Over the course of nearly 24 years, 15 video games have made up the primary media output of the Halo franchise. From the first-person beginnings of Halo: Combat Evolved to the real-time strategy and twin-stick gameplay of Halo Wars and Halo: Spartan Assault, each Halo title has offered players fun gameplay topped off with engrossing stories from the many galactic battles of the 26th century. However, the Halo franchise goes far beyond the games with alluring media of all kinds, including novels, comics, board games, short films, shows, and even content made by fans themselves called Machinima. With a new Halo game likely months if not years away, here is some content Halo players can read and watch after completing all the games’ campaigns.
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A Short Guide to the Halo Books
Besides Halo Wars 1, most Halo games take place in the final months of the Covenant War in 2552 or in the years following Master Chief’s return in 2557. While events of the UNSC’s, Covenant’s, and Forerunner’s past are teased and hinted at in the games, fans will have to dive into Halo’s many novels and comics to truly learn about this universe’s complexities. To date, 37 Halo novels have been published alongside 12 comic book series and graphic novels, each expanding the Halo universe by exploring specific characters from the games or following entirely new ones in various eras. For example, if players want to read up on Master Chief’s past, they should read Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: Silent Storm, Halo: Collateral Damage, and Halo: Oblivion.
If players are intrigued by the mysteries of the Halo Rings, Shield Worlds, and all things Forerunner, players should read Halo: Cryptum, Halo: Primordium, Halo: Silentium, Halo: Fractures, Halo: Escalation, and Halo: Epitaph. Greg Bears’ vast Forerunner trilogy of novels, composed of Cryptum, Primordium, and Silentium, are especially notable as they explain the entire backstory of the Didact and the Forerunner-Flood War leading up to the activation of the Halo Array and the re-population of the universe 100,000 years ago. Fans may additionally consider reading Kelly Gay’s Rion Forge trilogy, composed of Halo: Smoke and Shadow, Halo: Renegades, and Halo: Point of Light, to learn more about one particular family from Halo Wars and the legacy of one guilty character from Installation 04.
Halo Novels and Comics Focused on the Covenant
Halo 2 was the first Halo game to shed a large spotlight on the many cultures and inner workings of the multi-alien-species religious hegemony known as the Covenant, but there are many novels that go deeper into exploring the nature of Halo’s iconic aliens. If players want to learn about the start of the Covenant War in 2525, Halo: Contact Harvest is the best place to go. If players want to learn more about the founding of the Covenant by Elites and Prophets thousands of years ago, Halo: Broken Circle is an exceptional novel to read. Finally, if players want to learn more about the Brute-led Banished faction, they should read Halo: Rise of Atriox, Halo: Shadows of Reach, Halo: Divine Wind, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, Halo: Outcasts, and Halo: Empty Throne.
Halo’s first official media release was Eric Nylund’s 2001 novel Halo: The Fall of Reach, published 17 days before Halo: Combat Evolved debuted on the original Xbox.
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Ever since 2007’s Halo 3, the Halo franchise has exponentially delved into the realm of visual media both within games and without. Halo 3’s marketing campaign was famous for its live-action trailers such as the ODST-focused Landfall and the postwar Covenant War Museum clips, which inspired several other live-action trailers to be made for other games, including Halo: Reach’s Deliver Hope. Halo 3 additionally introduced the concept of in-game terminals that delved more into certain parts of Halo’s lore. While the terminals would continue to evolve with in-depth short videos in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 4, and Halo 2 Anniversary, Microsoft quickly began producing more short films and series for the Xbox series starting in the early 2010s.
In 2010, the newly created 343 Industries produced the German-American-Japanese film anthology called Halo: Legends. Here, fans are able to view seven animated short films focusing on various parts of the Halo universe, such as the first Arbiter to defy the Covenant, a marine striving to save civilians using a prototype suit of power armor, and a Spartan-II attempting to return to her childhood home. That same year, 343 Industries released motion comics of four stories found in the anthology novel, Halo: Evolutions. These motion comics, which can be viewed on YouTube, cover more lesser-known stories in the Halo universe, such as an ONI ship overrun with the parasitic Flood, an Elite shipmaster exploring the ruins of his own actions, and Spartan-III Headhunters combating the deadly Silent Shadow.
Halo’s Live-Action Content Explained
By 2012, Halo had become famous for its live action trailers, but many fans still desired to see a live action film or series be produced. Fans got their first taste of a live-action Halo series with the web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, which follows Master Chief’s first meeting with a young Thomas Lasky in 2526. In 2014, 343 Industries released the live-action web series Halo: Nightfall, which followed ONI Agent Jameson Locke on a mission to uncover the origins of a biological attack before becoming a Spartan-IV in Halo 5: Guardians. Lastly, after being stuck in development for nine years, Paramount+ released the first live-action Halo television series in 2022 based primarily on Halo: The Fall of Reach but set in an alternate timeline.
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Notable Fan-Made Halo Content
By the late 1990’s and early 2000s, video games had become advanced enough to the point that players could create and record their own content using video games as animation tools. This form of machine-produced cinema would come to be known as Machinima and this art form instantly became tied with Halo in 2003, thanks in large part to the 19-season-long Rooster Teeth comedy series Red vs. Blue. Based on the red and blue teams of Halo’s multiplayer, RVB follows the wacky adventures of Red Team, Blue Team, and elite Freelancer agents as they constantly bicker and find themselves in over their heads in dangerous situations. Rooster Teeth used every mainline Halo game to animate RVBs seasons from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo Infinite.
While Red vs. Blue is the most famous series based on Halo, fan-made or otherwise, it’s not the only good Halo Machinima out there. One of the longest-running and beloved comedic Machinima series is Jon Graham’s Arby ‘n’ the Chief, centered around Master Chief and Arbiter action figures, voiced by Microsoft Sam and Microsoft Mike, playing Halo and struggling to live with each other in an apartment. For players looking for a more epic Machinima, Squared Media’s nine-part Rise of the Spartans series is one of the best, filled with complex characters, dynamic battles, and actors from several other popular Machinima series. RVB officially ended in 2024, but fans can check out B00mrang’s CRASH series to get more of the classic RVB-esque comedy and action fix.
When all hope is lost and humanity’s fate hangs in the balance, the Master Chief is ready to confront the most ruthless foe he’s ever faced. Step inside the armor of humanity’s greatest hero to experience an epic open-world adventure and explore the massive scale of the Halo ring.
With Network Campaign Co-Op and Mission Replay, you can relive your favorite moments, rediscover collectibles and explore the wonders of Zeta Halo on your own or with up to three other fireteam members.
Experience Halo’s celebrated multiplayer reimagined and free-to-play! With over 70 maps in matchmaking, billions of customization configurations, and countless community Forge creations to experience, Halo Infinite is the franchise’s most expansive multiplayer offering to date.
Enjoy an unprecedented variety of gameplay experiences, ranging from fast-paced intense ranked modes to whimsical mayhem in Custom Games, or even co-operative coordination in the wave-based survival mode Firefight: King of the Hill. Assemble your Fireteam and conquer every mode – Halo offers endless opportunities for teamwork, strategy, and unforgettable victories.
- Released
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December 8, 2021
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Publisher(s)
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Xbox Game Studios