Dear 343,
I am writing to you because I have just finished the Master Chief Collection on Xbox One. It has been close to ten years since I started up my child hood favorite game. I don’t understand how such an amazing game could have been faded in my memories. This past weekend of October 14th -16th of 2017 has brought back some of the most intense nostalgia of my 22 years of life. As silly as that may sound, seeing as some would say “it’s just a video game”; however Halo for many is more than that, you and Bungie both know that.
343, I am writing to you because I want to share with you some of my most favored memories that Halo has brought me.
You see, when I was in third grade, back in 2006 I had a kid in my class named Henry. Henry and I were never super good friend however, one day him and I were hanging out at his parents house and he had to show me this new game that his dad had just bought and how it was the greatest game ever created. “There is this weapon that shoots needles into the aliens eyes!” Is what Henry said trying to describe the Needler to me. To this very day every time I pick up that weapon with those pink spikes I hear that sentence repeat in my head. After playing Halo at a very young age I had become obsessed. Every weekend was spent finding a way that I could go back to Henry’s house to play Halo. Henry and I’s friendship didn’t last very long so it was not until later that I was able to ever complete the campaign.
In 4th grade, circa 2007, I had wished so badly that the Covenant would swoop down to earth so I could fight them along side Master Chief, however at the time I thought Master Cheif’s name was “Halo” and proceeded to put that as my name tag on my desk, demanding my teacher call me “Halo”. I chuckle and cringe every time I think of me saying, “My name isn’t Josh it’s Halo.”
Anyways, I had a friend that had just bought Halo 2 when I moved onto fifth grade, 2008 ish, I played the very first level and was amazed that you could dual wield SMG’s and was amused by the “klackaklacka” they made as you bust through an Elite’s energy shield. I had that same feeling of enjoyment this weekend, as I was playing the remastered version you created for us that made an even sweeter sound than that of the original.
As I entered middle school I met a boy named John who is to this day one of my best friends. I like to think we were able to bond and grow so close as we battled the flood and the covenant side by side in Halo 3. Halo 3 was the first Halo that I could comprehend small amounts of the miraculously beautiful story of Halo, and became a bit Jealous that John shared the same name as the man behind the helmet, and that I was always player 2 and was the arbiter instead of Chief. John’s family had lots of money, meaning we were able to spend more hours than I can count staring in awe at their 72 inch TV screen. But what is so amazing with Halo is that it looks and feels just as good on the little 12” screen that was in my younger brother and I’s room.
Speaking of my brother, I actually shed a tear or two last night reminiscing on the memory of my brother and I playing through Halo ODST in the early hours of the morning with the volume down as low as possible; knowing that if Dad caught us that we wouldn’t be seeing the xbox for weeks. I live in Texas now, were as my little brother is still in Wyoming where I grew up. Thanks to Xbox Live him and I are able to play on rare occasions across the country, however it is nothing compared to being bellied down with elbows blistered from the carpet after playing Halo all night long. Might I add 343, I’m not one for shedding water out of my tear glands. It was all thanks to completing the remastered versions of Halo 1, 2, and 3.
343, I am writing to you because, not but 30 minutes ago, I finished the campaign of Halo 4, a Halo I have never played until yesterday, never even seen gameplay before, never even looked at, until yesterday. Upon the ending of every Halo campaign I completed this weekend, there was a form of sadness, in my heart. Like the loss of a friend or loved one. I had to fill it with charging into the next game.
I just purchased Halo 5, moments after watching Chief’s armor come off his body for the first time ever. Again, my heart sunk and the emptiness of losing a close relative crept into my chest and sat down with the weight of a scorpion tank, and just when I thought my heart couldn’t shrivel any more I looked up and saw a message on my screen from you. It went along the lines of “Thank you for entrusting us with your favorited game Halo.” granted it was more heartfelt than what I was able to just scrounge up, it was heartfelt enough for me to tear up as I read it, just like I am now thinking about what your message was to us, the community, as well as the ending of my childhood memories.
As I sat on my couch, deleting all my other games to make room on my Xbox for Halo 5 to have room to download, I sat in sadness. Wishing I could erase my memory and play it all over again.
343, I have never seen gameplay of your game Halo 5, I have never seen pictures aside from the cover of the case, I have never played it. I know of few things, that you don’t get to play as Master Chief as much as I would to have liked to, which I am not complaining about I appreciate what you all are doing and look forward to seeing what the new main character has in store for myself and the rest of the world as his journey continues. I did have to do one small bit of research, and that research was to make sure my beloved childhood friend Master Chief would still be there at the end.
343, I know that you are planning more for Halo, and I am so thankful that someone took up Halo with the loving arms that you have. I am thankful that you are keeping the universe of Halo alive. However, I know this is so much to ask for but it is so important to me, and I am sure so many more gamers, that in the future of Halo; please do not kill of one of my oldest and most memorable child hood friends, Sierra 117, John, Master Chief. For if you kill him part of me dies, part of us as the community dies. He is the face of Halo, he is what made Halo into what it is today, and what it will be in the future, and largely the leading face of FPS for lots of people. Please 343, please if your plan is to make him disappear, let him disappear in one his typical Sierra 117 ways, waiting for someone else to take up the franchise once you are done with it, someone like myself, or the child that is playing your games now that wishes just like I did. If you kill him off it will be hard for us to reintroduce him later on.
I know that is so much to ask for seeing as how the story, design, plot, and all other teams are already set and ready to go for how this new Halo game will end, however if I could have one wish from you, if the community could have one wish from you, it would be not to let our hero die. Please.
And I promise, that in the future, when you are all done with Halo, I will buy the franchise from you, and carry on what you, 343 Industries, and Bungie have so beautifully mastered. That is a large promise I know, and one of our dear friends might say, “Don’t make a girl a promise, that you can’t keep.”, to which the only reply is, “I’ll always be there when you need.”
I have a son coming soon, I look forward to cherishing the story of the UNSC, Doctor Halsey, Cortana, and our friend, Master Chief.