Halo 5: Guardians promises to contain the biggest and most ambitious single-player campaign in the franchise’s history. If 343 Industries is to be believed, it’s also going to rip your heart out, Reach style. Better keep some tissues handy.
On Day One of E3, we caught up with Tim Longo and Josh Holmes, Halo 5’s creative director and 343’s head of internal development, respectively. According to Tim and Josh, the game’s storyline is going to take gamers on a gut-wrenching journey to rival Halo Reach.
To our minds, this can only mean one thing: you will get to know and respect your squad mates. Those squad mates will then die in tragic and/or heroic circumstances as the orchestral soundtrack wistfully bids them adieu.
The duo hinted that this was indeed the case when we asked whether the single-player campaign would be as emotional as the 2010 Halo prequel. (Spoiler: Everybody died, including the player-controlled character.) In response, they both laughed in a manner that came across as slightly evil.
“We have a lot of surprises in the campaign when it comes to that side of things and we’ve tried hard to instill those kind of emotions,” Longo said. “That’s really been a big goal for us.”
In fact, the campaign is so harrowing that it made several team members cry during development, including Josh Holmes. (Tim totally grassed him up.)
“There’s a part in the game where I have teared up,” Holmes admitted. “And I have subsequently been ridiculed for it.”
“People get really devoted to these characters and when you see them go through crazy situations, I think that’s a natural thing that’s going to happen,” Longo added. “And that’s exactly what we want — it helps to make the game memorable.”
With two playable protagonists in the game (Master Chief and Spartan Locke), it’s a pretty safe bet that at least one of them is going to get straight-up killed by game’s end. Good.
If there’s one thing we hate in video game storytelling, it’s evil getting trounced with zero sacrifice from the good guys. If the 300 Spartans had proved victorious, nobody would give a shit. Kill ’em all, I say.
Halo 5: Guardians launches on Xbox One on October 27. Naturally, it will also come with a corking multiplayer mode which you can read all about here.
Kotaku attended E3 in LA as a guest of Microsoft.
Comments
36 responses to “Spoiler: Halo 5’s Campaign Will Probably Make You Cry”
The campain can be Wunderbar, but no splitscreen or local lan play = no buy for me.
Corking multiplayer isn’t corking when you can’t play in the same room.
I think people really need to move on from couch co op yes I do agree it’s fun but that’s not the times we are living in anymore
I would disagree for the most part, especially for consoles… The entire purpose of my consoles is so 2-4 people can grab a controller and have fun… My wife would never have experienced (and loved) the past four Halo games if it wasn’t for me dragging her through them… It’s something we’ve been able to do together and taking that away… Makes me sad
Edit I should say that agree the times have changed, but I don’t agree people should move on necessarily…
Bang on the money I plates through all of the original gears of war franchise is couch co op with my girlfriend. If it wasn’t for that she never would have become a gamer.
Only problem is developers want to kill lans off
*dons rose tinted glasses*
No! I don’t wanna 😛
Agreed and the fact that (at least some) online services charge to play is just rubbing salt in the wound
I’ve played Halo alongside people in the same room (splitscreen and LAN) and with people on the Internet. Local wins hands down for me.
It’s sad if we’re not living in those times, because they were good times, and there’s no real reason they should be disappearing.
I do agree with this your exactly right. But it’s getting to the stage where we can’t hold onto the past 🙁 it’s slipping like sand in our fingers
because talking to people in person is so 20th century…
Going only on the very evidence that you’re still invested enough in the franchise to read and comment on every article: I still don’t believe you 😀
What if it comes out and it’s 9’s and 10’s all round – “Halo at it’s best” etc etc etc, your resolve will break completely like MCCs first six months of multiplayer.
I don’t have much interest in the xbone or its lame exclusives so far, but I’ve always said that Halo 5 is probably the title that will force me to buy one. And it’s exactly what you said: investment in the franchise.
I keep reading hoping that there will be a backlash and splitscreen will re-appear on the dev notes.
Don’t believe me? I returned my XB1 and MCC after that debacle, and went back to the 360.
Thought I might pickup an XB1 Halo5 bundle, but nope. Won’t be doing that either. The reviews are irrelevant, Halo is something I play with other people, I don’t have a LIVE account, and don’t play online, both due to shitty internet and to just not enjoying the online vibe, so I won’t be breaking.
I thought MCC worked fine for local play and all the issues were with online matchmaking?
I’m in the opposite boat, I have no friends (sniff), so online is all I can enjoy. Which unfortunately means I miss out on local co-op only titles like TowerFall.
If you stick to your guns I salute you. But if you do give in, I will cast no shame. Remember: “The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which break in a storm”.
^ I’ve played MCC with friends for countless hours, and have never once had any of the issues with it, because all of the issues that ARE with it are for ONLINE multiplayer. Not local. So yeah, similar boat to you @puck.
Emotions!
Press X to Master Chief.
Something something Handker Chief.
Will it make me cry because of how buggy and unplayable it will be at launch?
Holy crap the haters are out today.
Anyway, I don’t know about Reach being “sad” at all. I think some of the deaths seemed ridiculous like the guy refusing the leave a Pelican or “I will take my helmet off solely for the purposes of getting shot”. Halo 4 on the other hand had me depressed for days…
lol that helmet one projected itself from a friggin mile away didn’t it? But there were some badass ones, like old mate up in space with his minigun lol
+1 for being depressed after halo 4
Extra spoiler!
No they didn’t one survived!Correct! Well played sir.
If the music is like the “Never Forget” track, it’s a guarantee for me to feel all emotional.
God I love that piece of music.
The Master Chief can’t die. It won’t be canon if he does. I don’t give a shit who has to be begged, bribed or framed to make sure, but it won’t. Be. Canon. It is Known.
And dammit, I’m going to be very upset if Buck dies. Oh god. That’s what it is, isn’t it.
I doubt it.
You start the game with 8 spartans. John, Kelly, Linda, Fred, Locke, Buck, Tanaka, and the other one. Add to that The Arbiter, and whomever he brings along.
Games gotta end with a fireteam of 4, right? So, it’ll be John, Locke, Buck, and the Arbiter.
They’re totally going to kill Blue Team. Bastards.*That moment when it doesn’t end like that* :'(
He’ll won’t die!
(He’ll just go MIA)
Oh no! They’re going to kill Cortana!
…wait.
THPOILERTH!
She’s coming back. That’s what Master Chief’s quest is. I swear it. SHE WILL BE BACK AND THEY WILL BE TOGETHER JUST LIKE IN MY FANFIC.Also she will be human.
Yes! Or a hybrid. Reverse Composer-tech! GLEE.
Thinkaboutit! She merged with the Composer program to control the exploding facility to transport John to safety! She was temporarily One with the Composer!
Cortana = Spartan?!Of course! A ‘combat skin’… with or without a body? But what would that mean?
I need to start drawing some notes up. Gotta get these CONNECTIONS down!
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/01/11
Sorry that spot is reserved for MGSV
I probably shouldn’t have clicked on the article, as I haven’t liked a Halo game since 2, but I wish there was a Halo game in existence that interests me. The only thing that will convince me to buy an XB1 is Silent Hills if MS ever do anything great with it.
I haven’t seen the appeal of Halo for a very long time. I remember accidentally buying the Korean version of Halo 3 from Playasia years ago and upon discovering there was no english audio, I was left to “attempt” to enjoy only the gameplay….But without the story or anything else to really absorb I was left feeling painfully bored.
The original Halo I played on PC and loved playing online, but then shortly after all the screaming kids suddenly popped up. That’s when LAN/splitscreen became useful. So sad it’s going the way of the dodo. I don’t play any game online nowadays, I just despise all the screaming kids and “tough guys” who think a video game = serious business. Last time I enjoyed a game online was Ghost Recon AW when the 360 was released. Had a great group of people. But since then, I’ll only play Bloodborne/Dark Souls online, since there’s no audio + co-op. No interest in PVP.
It seems like developers tell people what to enjoy and they oblige. I don’t understand how people enjoy running around in CoD and shooting each other over and over and over for hours on end.
From memory, Halo PC (Both Combat Evolved & Custom Edition) never featured VOIP. So when you say screaming kids, I assume you mean kids that rage in the text box with capitals and multiple exclamation marks?
Human nature. We all want to be better than someone else at something and shooting games are what a huge majority of gamers like. Adding onto that, it’s competitive. It’s not that Developers are telling us what to enjoy, it’s that the market is *there*.
“If there’s one thing we hate in video game storytelling, it’s evil getting trounced with zero sacrifice”
Actually there is one more thing…the idea that you had a kill count numbering in the thousands by the end of the game, but somehow your death is “emotional”