Should Halo End After Halo 6?

Halo, arguably the most important game for the original Xbox’s early success, without it, who knows if there ever would’ve been a Xbox 360 made? The series which started back in 2001 with the launch of Microsoft’s first console  has spawned over a dozen games, numerous books and comics, and even some live-action series. But this November marks the 15th Anniversary of the first Halo game, and it makes me wonder when and how should the series end? Back in 2011 when Halo 4 was announced at E3 it was said that there would be a Reclaimer Trilogy, so should Halo end after Halo 6?

Now if you’re a die-hard Halo fan you may already know that 343 Industries has said that they’re now calling it the Reclaimer Saga and that it can go beyond just a trilogy. But should it? A part of me wants the Master Chief’s story to never end, but there’s a part of me that wants to know the ending of that story as well. How many more games are we willing to follow the Master Chief before it’s no longer an epic story but just the next game in the franchise?

Arguments that I have for it to keep going is that it’s a major staple for the Xbox, always has been. And the universe that’s been created around these games really has endless possibilities for storytelling. And with newer characters like Locke, you could easily make many new games with the other characters in the series to.

Some arguments that it should end at Halo 6, is as I mentioned earlier, it’s going to eventually not feel like the next epic chapter but rather just a sequel for us to play. Not to mention that if Master Chief is the main character the whole time, eventually he’d feel immortal and we wouldn’t care as much. But they can end the main series at 6 and just create spin-off games to continue the franchise if they wanted.

Now if they wanted to end the main games after Halo 7, and kill off the Master Chief or, at least, end his story one way or another. If we’re going off of the series track record every sequel in the main game with the exception of Halo 4, has been 3 years in between games. So Halo 6 would come out in 2018, and Halo 7 would come out in 2021, exactly 20 years from when we were first introduced to the Master Chief.

And spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t played through Halo 5: Guardian’s campaign, you might want to stop reading now, as we’re entering a bit of spoiler territory. Still with me? Good. So in the campaign we see that Cortana’s presumed fate from the ending of Halo 4, was wrong. She never died like we all thought. Instead, she was uploaded into the Domain and “cured” of rampancy. And instead now, she’s actually a villain in the series.

But I feel like Master Chief and Cortana go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly, and that both of their stories should end in the same game. I actually think that the final act that you play as the Master Chief should be to have to pull the trigger on Cortana’s now physical form, in order to save the galaxy. And have you actually pull the trigger on your controller. I can’t think of a more heart-wrenching scene as a player when you’re the one who has to kill off a character you’ve spent nearly two decades with.

All good things must come to an end, sometimes that’s the way to keep it good. There have been many franchises, whether it was movies, television, video games, books. Where they over reached and it left a bad taste in our mouths when the original was loved by so many. I hope that Halo doesn’t do that, it’s a delicate balance that 343 Industries will have to keep.

They could make any game and slap the Halo brand on it, and I know I’ll be in line to buy it. But should they end Chief’s story within in the next couple of games, then I can’t wait to see how they have him finish the fight.