One of the major draws for the Halo series is its story. Going from Combat Evolved to the recent Halo 5, the single-player storylines have kept players engaged in the universe while still keeping them eager so that they’d be interested in what happens next. Some may have found Halo 5’s campaign disappointing, but the universe’s stories WILL continue onwards, and with 343 Industries narrative director Kevin Grace’s latest comments, it seems the story continues in Halo Wars 2.
Kevin Grace sat down for an interview with Gamespot and when asked if HW2 was going to have a significant effect on the next Halo, Grace said:
It’s absolutely going to. I mean, it is a part of what’s happening in the universe right now. So, yeah, its absolutely going to have a big impact on what’s coming next. It’s still early for whatever’s going to happen in the future, but I can tell you for sure that if you played Halo 5, there are some important implications in Halo Wars 2 that you’ll be able to pick up on. So we’ve already got connections that are built in right now. Like I said earlier, bringing the story up to modern day let’s us have some pretty big crossovers if we want to have big crossovers.
All those have to be right for the story and they have to be something that everyone will understand. Because if we just dropped Professor Anders in the next Halo thing, and we didn’t explain who she is or why she’s got this attitude, how he came by all these foreign smarts and all this stuff, we’re gonna get a response along the lines of “Scientist lady, I guess?” That would suck if we did it that way. We have to be able to work them in in a good way so they make they universe better.
He wasn’t willing to divulge any juicy specifics like which Halo 4-5 characters could show up, but it does seem that HL2’s story takes place shortly after Halo 5 and will help establish the greater Halo universe even more.
This is a smart way for 343 Industries to help incite increased sales thanks to long-time Halo players who love the lore and universe to pick up Halo Wars 2 simply so they can expand on the lore and better understand what’s going on in the game’s universe. It may not be a guaranteed means of success (as there’s a big difference in gameplay between a RTS and a FPS), but it certainly offers up a great incentive to check out the game if you’re a fan of those Halo single player stories.
Besides, even if there’s just a tiny chance that there’ll be a Master Chief appearance in HL2’s plot, wouldn’t it be worth checking out?
Halo Wars 2 comes out for PC and Xbox One on February 21st, 2017.
Will you be picking up Halo Wars 2? Are you a big Halo fan? If yes, why? If not, why not? Let us know in the comments!
