Halo 5: Let's Talk

Halo 5 is about a conversation. 

(Spoiler warning. Also, note that these are hot takes, I’m still mulling this over.) 

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While I don’t think Halo 5 did very well at its dialog or bringing forth characterization, the structure of the story is spectacular. It’s longer than Halo 4 but more focused, to the point that I can even now recount the core beats of the entire plot (not common for me). And distilled down to the bones of the plot, it’s an extremely compelling narrative.

Halo 5’s raison d’être is a conversation. And, breaking my heart, it’s a conversation that doesn’t really happen. Talking with John about her plan, and trying to convince him to join her, means so much to Cortana that she can’t accept the outcome. So she puts it off, and off, until by the time John’s gotten there, the gulf between them is too wide. Both of them have their hands outstretched, but only to pull the other to their side.

This game exists for 26 sentences, when Cortana and Chief finally see each other again.

And that’s it! The rest of the game only exists to give context to those sentences, and to move us from that conversation into the next game. All of Fireteam Osiris’ story can be boiled down to “reach Chief” and “show the consequences of Cortana’s plan, and pace its reveal,” while Chief’s arc is just “talk to Cortana.”

Plus, in a first for the series – although it can’t last – the core conflict is never violent. At no point does Chief take up arms against Cortana, and even though Locke probably has orders to take out Cortana, it isn’t a focus. It feels morally significant that, even if they fight later, this game is reserved for grieving for the loss of her. Tomorrow, the battlefield; today, the goodbyes.



… Admittedly, though, that grief isn’t expressed very well. A lot of the emotional weight of this story only comes through when you fill in the gaps in the dialog and characterization. I love Halo 5’s story structure, but the moment-to-moment realization of it is very flat.

I’ll probably keep posting about Halo 5 for the next few days – I’m still chewing it over in my head – but when it struck me what this game was about, I needed to write about it. 

Quick postscript: Your mileage may vary. Personally, I considered Cortana’s ascension to be the culmination of two major plot threads in the Halo universe – Cortana’s own alienation from humanity and what it expects of her, and the way humanity has treated its Spartan and AI creations in general. I can absolutely see concerns about how this is the second Halo game in a row to troperifically handle Cortana, the series’ leading woman – first by ramping up her emotions, now by making her the dark goddess – but it rings honest and story-rich to me. Your mileage may vary, though.


(All screenshots taken from the in-game cinematics.)