Infinite’s campaign and I still don’t understand what the hell is happening. Help???

Halo Infinite starts in medias res, meaning there’s already a story going on before the player takes control of Master Chief. To be clear, the story we’re referring to here is a new story, so even players who are all caught up on their Halo history will still be confused. That’s by design.

Be patient — the game will make more sense over time.