25 years after we first went crazy, Halo is having an identity crisis

The Halo the franchise has its ups and downs, but it's hard to feel like it's at its peak right now. The once iconic franchise and FPS leader has taken a back seat in mainstream gaming, but more than that, mainstream culture, and that's a devastating blow because Halo has the potential to remain a pillar of the industry.

For many fans, it is Halo the decline began when Bungie abandoned the franchise. The developer who created the first three Halo games side by side Halo 3: THE EPISODE and Halo: Achieveseparate from Microsoft and its exclusivity and published Fatea game that, while not perfect, was a natural evolution of the studio's vision at the time. Meantime, Halo The IP was entrusted to 343 Industries, a development team created by Xbox specifically for the post-Bungie franchise manager. While 343 would add value Halo in its original entries, especially mechanically, it is widely believed that the new studio struggled to capture and develop the vision and character of the IP, diminishing the franchise's impact and appeal over time. But why exactly? Halo follow the trajectory it did, and how is 343 Industries, recently renamed Halo Studios, going to get it out of the mud?

Why was Halo so weird in the first place

It may not seem so revolutionary today, but Halo: Combat EvolvedThe single-player campaign was a revelation when it first welcomed the world in 2001. For some perspective, some of the greatest first-person shooters released before the first Halo they were Golden eye 007, Perfect darkness, Turkand DOOM 64—these were the experiences audiences at the time expected from the genre. Make no mistake, these games and others are still strange and impressive in their own right, but Halo took things to another level.

The fight developedThe shooting mechanics are completely different from current shooters, including pods Halo banner: core mechanics like sprints and ADS are nowhere to be found (with a few exceptions), cover is only occasionally useful in battles, and the weapons players use barely match real-world weapons. If anything, the first Halo was less a rebirth of the 90s shooter mechanics and more a refinement of them. Halo's game, even today, is remarkably responsive, versatile, expressive, and open-ended, never locking players into just one optimal playstyle.

more than this The fight developedThe campaign was captivating and cinematic in a way that few other games of the time were. Bungie hasn't exactly approached the campaign like a movie, but it's clear that a lot of thought has been put into pacing, atmosphere and drama, to the point where the story feels immersive and well-organized, with twists and turns and new ideas communicated with casual flair. This is something future Bungie games would improve on Hello 2 and Hello 3 especially with some of the most memorable and amazing installments in gaming history.

It is worth noting the impact which Halo games, especially Hello 2 and Hello 3had multiplayer on the online console. These games were instrumental in building the early Xbox Live community, paving the way for the post-2000 online shooter boom.

Pros and cons of recent Halo games

Bungie naturally casts a long shadow, and Halo Studios is having a hard time getting out of it. But I've always felt that players can be too hard on the novelty Halo at times a guardian who doesn't recognize or appreciate the value the studio has added to the franchise since the takeover. On the one hand, modern shooting mechanics Halo the games are much improved compared to their predecessors, p Halo Infinite with arguably the best shootout of the series. And for better or worse, 343 Industries/Halo Studios experimented with it Halo formula over the years, whether it was that Halo Infinite in an open world or by adding more traversal options Halo 5. It would be easy to just try and make it Hello 3 again, so it's respectable that 343/Halo Studios tried to do new things.

At the same time, however, these new ideas were not enough to sustain Halo at the forefront of the field. By adding mechanics like sprint and ADS, Halo he slowly became too similar to something similar Call of Dutyand as a result has lost some of its original gaming identity. This agreement extends to other aspects of modernity Halo as well as his storyboard, set design, and overall campaign structure. Perhaps the most overwhelming, newer Halo the games feel rudderless from a narrative perspective, new lore and character concepts are introduced only to be forgotten by the next entry. Storytelling is for Haloand it often seems like 343/Halo Studios weren't confident enough in this regard, regularly abandoning the ideas they created.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the decision to revamp the campaign Halo: Combat Evolved. This is probably the opposite of what Halo Studios should be doing now: Halo it needs new ideas that work, not rehashes of old ones. Generally speaking, audiences want Halo to re-excite them and remake one part of a classic game – a game that is already more than playable through Master Chief Collection – I probably won't.

To be fair to The fight developed remake, has the potential to create a whole new audience of fans with a PS5 release, and starting PlayStation users with the original game in the series makes sense.

How can Halo regain its former glory

It's easy to watch Halowhen we look at so many other classic franchises written off and think all hope is lost. I'll be the first to admit that I've felt pessimistic about the franchise for years now, and I've often wondered how much time is left. But then I think about what recently Halo the games are fine and I feel a renewed sense of optimism. Halo Studios just needs to focus on its strengths, like physics-based combat, and less on unnecessary or unnatural gimmicks like the ever-frustrating Battle Pass system. Halo Infinite. Most importantly, Halo Studios needs to renew its vision Halo narrative, rather than just reacting to what they think the audience wants. That might even mean leaving Master Chief for good this time.

And even if the future Halo games don't quite reach the heights of their predecessors, it's not the end of the world. There may still be room Halo as a rolling legacy franchise with some underwhelming entries, some good, and a few fantastic. Maybe it will be the next fantastic one Halo is closer than we think.