Highlights

  • Halo franchise has had ups and downs, with Halo 5: Guardians being a step back. Halo Infinite aims to bring it all back together.
  • Mantic is partnering with 343 Industries to create a tabletop game that allows players to control Spartan miniatures in a multiplayer battle.
  • The addition of Halo Wars-themed cosmetics in Halo Infinite has led to a resurgence of interest in the Halo Wars game, hinting at a desire for more Halo strategy games.

It's been a rough decade for the Halo franchise. After delivering on a near-perfect swansong with Halo Reach, Bungie handed the Halo reins over to 343 Industries, a fairly inexperienced but passionate studio that tried its very best to deliver a Halo sequel that fans wanted. While it had its issues, Halo 4 was a solid next step for the franchise, though the subsequently released Halo 5: Guardians felt like a major step back, and the most recent release, Halo Infinite feels like it's doing both at the same time.

343 Industries' tenure with the Halo franchise has been a bit of a mixed bag so far, but it's currently trying desperately to bring it all back together. From adding mountains of new content to Halo Infinite to finally getting the Paramount+ Halo show back on a more fan-friendly track, the Halo franchise is slowly but surely piecing itself back together bit by bit, though there's still a Halo Wars-sized hole in the franchise that needs to be filled, and one upcoming 2024 Halo project might pave the way towards that.

Master Chief over Mass Effect 3 screenshot-1
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Halo's Upcoming Tabletop Game Proves It's The Right Time for Halo Wars 3

Halo's Upcoming Tabletop Game Explained

Back on January 5, 2024, the UK-based tabletop games studio Mantic announced a partnership with 343 Industries and confirmed that a Halo tabletop game was in the works. Set for release in September 2024, this yet-to-be-titled Halo tabletop game will see players control Spartan miniatures on a tabletop, apparently simulating a multiplayer battle from the Sci-Fi franchise. While there are virtually no other details on this Halo tabletop game right now, it seems as though it's in safe hands, with Mantic having produced a slew of popular miniature tabletop games already.

Mantic's game isn't the first Halo tabletop game that's been released, with the most prevalent being 2016's Halo: Ground Command , a miniatures game mostly centered around the Fall of Reach.

The Halo Franchise Still Has Plenty of Room for Strategy

At its heart, the Halo franchise revolves around a grand conflict, whether it's the UNSC versus the Covenant or the UNSC versus the Banished. While the player is often only a small part of that grand conflict, many Halo games will tease these large-scale battles, letting the player take down hulking Scarabs while a fierce aerial battle rages on in the sky above.

But while many Halo games give the illusion that fans are playing a key role in this grand conflict, Halo Wars makes that the entire point of its existence, putting the player directly in control of a large-scale UNSC or Covenant army, and tasking them with defeating their opponent's forces at any cost. While it may not be the most complex real-time strategy game, Halo Wars delivers a compelling campaign, a ton of unique units, plenty of fan service, and a streamlined gameplay structure that makes it one of the best starter RTS games around, even 15 years after its initial release.

While the strategy genre isn't everyone's cup of tea, Halo Wars' simplified rules and gameplay loop made things fun for all fans regardless of their skill level, and for a franchise that centers itself around a galaxy-wide conflict, the strategy genre is a natural fit. With Mantic's Halo tabletop game coming later this year, there's never been a better time for Halo Wars 3.

Halo Wars Has Just Seen a Resurgence Thanks to Halo Infinite

If Mantic's upcoming Halo tabletop game didn't prove that there's a desire for more Halo strategy games, then a recent Halo Infinite content drop just might. At the end of January, 343 Industries added several Halo Wars-themed cosmetics to Halo Infinite. Just following this, the number of active players for the Steam version of Halo Wars: Definitive Edition did increase by a fair amount, going from a peak of just 250-300 daily users in January to around 450-500 in February. While there isn't a huge rise in player count, it does still suggest that Halo Infinite has brought Halo Wars back into the public consciousness, at least a little.