While Halo 3 famously launched with the tagline “finish the fight,” fans of the franchise may not be looking at an end in sight for the current Halo story any time soon. The Reclaimer Trilogy has been renamed the Reclaimer Saga, indicating that Halo Infinite will not wrap up Master Chief’s story.
The name makes it more likely that Halo Infinite will end with a hook for the next installment in the series. With no end to the story in sight, however, 343 risks making fans less invested in the narrative.
Finishing the Fight
The Reclaimer Trilogy name originally indicated that Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and Halo Infinite would be a second arc to the original Halo trilogy which, like Halo 3, would reach a full conclusion to its main story. While the end of Halo 3 left Master Chief’s story hanging, the ending came as more of a bitter-sweet sacrifice made by the famous player character rather than a plot hook for a subsequent game. The next game was a prequel instead, taking players back to an early part of the war with the Covenant with Halo: Reach while Halo 3 showed the final end to the main conflict present throughout the original trilogy.
The Reclaimer Saga name replacing the Reclaimer Trilogy already sets up Halo Infinite to avoid totally resolving the plot of the last two Halo games. While it is still claimed for now that Infinite will end the Reclaimer Saga, the name change will strike many fans hoping for a clear resolution to the franchise as suspicious. It is likely that 343 Industries has plans to continue the Halo story well into the next-gen, especially since the company is hiring for a new Halo game. The name change makes it likely that Master Chief’s story will not have a bombastic resolution with Infinite, and instead focus on expanding the game into a saga.
The Future of Halo
One of the biggest problems with the renamed saga is that many fans will now likely go into Halo Infinite not expecting an end to the story in the same way they did with Halo 3. Even if Infinite had a more open ending, fans would not necessarily have lowered expectations without the name change and would still likely be more engaged with the story throughout the rest of the game.
Many fans will have been hoping that some major plot threads left hanging in Halo 5 would also be resolved. What will be the final fate of Cortana, who has been in every Halo game with Master Chief so far? How will humanity react to Cortana’s attack on UNSC systems across the galaxy? While it is still very possible that Infinite will resolve Cortana’s story, the resolution could be less satisfying with the knowledge that Master Chief’s story will likely continue without one of the most important characters and personal relationships in the series so far.
It is also still possible that Infinite will wrap up the main story of the Reclaimer Saga while 343 releases stories which are part of the saga but do not affect the main plot, in the same way the Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach ran parallel to the original trilogy. However, the renaming does give Halo fans reasons for concern which will be confirmed one way or another when the came releases.
Halo Infinite is in development for PC, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X/S in 2021.