Halo Timeline Explained (& When Infinite Takes Place)

The Halo franchise contains a massive story that stretches out across multiple games. With Halo Infinite on the horizon, the timeline will evolve even further. While many of its contemporaries focus solely on the shooting and war elements, Halo stands out for its vast world building. However, given that Halo games often don’t release in chronological order, it can be difficult to piece together the timeline.

While Halo: Combat Evolved was the first game to release in the series, the 2010 Halo Reach title is the start of the Halo timeline. The games are well-known for their main protagonist, Master Chief, who is present from the beginning. In this timeline breakdown, the Halo Spartan Strike, Spartan Assault, and Wars games will not be included as they don’t follow the first-person shooter gameplay predominately seen in the Halo franchise.

[Warning: Halo spoilers ahead]

Halo Reach follows “Noble Team“, a squad of 6 Spartans, as they try to combat the Covenant on Reach. During the game, Master Chief gets separated from Cortana as he goes to defend the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Noble Team is ordered to deliver Cortana to a ship-breaking facility before rendezvousing with the Pillar. The game ends with the Fall of Reach as the Pillar of Autumn arrives at an unknown ring-shaped facility. The timeline continues with Halo: Combat Evolved. Master Chief and Cortana reunite with marines on the Halo facility before the Chief begins to seek out Halo’s control room, where he learns about the infectious race called the Flood. To avoid having the Flood spread throughout the galaxy, the Chief and Cortana destroy the Pillar of Autumn and Halo.

Halo Infinite Is At The End Of The Halo Timeline

The series proceeds with Halo 2 as a Covenant fleet arrives on Earth. Simultaneously, Halo 3: ODST takes place. The title follows a group of ODST as they deploy into New Mombasa to protect the city from Covenant forces, which they succeed in. Halo 2 then resumes. A betrayal leads to a civil war between the Elites and Brutes while Master Chief, accompanied by an Elite called the Arbiter, have to stop the Brutes from activating a Halo installation. They succeed in doing so and discover that the Covenant are attacking Earth in order to access a massive Forerunner artifact. In Halo 3, Master Chief and the Arbiter need to destroy another Halo ring. In order to wipe out the Flood permanently, Chief needs to rescue Cortana from a Flood infection before activating Halo. Upon doing so, it begins to tear itself apart. The Arbiter, Master Chief, and Cortana survive the detonation, and the Chief and Cortana are set adrift.

Halo 4 begins with Cortana waking the Chief as they enter the planet, Requiem. The Chief must stop a Forerunner criminal, the Didact, who takes over Covenant forces on the planet. After failing to stop the Didact on Requiem, Chief follows him to Gamma Halo. There, he is able to stop the Didact with the help of a team of Spartans and survive a nuclear detonation, but Cortana is lost in the process. In Halo 5: Guardians, Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris must stop Cortana, who was able to survive the aforementioned explosion thanks to Forerunner technology, as she attempts to use Guardians (massive Forerunner constructs) to bring galactic peace through forced disarmament. Seeing the devastation this would cause, Master Chief tries to convince her to stop to no avail. The game finishes with the Chief’s ship engaging slip space as he flees Cortana. The legendary ending reveals an unknown Halo installation.

Based on what can be seen, Halo Infinite is set to occur several years after the events of Halo 5 in 2560. It is set to be a continuation of Master Chief’s story and will be taking place on Zeta Halo, also known as Installation 07. At the moment, not much is known about the details of Halo Infinite‘s plot, but it’s exciting to see that 343 Industries is proceeding with the events of their last title.

About The Author