I posted this on Reddit, but thought this might be interesting to post here too.
Halo ODST Escape
The main problem with a Halo Battle Royale:
Most suggested scenarios mean that the idea of a Halo BR needs to take place in the past to justify Human vs Human fighting during the Insurrection period, or having the whole thing as a new, non-canonical war games simulation like in Halo 4 MP.
I believe I have found a part within the Halo timeline where not only would a BR scenario work, the canon allows it to fit in almost seamlessly. This would cover the timeline during the events of Halo CE from when Alpha Base has been established.
Pretext:
Halo First Strike established a small number of survivors on a Pelican dropship within Alpha Halo’s debris field. In addition to Sgt Johnson and the ONI Agent Haverson, is a traumatised ODST Corporal Locklear and Pelican Pilot Sheila Polaski. My suggestion is that canonically, Locklear is the lone survivor of the “Battle Royale” and Polaski is the pilot that extracted him.
The Pillar of Autumn, among the other crew, housed 400 ODSTs, 63 lifepods (of which I think 8 are accounted for, and each can hold 10 crew), and 216 ODST Drop Pods.
Story:
The remaining ODSTs on the PoA dropped hot onto the ring just before impact, being scattered over a large plateau. This would be akin to the “Battle Bus” flying over an area, players pick when to drop, and can roughly steer for landing and deploy the parachutes for impact.
Just like in Halo 3 ODST, the impact of the drop pods knock the ODSTs out (just to allow some time to have passed story wise). The gameplay of the Battle Royale follows the timeline of events through Halo CE and all the associated external media of that timeline.
Upon “awakening” (initial landing), Major Silva communicates through for everyone to rendezvous at the established Alpha Base, and that any remaining forces will be extracted and brought back. This is phase one. The player vs player fighting does not happen in phase one, and is equivalent to the time duration before the “ring” comes in. Instead, players can work together against waves and waves of Covenant AI at high difficulty, trying to find weapons and survive (like Halo 5 Warzone, or Firefight).
After a few minutes phase 2 begins. This aligns with a communication that an unknown enemy has attacked Alpha Base (Flood), and that extraction has been aborted. The “ring” begins to fall in, and is accompanied with a panicked marine communication that they’re being attacked by their own, that the “gas” is turning people crazy and that you can’t trust anyone, that everyone is a threat. In actuality, the gas is a slow release of flood spores into the areas, accompanied by infection forms that would kill and infect you in you strayed into the “gas” zone. After the marine communications, player vs player combat is enabled as the paranoia sets into the isolated ODSTs.
As the first ring closes in, phase three begins. Here, Major Silva communicates that they’re going to invade The Truth and Reconciliation (seen in the distance of the map), commandeer it, and extract the remaining forces and to hold tight. After the second ring, a large explosion is seen from TTaR, and a dead silence fills the radio (from when Mackay destroyed that ship). Pelican Pilot Sheila Polaski begins speaking over the radio, calling for any survivors on the ring. It is interjected by Carol Rawley, Foehammer, who says she is headed towards the downed PoA to extract the Master Chief and Cortana, and that she wishes her well, Fireteam Raven call to say they’re pinned down, and good luck.
Polaski then comments that she can see a lot of commotion within the area, and that she’s coming to extract the remaining players, leading towards the final circle of the game. Players would fight until one person remains, and then be extracted by Polaski, who has failed to see all the ODST vs ODST infighting, and is similar to the end of the level 343 Guilty Spark. The surviving player would canonically be Locklear, which would explain his PTSD and traumatisation in First Strike. When the player gets on the pelican (end game), a short cutscene triggers, with Sgt Johnson and Haverson greeting Locklear. Polaski is notified that the PoA is about to explode, and flies out of atmosphere.
Team games could allow deployment in the Bumblebee escape pods instead, and all team players land together with the team leader being the pilot. The end cutscene would alter slightly, with the highest place team member being Locklear, and Johnson noticing your losing teammates are infected, shooting them and saving Locklear’s life.
Gameplay Mechanics:
This Battle Royale combines elements from MP, Warzone, Firefight and Infection. Dead players can wait and be turned into flood when the ring passes over them, and then be allowed back in to take out the other players. Covenant forces remain active throughout the whole game, but lessen after the initial ring. Scattered marine squads can also be found. They have additional dropships, fortified locations etc. Covenant can also be infected. The late game becomes ODST vs Marines vs Covenant vs Flood vs Sentinels.
The health system returns for gameplay as ODSTs do not have shields. Instead they have their stamina acting as regenerating armour, and Biofoam as health replenishing items, and for reviving downed squad members. Weapons, ammo, and even vehicles can be found by random spawns from destroyed lifepods. I do not believe a shop system would work in this context, I believe in the defined Halo idea that the better man wins in firefights, and as such would be relatively barebones survival. However, all suggestions are welcome!
Map Design:
There could be flexibility in the map and allow for multiple maps of varying environments and designs, as we are never told the area where Locklear was extracted from (as far as i am aware). Each map would have unique parts about it, but I am not a map designer, so I digress. I believe that a “Battle Royale” of this type would work for lobbies and map sizes of 64 unique players, or say 16 squads of 4, especially when combining with AI enemies.
What do people think of the idea, or at least the story idea underlying it?
Thanks for reading!