It’s a shame that the only takeaway that 343 would admit to after the debacle that was Halo 5’s campaign was not enough Chief. I guess replacing their lead game designer, artist, writer and music composer is enough evidence of self awareness. Would’ve been nice to hear what other aspects they were going to focus on aside from more Chief.
imo, Halo 5 would have been better if
- it was almost entirely told from Locke's perspective - the player is investigator, if it puts us a position to think of Chief in different ways, etc.
- Chief went missing, presumed to be in search of Cortana
- Locke was initially searching for Blue Team who were the original team to hunt Chief down as they're the best qualified
- Blue Team is presumed MIA (Spartans never die) and we only see Chief in snippets, mostly flashbacks, video footage, etc as Locke hunts him down - this gives us more a window into what Chief the man he is
- the game is mostly focused on Jameson Locke, his story, his deals, what he's about, and how it all relates to Chief
- Prometheans are in the game, and the Warden is too, but rather than another foil for Chief, he's the chief foil for Locke as they're both hunting Chief
- turns out Team Osiris learn Blue Team didn't go MIA, they deserted as none of them had any intention of hunting down chief
- conflict with Blue Team at the end of the game; Team Osiris just missed him, and Blue Team aren't letting them go after Chief without a fight
- Osiris vs Blue Team (minus chief), Osiris barely win, no one dies
- Chief is never caught, he's off after finding what he has been searching for the game
- final scene of the game is the Halo ring that Cortana found, her intentions seem obvious
- next time we see Chief is the teaser at E3, and the UNSC he's observing are actually hunting him because ONI belief Chief can't be trusted with the ring after his run in with the Didact and Cortana going rogue
Halo Infinite is told from Chief's perspective. He resolves the conflict with Locke in a fight that's interrupted as they're forced to work together to defeat Cortana. Game ends with Chief saving Locke similar to how Cortana saved him, he uses Forerunner tech to teleport Locke into the vastness of space. Chief goes down destroying the final Halo ring before it can be fired and he is presumed MIA because Spartans don't die.
In taking down the final Halo ring, the universe is saved, but defenceless against the precursor flood or any galaxy threat, thereby setting up future games with enough stakes.
The next time we see Locke in a game, he is an older Spartan, but the not the main guy, he's not the main hero, he's not the saviour of the galaxy, he's just someone who witnessed the man who did.
Halo can carry on for an
infinite games without feeling like its days best can never be ahead.
Chief becomes immortalised in the lore in new and different ways that can be referenced and built upon for years to come.
The IP can branch out into different genres, with new conflicts, etc. without the obligation of including Chief or getting stale.