I’m finding the marketing for Halo 5: Guardians really intriguing right now. They’re successfully pulling a bait and switch on us, but it happens to still be really satisfying for us. This is what I mean: When they put out the first Halo 4 teaser and story details in 2011, we had a pretty good idea of the premise - the Master Chief, adrift on the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, stumbles upon Requiem, a Forerunner Shield World. From those details alone, it was pretty easy to guess the bigger picture of the story - what was happening on a larger scale of conflict. In the following year, it became even more obvious when 343 Industries teased the Didact in the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Terminals and that E3 2012 Halo 4 trailer (“I have long dreamt of this day, Reclaimer” - I still wish the Didact had dialogue more like this in-game). It was pretty clear: the Master Chief was going to be shipwrecked on Requiem, the Didact was somehow going to awaken, and the two titans were going to have to do battle. That was the bigger picture, clear enough as early as Fall 2011 if you had the foresight to see it.
What they’re doing with Halo 5: Guardians is so radically different. We are five months out from launch and we still haven’t the slightest clue about the bigger picture, beyond some very vague hints. We’ve heard about things “shifting” out in “deep space” and we know from the brief Halo 5: Guardians plot summary that colony worlds are being attacked by something. We know that the Master Chief considers the Didact merely “contained” after The Next 72 Hours arc of Halo: Escalation and that the Covenant has Dr. Halsey and the Janus Key in their possession. We also know that the Master Chief has gone AWOL (and it’s been recently revealed that Blue Team went with him) and ONI has sent Spartan Locke to seek him out. Have you guys noticed that all of the bones they’re throwing us have to do with a central mystery: Where is the Master Chief and why has he gone AWOL? The cover art for the game emphasizes the two Spartan teams, Spartan Locke’s team and Blue Team, displayed centrally against each other. The press release describes what’s going to happen between the two teams as a “Spartan showdown”. The #HuntTheTruth campaign casts serious doubt on Master Chief’s character.
There is a barely-there huge Forerunner machine out on the horizon. It’s the same one present in the 2013 Halo on Xbox One teaser and in holograph form aboard a Swords of Sanghelios ship in the Halo 2: Anniversary bookend cutscenes. This machine is clearly going to be somehow significant as a central plot element, perhaps even the game’s villain. It’s impossible to say at this point. As for setting: The backgrounds for a lot of this imagery depict something distinctly alien - some are proposing Sanghelios and I would be excited to agree with them. But we don’t know anything about any of this. They’ve given us practically nothing about the bigger Halo 5: Guardians plot. They’ve distracted us with this foil of the ultimate Spartan showdown and they’ve successfully minimized and distracted us from asking about what is actually going to happen in the game’s Campaign.
It was easy enough to see that Halo: Combat Evolved was about the Master Chief’s journey on the giant ringworld. It was easy enough to see in the Halo 2 marketing that that game was about the Master Chief protecting humanity’s homeworld from the Covenant. It was easy enough to see from the Halo 3 marketing that that game would focus on the Ark. I’ve already talked about Halo 4. So what is the bigger picture for Halo 5: Guardians? Am I simply thinking too much about it? Is the game’s story really going to primarily be about Spartan Locke’s team of Spartans hunting down Blue Team? Is that the central plot premise? Or is there going to be a bigger conflict going on? What do you guys think of how the marketing campaign has successfully distracted us from asking these bigger picture questions?
I think 343 have a big twist planned halfway through that won’t be revealed or even teased at till the game is out and we play it. Like bungie had with the flood in CE
It’s curious that 343i is not give any information about the Didact or the Prometheans (after Halo Escalation)…obviously one of the plots of the campaign will be Locke hunting Chief but…where is the Didact? For me was the best villain in Halo universe and I think he is going to have an important role in Halo 5 Guardians.
I noticed this as well, you put it eloquently in this post. My only response, is that we may possibly get another tidbit come E3, but we still know nothing about the campaign. Nice post!
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> It’s curious that 343i is not give any information about the Didact or the Prometheans (after Halo Escalation)…obviously one of the plots of the campaign will be Locke hunting Chief but…where is the Didact? For me was the best villain in Halo universe and I think he is going to have an important role in Halo 5 Guardians.
Yeah, this is mainly what I’m wondering about. Will Halo 5: Guardians have us fighting the same Promethean machines? What will be the context of that? How will the Didact, now Composed, be involved? How will the Covenant, Dr. Halsey, and the Janus Key be involved?
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> > It’s curious that 343i is not give any information about the Didact or the Prometheans (after Halo Escalation)…obviously one of the plots of the campaign will be Locke hunting Chief but…where is the Didact? For me was the best villain in Halo universe and I think he is going to have an important role in Halo 5 Guardians.
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> Yeah, this is mainly what I’m wondering about. Will Halo 5: Guardians have us fighting the same Promethean machines? What will be the context of that? How will the Didact, now Composed, be involved? How will the Covenant, Dr. Halsey, and the Janus Key be involved?
I’m curious, would you want campaign gamepaly at E3 this year, or would you want them to keep the rest of the story a surprise besides what they reveal in the viral marketing stuff?
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> > > It’s curious that 343i is not give any information about the Didact or the Prometheans (after Halo Escalation)…obviously one of the plots of the campaign will be Locke hunting Chief but…where is the Didact? For me was the best villain in Halo universe and I think he is going to have an important role in Halo 5 Guardians.
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> > Yeah, this is mainly what I’m wondering about. Will Halo 5: Guardians have us fighting the same Promethean machines? What will be the context of that? How will the Didact, now Composed, be involved? How will the Covenant, Dr. Halsey, and the Janus Key be involved?
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> I’m curious, would you want campaign gamepaly at E3 this year, or would you want them to keep the rest of the story a surprise besides what they reveal in the viral marketing stuff?
Well I would like to see some campaing game play but without spoilers of course. Just to see the mechanic of the game! Better keep surprises secrets;)
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> > > > It’s curious that 343i is not give any information about the Didact or the Prometheans (after Halo Escalation)…obviously one of the plots of the campaign will be Locke hunting Chief but…where is the Didact? For me was the best villain in Halo universe and I think he is going to have an important role in Halo 5 Guardians.
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> > > Yeah, this is mainly what I’m wondering about. Will Halo 5: Guardians have us fighting the same Promethean machines? What will be the context of that? How will the Didact, now Composed, be involved? How will the Covenant, Dr. Halsey, and the Janus Key be involved?
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> > I’m curious, would you want campaign gamepaly at E3 this year, or would you want them to keep the rest of the story a surprise besides what they reveal in the viral marketing stuff?
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> Well I would like to see some campaing game play but without spoilers of course. Just to see the mechanic of the game! Better keep surprises secrets;)
Agreed, plot can still remain a secret, but I’d like to see a little gameplay and mechanics.
Alright, now back on topic! (Sorry for derailing your thread.)
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> > > It’s curious that 343i is not give any information about the Didact or the Prometheans (after Halo Escalation)…obviously one of the plots of the campaign will be Locke hunting Chief but…where is the Didact? For me was the best villain in Halo universe and I think he is going to have an important role in Halo 5 Guardians.
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> > Yeah, this is mainly what I’m wondering about. Will Halo 5: Guardians have us fighting the same Promethean machines? What will be the context of that? How will the Didact, now Composed, be involved? How will the Covenant, Dr. Halsey, and the Janus Key be involved?
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> I’m curious, would you want campaign gamepaly at E3 this year, or would you want them to keep the rest of the story a surprise besides what they reveal in the viral marketing stuff?
I want a Campaign reveal at E3.