So I am just doing my second playthrough of Infinite and had a little time to think about it. I don’t think this soft reboot just extends to them writing the Prometheans out of the story. It’s changed the games approach to story telling and world building. I think the backlash to Halo 5 means the sort of games we get will be in line with Halo Wars 2; which is going to bring a host of issues long term.
- Small universe:
We aren’t leaving Zeta Halo. They’ve very consciously removed Zeta Halo from the wider universe like they did with The Ark. It’s a playground where they can do these adventures free of any consequences. Since Infinite is the story of Zeta Halo that means we’re here for ten years. We might get visitors but we aren’t planet hopping like were in Halo 5. We probably aren’t going to Earth. This means it’s not going to feel like a lived in Universe because you’re stuck in one location that’s incredibly separate from the wider Halo universe.
- Small stakes:
Now there’s some big talk on the Endless. There’s big talk of the Banished just as there was with Atriox in Halo Wars 2. But, if it never leaves the ring then that’s going to feel like a flash in the pan. There won’t be narrative tension if every evil scheme gets foiled in the same location. Whereas in Halo 5 they have the villain actually win in a big way and do things like destroy the Storm Covenant which changes the story and world. So they might bring the Flood in but it’ll just be the standard lock them up again or blow the ring up. If the Flood never get to Earth or any settled planets then there’s a clear ceiling being set for how far they want to take the story; like they did in Halo Wars 2.
- Vague and cryptic world building:
In Halo 5 they very clearly establish the scale of the threat posed by the Guardians. They conquer the galaxy and they take Earth. This leaves you wondering what’s going to happen. Which is a creative risk compared to Halo Wars 2 where Atriox might have got a Halo ring and that’s bad because reasons. Basically nothing happens and nothing changes. In Halo Wars 2 we are told that the Banished with a handful of ships represent this colossal threat to humanity. Which makes no sense and no context is provided to support this. Are we just talking about this specific situation or are you saying Banished more powerful than Arbiter and UNSC combined? However I think the retconning and hand waving means they will be deliberately vague on this until enough time passes that they can get away with “specifics”. I am not expecting any real answers on Earth or the State of the Galaxy because our characters aren’t really asking those questions. Our attention is being focused on this immediate crisis.
- What Logic Plague?:
Now if your fans were emphatic about hating the whole AI turning evil thing because “that’s not Halo”. Then this plot line is off the cards. Doesn’t matter if we meet Offensive Bias. Doesn’t even matter if it’s mentioned. They won’t pick this up as an actual plot line. If you’re going to go to the extreme of killing off an AI rebellion sub plot then you’re not going to go straight back into the Flood corrupting humanities AI. This has very serious implication for the Weapons story. Let’s assume the Gravemind comes back and somehow gets the Weapon. It will be extremely obvious they aren’t going to go through with her succumbing to the Logic Plague because you retconned a previously evil Cortana. So there won’t be any narrative tension here and how far would they go? If people didn’t like the Guardians conquering the galaxy then I assume Mendicant Bias returning as an evil AI would also be off the cards as well. So Offensive is probably just a goodie helping you on your mission.
Halo Wars 2 is absolutely not a perfect story to emulate to the letter. There’s a lot of problems with having a completely self contained crisis where the evil villains scheme gets foiled every week. If we’re stuck on Zeta Halo and we beat the Banished, then we beat the Endless, then we beat the Flood without anyone in the Galaxy even being aware of it; I dunno. Even Doom has Earth invaded to raise the stakes.