Many had been looking forward to seeing Halo Infinite at the Xbox Games Showcase as the series is undoubtedly one of the most beloved Xbox franchises. Despite some fans not enjoying the Halo Infinite gameplay, a lot of fans are looking forward to shooting through aliens as Master Chief in a more open-world. The story also looked epic and the stakes are as high as ever with human existence on the line, and as a result, players have begun to theorize about how peripheral characters may have a larger role in the actual game.
The Halo franchise began in 2001 and introduced thrilling first-person shooting mechanics and was quickly a favorite of Xbox fans. The series continued to grow and with that, the story became more complex. As a result, the AI character Cortana became a great tool for exposition and emotional motivation as Master Chief is largely quiet. That relationship was severed in Halo 5 and there is now a character role that is up for grabs. This vacant role has led some players believe the pilot will take on this part.
Game industry insider and YouTuber, Alanah Pearce, posted a video that theorized that the pilot would be the character that gives the human element to the Master Chief story. This position will need filling for certain story elements to work and Pearce also provided some additional insight. Pearce stated after speaking to developers that the pilot is, "supposed to be a very important character" and that does mean that they could be the right-hand man of Master Chief. With that said, this video was speculative and there could be several character twists in the upcoming Halo Infinite.
It has been suggested that Halo Infinite should have a 10-year shelf-life and if this is the case then the game will likely be a sprawling epic that has additional content provided. With that in mind, there may be twists in terms of character allegiances and how the open-world works. Furthermore, because this seems to be a significant departure from an episodic first-person shooter, many of the story elements and character traits that players are familiar with may be changed or disappear.
An open-world Halo will undoubtedly bring changes to the franchise and that does raise the risk of alienating fans. However, it is clear that Halo has a huge fanbase, and if Infinite does manage to strike a balance between innovation and traditional gameplay it may be one of the biggest games of this year.
Halo Infinite releases Holiday 2020 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.