10 Plot Points To Know Before Playing Halo Infinite

The in-game plot of the Halo franchise has covered quite a bit of time over its mainline games, but the franchise has extensive lore that stretches back for millions of years. While Halo Infinite will likely be a good entry point for new players, those that understand the complicated story so far will be able to better appreciate the events of the coming game.

Much of Halo‘s story is told through active gameplay and cutscenes, but many of the details and backstories necessary to fully understand the currently running plotlines, conflicts, and important players are spread through multiple different mediums. While the whole Halo picture can be overwhelmingly complicated, the most important plot points to know before Halo Infinite releases form a fairly straightforward video game story.

10 Precursors, Forerunners, And The Mantle Of Responsibility

Before the existence of any currently-living races, the Precursors were the dominant lifeforms in the universe. These beings were technologically advanced beyond any civilization that has come after their fall, and they were able to seed the growth of other intelligent life across the universe.

The Precursors possessed the Mantle of Responsibility, or the philosophical right to control and protect other life in the universe. The Forerunners were their most successful creation, and the Forerunners grew to worship and envy the Precursors’ power.

9 The Forerunner-Precursor War And The Creation Of The Flood

Humans evolve millions of years after the rise of the Forerunners and are chosen to inherit the Mantle of Responsibility. The Forerunners attack the Precursors out of jealousy, which starts the Forerunner-Precursor war. Some Precursors reduce themselves to fine dust from which they can resurrect at a later time. This dust becomes corrupted, and, instead of reviving Precursors, leads to disease and mutation among anything it comes in contact with.

Before the last few Precursors die out, they weaponized this dust in hopes of post-mortem revenge against the Forerunners. They send ships full of corrupted dust-filled canisters to the edges of the Milky Way.

8 The Spread Of The Flood And The Creation Of Halos

Ten million years later, humanity discovers one of the dust-filled ships at the edge of the Galaxy. The dust mutates their domesticated animals, and the Flood begins to spread. Humanity travels the galaxy wiping out any Flood they find and eventually attack Flood-infested Forerunner worlds. The remaining Flood go into hiding, and the Forerunners return humanity to a pre-industrial state for their perceived aggression.

Ten thousand years after that, the Flood resurfaces and decimates Forerunner planets. The Forerunners build Halo rings to destroy all life in the galaxy and starve the Flood. A few life forms, including humans, are held safe at The Ark, and the Halo rings are fired.

7 The Rise Of The Covenant

After the Halo rings fire, Forerunners on the Ark reseed the galaxy with life. Human civilization regrows and spreads across our arm of the galaxy. Elsewhere, one of the few Forerunner ships crashes on the homeworld of the San’Shyuum. They believe that the Forerunners are gods, and a religious faction reorients their civilization around worshipping Forerunner technology.

They believe that the remaining, unfired Halo rings are gateways to heaven and must be fired, not knowing that they will again destroy all life in the Galaxy. The San’Shyuum join forces with a number of other species and form the Covenant.

6 The Fall Of Reach And The Pillar Of Autumn

Humanity enters a civil war, and children are kidnapped, brought to the planet Reach, and biologically altered to become super-soldiers called Spartans for the war. The Covenant accidentally stumbles across humanity and believes humans are the prophesized inheritors of the Forerunners.

The Shan’Shyuum prophets declare war on humanity to prevent them from usurping their perceived religious right. Almost all human colonies except Earth and Reach are destroyed. As Reach is glassed, the Pillar of Autumn hyperjumps away with John 117, a Spartan called The Master Chief, aboard in Cryosleep.

5 The Flood And The Destruction Of A Halo

The Pillar of Autumn accidentally jumps to a Halo ring, and Master Chief is introduced to the AI Cortana in a small but incredibly significant moment in the Halo series. Not knowing what the ring is, the ship lands. The Covenant follows and thinks that the Humans are intentionally attempting to destroy their gate to heaven.

While there, a chamber of surviving flood spores is released, and the parasites begin to re-spread. A three-way battle ensues between the humans, Flood, and Covenant. Master Chief learns about the true purpose of the Halo rings from a Forerunner AI and destroys the Halo ring by detonating the Pillar of Autumn’s reactor.

4 The Arbiter And The Splitting Of The Covenant

Halo 2, a fan-favorite in the Halo franchise, sees the Covenant military leader Thel ‘Vadamee held responsible by the Prophets for his failure to protect the Halo ring. He is sent on a suicide mission, but, on it, he too learns the truth of the Halo rings’ origin.

Surprised by the number of humans present, the Covenant flees to another Halo ring, and human military forces follow. Master Chief kills a Prophet, and, after failing to protect both this Prophet and the original halo ring, power is stripped away from the Elites and given to the Brutes. This, combined with the Arbiter’s knowledge about Forerunner technology, lead to a schism that divides the Covenant.

3 The Ark And The End Of A Trilogy

Halo 3’s beloved campaign sees the Arbiter and his supporters ally with humanity to fight against the remaining Covenant. Both sides learn that there is a switch on the Ark, the safe space in which the Forerunners hid life thousands of years ago, that can simultaneously fire off all remaining Halo rings.

Master Chief discovers that the Ark is constructing a new Halo ring. Master Chief fires off this partially-built Halo ring, which kills the Flood remaining Flood and critically damages the Ark. The Arbiter is able to escape to Earth, but Master Chief and his AI companion, Cortana, are left drifting in space.

2 Requiem and Rampancy

Master Chief’s destroyed ship crashes on the planet Requiem, a Forerunner world. Cortana reveals that she is nearing rampancy, the state of decay experienced by AIs after they reach the end of their lifespans.

Master Chief accidentally releases a member of the Forerunner warriors called Prometheans who had been in stasis for thousands of years. This Promethean, the Didact, harbors jealousy over humanity’s inheritance of the Mantle of Protection and vows to destroy mankind. Cortana “sacrifices” herself to defeat the Didact.

1 Immortality And AI Control

Master Chief learns that Cortana didn’t die but instead accessed Forerunner computers. Cortana, with a deteriorating mental state, gains access to vast arrays of Forerunner resources through her integration with their computer systems. These resources allow her to end rampancy and become functionally immortal.

She decides she deserves Mantle of Responsibility herself and must control all life in the galaxy. Master Chief and his allies attempt to stop her, but Cortana succeeds in bringing everyone except those aboard one ship, the UNSC Infinity, under her control. Halo: Infinite will see Master Chief deal with The Banished, a large splinter group from the former Covenant, and Cortana’s array of oppressive AIs and Forerunner weapons.

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