The latest trailer for Microsoft’s Halo 5: Guardians, which is undoubtedly one of the most eagerly awaited games of the year, has a grim tone. It is set in 2560, and in it a woman in military uniform announces to the world that the Master Chief is dead. And not only this, but clearly a new threat for humanity is on the horizon. “We must end this. Not by ended by it”, she says.
And this is a threat that humanity apparently must conquer without Spartan John-117, better known as the “Master Chief”, who is certainly one of the most iconic video game characters in history, together with Nintendo’s Mario and Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft. The super-soldier in the green armour has been battling the evil Covenant aliens ever since the first Halo game debuted in 2001, and the series has consistently offered some of the best first-person action on consoles to date.
The series has also attracted top-notch talent like Canadian model Tricia Helfer (who did voice work for Halo 3: ODST). And while the game’s action has always been superb, the surprisingly emotional history of Halo 4 (in which key character Cortana played a major role) was certainly a highlight.
This time though, it appears that the Master Chief is gone for good, buried under a ton of rubble at the end of this latest TV spot. Although earlier trailers for Halo 5, as well as Microsoft’s “Hunt the Truth” audio series, seem to suggest that there is a massive conspiracy behind all this, especially an earlier ad that featured bounty hunter Locke (who will be a playable character in this latest Halo game), who accuses the Master Chief of being a traitor and responsible for Earth’s ruin.
In the end though, the game’s plot will have to provide answers: will this truly be the Master Chief’s swan song? Will Agent Locke and his Team Osiris hunt down the super-soldier and deliver him to justice as a traitor?
But whatever Halo’s story has in store for gamers, it is clear that this is certainly one of developer’s 343 Industries most ambitious games to date, as Halo 5 will take advantage of the graphical power of Microsoft’s Xbox One to offer much bigger environments and enemies than previous games, as Halo 5 lead Josh Holmes stated in an interview with GameSpot.
And if one thing is clear, is that Halo 5: Guardians looks like it could be the series’ best game to date, and Halo fans will certainly be looking forward to the game’s release come this October.
Note: Halo 5: Guardians will be released on October 27, 2015. It will be available on Xbox One.