What a "spiritual reboot" might mean...

Games Halo Infinite
1

So naturally, after the new video I, like many of you, have been scouring the internet for new information on Halo Infinite. One of my favourite past times post e3 too keep the hype train going for me is watching breakdown videos, watching other people analyse the little bits we’ve been given an hopefully glean more information from it. This year however, I’ve found myself becoming slightly annoyed when watching them, as it seems some people don’t really get this whole "spiritual reboot’ business, or of course I’m not getting it…

Two things in particular with the new trailer that people keep bringing up is the design of the pilot’s uniform and the pelican interior, and how “the pelican looks more like the older D77 model from the Bungie games as opposed to the post-war D79 model from the 343 games” or that “the UNSC logo on the pilot’s shoulder is from the Bungie games and not the post-war logo from the 343 games” and that this must mean that “they’re using old tech from the Covenant war, for speculative reason X, Y and Z” and I say… maybe your over-analysing this?

343 have said that Halo Infinite is a “spiritual reboot” of the franchise, which I think is just their way of saying a soft reboot. A soft reboot can be a number of things, like a complete restart for the continuity as seen in 2009’s Star Trek, where due to time travel shenanigans: the original continuity (or “Prime Universe”) is still kept in tact, it still happened and can continue to happen, as shown with the presence of the time traveling “prime” Spock. However, we now have a new continuity where we can start fresh and do different things with the characters. This is of course is not what’s happening with Halo Infinite. What I think is more likely the case is something akin to the new revamped Bethesda published Doom and Wolfenstein franchises, where the events of old games are referred to and referenced as things that have happened within the lore, sometimes with major or minor retcons. The art-style may be different, the thematic focus of the story may be different, the way the game plays may be different, what’s important is that the developers have tried to give the series a new and fresh look and feel, one that may not necessarily reflect the series past and may be a major departure from what’s been previously established. This is what I think has happened with Halo Infinite.

343 have listened to the complaints that the art-style and music of their entires into the franchise have felt different and “not Halo” and they’ve tried to fix that, redesigning everything so that it looks and feels like it was designed with Bungie’s design principles in mind. The music wonderfully recreates motifs from the original trilogy, bringing back themes we’ve not heard since 343 took over with their original games. 343 have also listened to the complaints about Halo 5’s story and how it was handled, and I think just from the characterisation shown with our pilot, they’ve made a damn good effort to fix the issues with the writing.

While of course Halo Infinite will be continuing off the story set up in Halo 5, but due to the nature of a soft reboot the narrative focus may be completely different, just like the art-style is. So what if the “old” UNSC logo is not the old UNSC logo, and the post-war logo from Halo 4 & 5 has just been retconned out of existence? What if the pelican is a D79 and they’v just retconned it to follow on form the design of a D77? To think that because it looks different or more like what we’ve seen in previous games must have some sort of story implication I feel is to completely ignore the idea of the series being a “spiritual reboot.”

That’s my hot take on the situation, I hope you found it a good read, please discuss why I may be completely wrong! (or right!)

2

So you’re saying that “spiritual reboot” means one massive retcon? I disagree. That would cause a lot of confusion and would probably crush a lot of lore focused peoples hearts. I think that a better way to change it back without doing a retcon is move the time forward (as they have; 3 years from Halo 5), then give us a reason for why, say, Master Chief needs older looking armor (because GEN 1 offered greater overall protection as opposed to GEN 2). “Spiritual reboot” doesn’t mean they’re cutting off the path they built with 4/5, but that they’re kicking the path back in the right direction while still acknowledging 4/5’s direction as part of the series.

It would do 343 a lot better to just move the game forward in time and give us reasons for older equipment (which some of it is technically new) than retcon a ton of stuff for no reason. What good would it do to say Halo 4/5’s Chief has the same armor as Infinite’s when you can go back and play the game and literally see that it’s not the same, then realize that 4/5’s representation aren’t canon? It’s a waste of time to retcon.

3

God, if they could retcon 4 and 5, AND those God awful Karen Travis books, I’d be the happiest man alive.

You know they’ve done something wrong when Halo 5 sells fewer copies than the original Halo CE release.

4

I could see them using the older things from the previous games with the reason that “this stuff is not as high on the guardian’s radar.” As opposed to their new technology, sort of like mass effect

> 2533274833925215;3:
> God, if they could retcon 4 and 5, AND those God awful Karen Travis books, I’d be the happiest man alive.
>
> You know they’ve done something wrong when Halo 5 sells fewer copies than the original Halo CE release.

They actually did sort of retcon her books, at least the claims that sangheili were fools without the san shyuum. Broken Circle in 2015 did show they are capable of doing things on their own. As for the Halsey hate…maybe not .

5

> 2533274833925215;3:
> God, if they could retcon 4 and 5, AND those God awful Karen Travis books, I’d be the happiest man alive.
>
> You know they’ve done something wrong when Halo 5 sells fewer copies than the original Halo CE release.

Halo 4 has some of the best writing in the series, IMO. It’s up there with Halo 2. I wish they would just retcon Halo 5 and try to continue the story Halo 4 set up. Abandon the whole “Evil Cortana” premise and just bring back the Didact!

6

I highly doubt they’ll just retcon Halo 4 and Halo 5. A lot of fans enjoyed Halo 4’s story, and to just brush Halo 5’s story under the rug would be lazy. Infinite should try and repair Halo 5’s story, as well as tell it’s own, seeing as it’s a sequel.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was a spiritual reboot of the AC franchise. So it’ll be akin to that, but for Halo.

7

I agree. A “spiritual reboot” for sure means a soft reboot. I doubt it’ll be as severe as Doom and Wolfenstein considering it is a direct sequel. However, the time jump, art style, and et cetera definitely means it WILL feel different compared to H4 and 5.

8

To me it means taking delicate measures to ensure the reboot feels like Halo, sounds like Halo, plays like Halo, delving (searching for a spirit) in the past (Original trilogy) to shape a better game.

9

Ever heard of “soft reboots” in movies?
A soft reboot is a sequel that resets the story in a way that maintains the current continuity. For example, Jurassic World, X-men: Days of Future Past and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are all considered soft reboots. They redirect the story down a path other than where the story had gone to make it feel fresh again or as a callback to the beginning of the story (and what drew people in to begin with).
I believe a spiritual reboot would be along the same lines except that, with a video game, there is more than just the story being effected. A spiritual reboot is likely the same as a soft reboot but with gameplay that will receive a similar reset, again, as a callback to the original and/or to bring something fresh to the table.

10

It’s just the cutting of multiple plot threads that aren’t working and/or can’t possibly all be explored in a single game.

11

I honestly feel this trailer is not much more than a “red haring” , possibly a tone piece at best.
Here me out.
First , the “new character” is simply a vessel for you to relate with , stranded in the middle of no where , out of gas , (in this case very likely going to die from lack of food , water , or oxygen) , when some one you never expect shows up and helps out.
Second , we know that more and more companies are going to start using The Marvel Method ™ to create hype for their product with out ever showing you any thing that actually happens in the product. (The Russo brothers specifically created the trailers for “Endgame” using mostly cut footage to throw off the predictive side of modern internet audiences).
We know for a fact 343 uses this method just by looking at the advertising campaigns for both Halo 4 and 5. Hunt the truth led us to believe Halo 4 would be very different from the games we had played before (and it was, but not in the way Hunt made it seem) , and Halo 5 had the Desert/Guardian teaser and the confrontation ads that never came to be more than that.

With all of that said , I truly believe 343 just gave us a very promising tone piece. We know we are going back to Halo , we know Chief should be himself and not some super emotional version ,we know (?) the classic art style is returning* , we know the Chief \ Cortana schism will end. Maybe some confirmation Blue team will still be represented if not playable is about the only thing more I could have asked for.

*Classic art style - My brother and I were discussing this earlier today , and we hit on the concept of…The first trailer showed (at least what appears to me) to be the Mark V helmet. In this trailer we see what I think is the Mark VI from Halo 2 and 3. Could we possibly be seeing an evolution of Chiefs armor in the Infinite engine , so that when we see the current armors in the Infinite engine , we will be able to see the obvious evolution to our current gen 2 Spartan 4 armor? Just a side note I thought was worth mentioning.

After seeing another forum post that says a higher up at 343 said this is the opening cinematic (at least part of it) , I guess my post is completely wrong. All I have left to say is Wow. WTF 343.

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> 2533274847627340;11:
> We know for a fact 343 uses this method just by looking at the advertising campaigns for both Halo 4 and 5. Hunt the truth led us to believe Halo 4 would be very different from the games we had played before (and it was, but not in the way Hunt made it seem) , and Halo 5 had the Desert/Guardian teaser and the confrontation ads that never came to be more than that.

Hunt the Truth was a Halo 5 marketing campaign, not Halo 4.

And for anyone who has not listened to Hunt the Truth (Parts One and Two), whatever you think of Halo 5, I highly recommend giving it a listen. It’s a brilliant piece of Halo lore with some very high quality voice acting. ★★★★★