WMG / Halo Infinite

Prerelease Theories

Halo Infinite will be a free-to-play multiplayer shooter.

One of the biggest clues is that it'll have a Windows 10 release on launch. The other clue is that the press briefing stage had around 50 Xbox One X's ready to play something, but Microsoft might have decided not to show off gameplay since they'd have been mocked for introducing yet another Battle Royale game, this time with Halo.

• Jossed with regard to the Battle Royale aspects, at least for now...
• Semi-confirmed: the multiplayer will be free-to-play, but there's still a classic single-player campaign.

Halo Infinite will be a launch title for the next Microsoft console.

Since Chris Lee stated in his blog post that the game was basically a vehicle for the new Slipspace engine and that it would be a long time before it was ready, a lot of press has speculated that it would be for the next console that the publisher hinted would be coming sometime in 2020.

• Confirmed: Halo Infinite will release Holiday 2020 as a launch title for the Xbox Series X. At least, that was the intent, except there was a Schedule Slip to 2021.

Halo Infinite will be Open World.

With the trailer putting a huge focus on wide-open environments, it's very likely that Infinite will abandon the traditional linear missions in favour of an open world.

• However, Halo has always had large natural environments, especially in multiplayer (like Blood Gulch).
• It's also possible that the game will be structured similarly to Halo 3: ODST, considering the E3 2018 trailer implied a similar Late to the Tragedy vibe. It's possible Chief will explore a large chunk of the Halo freely and non-linearly, finding objects and/or areas that activate flashbacks to incidents involving allies of his stranded on the ring following the attack of the Created.
  • Confirmed

The chip Master Chief puts in his helmet is Exuberant Witness.

Because she's awesome and it would be fun to listen to her commentary on MC's actions.

• Jossed. It's Cortana's replacement, who was supposed to delete Cortana and herself on mission completion.

The chip Master Chief puts in his helmet is Durandal.

Community leaders claim that the chip is hosting Durandal.

• Jossed

The chip Master Chief puts in his helmet is Roland.

It's already been established that Roland has chosen to side with the organics against The Created, and he has experience helping Spartans in their missions. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think he's the one who'll be helping the Chief in the field for a while, especially if they need to get him somewhere the Infinity can't go.

• Jossed

The chip Master Chief puts in his helmet is Cortana II.

It's not inconceivable that there's a pre-Rampancy Cortana backup on ice somewhere.

• Confirmed, sort of. It's another Halsey-AI, but not Cortana II.

The game will be renamed Halo 6: Infinite before launch

Given how the title seems to have caused confusion over what it is, I can see this happening.

• Jossed

The Security Officer from Marathon will make a cameo

• Jossed

Cortana will have the same Tamer and Chaster look from Halo 5: Guardians.

• Jossed

The Flood will return.

The Halo ring is implied to be Installation 07, which was shown in the expanded universe to have Flood containment facilities. While the Created will likely be the primary villains for most of the game, it's possible that they will need to do an Enemy Mine with the UNSC, Swords of Sanghelios, etc., to fight back the Flood.

• Given that the Teaser Trailer was a message from the Banished, this seems likely.
  • Jossed

The climax of the story will be a verbal sparring match between Dr Halsey and Cortana.

And each of them will spar with "The Reason You Suck" Speech duelling statements for their failures after success.

• Jossed

There will be more than one Cortana present in the story.

Someone found a cleverly-hidden barcode with a hidden message involving Cortana.

• In addition, hopefully, this indicates a new ARG will debut pre-release.
  • Jossed, kinda. It's a Halsey-AI, but not Cortana.

The Brutes return

Not exactly the wildest guess, and new Infinite toys include the Brutes, specifically the Banished faction from Halo Wars 2.

• Confirmed with the latest teaser.

The "Deliver Hope" trailer is an In Medias Res opening cutscene, and part of the game is explaining How We Got Here.

• Semi-Confirmed, the opening cutscene is Atriox bashing the crap out of Chief, with the 'Discover Hope' trailer being the second cutscene, but the rest of this holds true.

Cortana will be Hijacked by Gravemind

Never forget Gravemind's parting words... "Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved, but you imposed." If the above WMG is correct in that Flood containment facilities exist in Installation 07, and said facilities will be present in this game, it will be the perfect storm for Gravemind to regenerate, gradually assimilate or destroy Cortana's forces and take back the position of Big Bad, and possibly even be faced properly by John and Locke.

• Jossed

Halo Infinite will have an ODST-like spinoff

343 has been running job listings for people familiar with Halo and are already reported to be working on the next Halo game.

There will be a Cortana Jr who aids Chief against Cortana

The E3 2019 trailer has the pilot having a Lost Lenore with a child. It could be a Plot Parallel to Chief's own Lost Lenore, and if the parallel is continued, then there's a third, younger party involved.

• Confirmed. Esparza's wife and child are gone, while Cortana is also gone. It's briefly discussed between the two near the end.

The Pelican pilot will have a Heroic Sacrifice or Senseless Sacrifice

He just screams of Developing Doomed Characters.

• Possibly jossed, since pre-release interviews seem to show that the writers consider him one of the game's main characters. Either way, he seems way too eager to get home so it'll probably happen near the end thanks to Character Development if it happens at all.
  • Jossed

Escharum will be a Tragic Villain

There's an odd moment in which he says without challenge he grows "weary, lost, alone". "Lost", perhaps, but "weary" and especially "alone" seem like strange words for a Blood Knight lamenting a lack of action. Rather, he's able to identify that he feels weary and alone but can't or doesn't want to fix these issues internally and instead tries to superficially hide them by burying them under what Brute culture considers an imperative: killing and fighting. The fact that he's a Death Seeker adds credence to this; he's possibly just sick of fighting on some level and wants to die.

• Confirmed, as Master Chief states that Escharum was just a soldier, questioning his decisions — and his homeworld was destroyed by Cortana. In addition, Escharum was dying, and looking to go out in a blaze of glory.

Something on Zeta Halo will tie back into the Created story arc

We'll find that the reason the UNSC was so desperate to secure the ring was because of some MacGuffin that will help defeat Evil!Cortana. When the UNSC arrived they found the Banished already heavily dug in on the ring's surface.

Difficulty level names

Set A Fire In Your Heart: Easy
Bare Your Fangs: Normal
Fight Hard: Hard
Die Well: Heroic
A True Test of Legends: Legendary

• Jossed, however, this is the case for the achievement names for completing the campaign on certain difficulties:
  • Set a Fire in Your Heart (Campaign Completion).
  • Bare Your Fangs (Campaign Completion on Normal).
  • Fight Hard, Die Well (Campaign Completion on Heroic).
  • A True Test of Legends (Campaign Completion on Legendary).

Master Chief will make a Heroic Sacrifice

343’s games have been building towards Chief mentally breaking, with the opening cinematic of Halo 4 attributing his success to being broken at his core, and Cortana’s death on the Didacts ship having a profound effect on him, to the degree that his hands are visibly shaking in Halo 5: Guardians during Blue Team’s opening cinematic. In his mind, Cortana’s death and subsequent Came Back Wrong is his fault, and he might face a situation in Infinite where Redemption Equals Death.Halo Wars 2 started setting up Spartan Jerome-092 as The Hero, giving him an AI companion and showing him board a Banished carrier solo. Coupled with the fact that Jerome spent most of the Human-Covenant war in cryo storage, he hasn’t aged in more than twenty years and lacks the emotional baggage that Chief acquired through the main saga, making him the logical choice to be the face of Halo going forward.Halo Wars 2’s Legendary cinematic even foreshadows a convergence between the Halo Wars sub-series plotline and that of the main series, with Anders having escaped the Ark on a replacement Halo ring, only to see a Guardian overhead when she exits the control room.

• Jossed

There will be an appearance, or at the very least, a mention, of the Spirit of Fire.

We're fighting the Banished, on a partially destroyed Installation 07. Given that the Ark has been established to always keep a Halo on standby in case of a failure, it could potentially be a way for the Spirit of Fire to join the fray as an 11th-Hour Ranger.

Alternatively, given that Atriox has returned to the galaxy, as depicted in Halo: Shadows of Reach, Enemy Chatter could make a reference to the Spirit of Fire, with Banished forces discussing what the warlord has been doing.

• Jossed

Atriox will be The Unfought.

Making him an Arc Villain for several post-launch DLC campaigns over the course of Infinite's 10-year development period.

• Somewhat Jossed, kinda sort of Confirmed, Chief and Atriox fight in the opening of the game, with Atriox winning handily, leading to Chief being stranded as he was. Atriox is, however, suddenly missing in the main campaign and is a source of drama within the Banished's ranks since. Heavily implying that he will be an Arc Villain for future expansions to the story when he returns from wherever he's gone.

A stressful situation will have Chief make a Wrong-Name Outburst

For example: While the Weapon works on hacking a door to open, the Chief will have a tense firefight. The Weapon runs into difficulties, causing Chief to crack a little, and call the Weapon "Cortana", out of reflex.

• Jossed, or possibly Confirmed? Chief knows that The Weapon is Cortana, just with some memories removed. However, he gets into an argument with The Weapon after he tried to delete her and starts to interject "Cortana..." The Weapon doesn't take it as him calling her that, but maybe it was a Wrong-Name Outburst?

Post-release Theories

Potential Future Campaign DLC expansions

With 10 years of development planned down the road, campaign expansions are all but a certainty down the round. The question is: what sort of expansions are we likely to see in the future?

• A Spiritual Successor to Spartan Ops, where the player returns to the open world of Zeta Halo as their multiplayer Spartan, fulfilling missions like the exfiltration of Infinity's stranded crew. Remixed enemy encounters will no doubt be a major focus.
• A campaign starring Spartan Jameson Locke, set shortly following the fall of the Infinity. Stuck deep behind enemy lines and with no contact with the UNSC, Locke will have to scrounge up what resources he can find and soldier on in the hopes of linking back up with Fireteam Osiris, Lasky or simply any UNSC/friendly force.
• An ODST campaign. Echoing the events of the original spinoff, the player is an ODST that has been interred for some time after a failed drop onto Zeta Halo. After freeing themselves, the ODST must take advantage of their silenced weaponry in order to traverse the Banished territory, searching for clues as to the whereabouts of their missing squadmates. As a bonus, additional terminals could potentially reveal the goings-on, whereabouts and even fates of members of a Spartan-IV squad - Alpha-9.
• A prequel DLC dealing with how Griffin and his Spartan squadmates managed to stall the Banished in a Hopeless War, much like Halo: Reach.
• A campaign staring the Arbiter and the Swords of Sanghelios.

The name The Weapon picked out for herself is...

• Cortana, which is why she didn't need to speak it out loud.
• Joyeuse, in keeping with the theme of being named after a legendary sword, much like Cortana and Durandal before her.

The UNSC tag detected during the mid-credits is...

• Jameson Locke, but with a new helmet, of course.
• The Spirit of Fire, with some much-needed reinforcements.
• Commander Agryna with reinforcements, possibly including the multiplayer Spartan.
• Olympia Vale, whose last known location is helping the Arbiter on a mission.
• Jun-A266, revealing that Halo: Bad Blood wasn't retconned, and that Leonidas was somehow deceived into believing Laconia Station still had Spartans aboard.

Offensive Bias helped Chief escape the Tower.

• The video explaining the fan theory.