Let’s be honest: as silly or trivial as it seems, Easter eggs and collectibles (Halo 2/3 skulls that you can use as a weapon- hint hint, terminals, secret weapons a la Halo 5) are a fundamental part of what makes exploration in Halo so rewarding. It gives the world a sense of reason to explore, and with a universe and community as expansive as Halo, these rewards can range from the cryptic and mysterious (the Eld, Halo 3’s terminals, hidden music cues in CE) to downright hilarious and fun to find (Jason Jones, the monkey family, the Scarab Gun, the RvB Easter eggs).
I’m going to do my best to try and explain the Easter eggs, references, nods to lore, skulls, collectibles, and all that good stuff I’d want to see in Halo Infinite. I’ll divide them by category, starting with:
SKULLS
It’s practically guaranteed that Halo Infinite will have skulls that you have to collect, which is a good thing, and frankly one of the few things I’ll praise Halo 5 for. But, that said, I still feel like skulls in 5 were slightly off the mark. You can’t pick them up and use them as a melee weapon, and that’s where a lot of charm came from. The question remains though- how many missions will Halo infinite have? Will there be more missions than skulls, or about the same, or fewer?
That said, these are the following skulls we all know will most likely return.
IRON
TILT
BLACK EYE
FAMINE
MYTHIC
TOUGH LUCK
CATCH
CLOUD
IWHBYD
GRUNT BIRTHDAY PARTY
BLIND
COWBELL
In addition to these, I think 343 should take some of their skulls from the Anniversary games. Nothing like Scarab or anything, but something to have a bit of fun with after collecting the skulls. (Those marked with * will have achievements, scoring, and par time disabled)
SWARM
SPUTNIK*
BOOM
BANDANNA*
SO…ANGRY
THAT’S JUST…WRONG
GRUNT FUNERAL
That’s all the skulls I could reasonably expect to be added to Infinite, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I mainly just expect the standard 13 and as long as they’re all there I’m good.
COLLECTIBLES- Secret Weapons
This one is obviously a lot more subjective, but hear me out on this. The weapon variants in Halo 5, aside from their association with the REQ system (something I’ve addressed in another post so I won’t rant here on it), have gotten a lot of love from the community, and rightfully so I believe. I think Halo Infinite should absolutely bring this back, and this time around, I know exactly what secret guns I want to see.
M6D PDW- Halo CE Pistol
Because this guy deserves to be held by the Chief on a Halo ring once again.
BR55 Battle Rifle- Halo 2 BR
Come on. You know why. And you want it as badly as I do.
Nornfang- Linda’s Sniper Rifle
Contrary to what it may seem to the average person, the SRS99 series of snipers are actually anti-material weapons- meaning anti-vehicle and anti-armor. The weapon was initially based on the Denel NTW-20, which functions both in anti-armor and anti-personnel roles. Given the rounds it uses are…massive (they put fifties to shame) they can be stuffed with all kinds goodies. Like explosives. Hence, why Nornfang- has explosive rounds. And this is cool. You need this in campaign. I rest my case.
Oathsworn- Kelly’s Shotgun
More homage to Blue team. Has a really sick-looking pattern and could give a speed boost upon recovery.
Twin Jewels Of Maethrillian- Modified Binary Rifle
A nice reference to the Forerunner capital of Maethrillian. Could also be useful in a mission with long sight lines.
Beam Rifle Delta- Advanced Halo 2 Beam Rifle
It shoots deadly accurate black holes and has a swirling vortex in the blamite cylinder. Black. Holes. Looks like Hawking’s work paid dividends in the Covenant foundries. I loved using this thing.
Prophet’s Bane- The Arbiter’s Energy Sword
Please, pay tribute to the Arbiter with this weapon. I WANT IT
Blood of Suban- Needle Rifle/Carbine Hybrid
A nod to Halo Reach, with the reliability and accuracy of a Carbine.
I could definitely add more, but I want you all to add your favorites to the list. But for now, next topic.
TERMINALS, LOGS, AND CODEX
This is something I’m divided on. I know a lot of people really like the animated terminals, but personally, I never cared for them outside of the Anniversary games, and after the atrocity that was “The Fall of Reach” animation we got instead of proper terminals in Halo 5 I’m not looking forward to their return. All I ask, if these are in here, please, please make them good. At least give us text-based terminals alongside the videos. They’re not as expensive to produce, and they have a lot more potential to be cryptic, vague, and interesting. I know the lore community would greatly appreciate it.
Now, on the topic of a “codex” (a term I’m using due to Bioware’s Mass Effect), I want to make something clear- a codex should be supplementary. Nothing should be missing from the story if you choose not to read it. Not everyone likes reading codex. So, for codex, what would I want?
Well, I think I would have it go a bit like this. I’m just going to use a generic title for it for ease of reference, so let’s just call this section “Recovered Intel” or “Intel” for brevity. Intel would be unlocked in many ways- encountering new enemy types, picking up weapons, finding data pads (like Halo 5), completing objectives/missions, and more. This Intel would give you stuff like the history of a species, or the function of a weapon, the significance of a location, the backstory of a character (this could be excellent for characters new to the games but firmly established in the canon), as well as other things.
Is a codex essential to Halo Infinite being a good game? Not really. Would it help if done right? Absolutely.
EASTER EGGS
The possibilities are infinite. No, literally. This is such an open-ended question that I have no idea where I would even begin. I’d naturally want the funny dialogue back (Halo 5 to be fair, had it a bit with the Covenant and Swords of Sangheilios) and with the return of marines to the spotlight, I’d LOVE to see Chips Dubbo or GYSGT Stacker in action again. Employee and community references NEED to happen. But on top of that, I want to see lore eggs as well. Stuff like The Eld, cave carvings referencing the Palace of Pain and the events of Primordium, stuff referencing spartans lost along the way (please, we need a Samuel egg).
But, like I said, this is all INCREDIBLY open ended. And with that, talk to me. Tell me what little extra goodies you want to see put in Halo Infinite. We all have the little things we find in each campaign that make us happy, and those things, I think, are just as important to a complete Halo experience.
Peace lads, drop your golden ideas in this thread✌️
