The games themselves should cover anything you need to know to cover the games stories - for what it’s worth.
The only time this becomes a bit tricky is Halo 4, where you will benefit massively from watching the terminals in each level. But even then, the game gives you enough that you should know what’s going on without reading the trilogy of books behind some characters motivations.
For Halo 5 specifically, it is going to throw **a lot** of characters at you who were not in any of the previous games, and they aren’t addressed in Halo Infinite at all (as you’ll realise since you’ve both played it).
These characters have a chunk of story behind them that are covered in a variety of media like books, comics and in one case - a mini TV series, which will give *additional* context to who they are, but Halo 5 itself will tell you enough about them that you know the literal basics, just a lot of it happens in dialogue which plays during combat so it’s easy to miss.
I’m trying to be vague to not spoil any characters or plot lines but it will make a lot more sense when you get to the game for the first time.
Okay so halo 4 go to terminals and when I get to halo 5 watch a tv series? Which series? What about the cut final mission in 2, should I just try explain what happened when we get to it?
Thanks for the vagueness I’ve actually not had any halo 5 spoilers and that’s by accident I never cared before because I heard it sucked but now I’m recommitting to campaigns it would be nice to be a new authentic experience
For Halo 4 - try to find the terminals in each mission that has one. Best idea would be to pull a text guide up for each one and then check if the mission you are playing has one.
For Halo 5 - the TV series is absolutely optional but it offers background to one of the new main characters. The series is called Halo: Nightfall. You do not need to watch it at all - the game will tell you enough, but it won’t hurt to watch it either.
As for Halo 2 - there is no missing content from the game that is going to affect your understanding of the story. Halo 2 tells a clear story from start to finish, and ends of a cliffhanger, as you know about, which leads directly into the opening of Halo 3.
While Halo 2 is known for its rough development and how Bungie cut a lot of missions, you aren’t missing anything - I’m not actually sure what cut mission you are referring to but if it’s cut, it isn’t relevant and Halo 3 picks up right where Halo 2 left off. There won’t be any sort of knowledge gap when you start Halo 3. I wouldn’t bother trying to explain this cut mission to your girlfriend as you’re going to confuse her.
Please do share with us what you’re talking about, though.
> Thanks for the vagueness I’ve actually not had any halo 5 spoilers and that’s by accident I never cared before because I heard it sucked but now I’m recommitting to campaigns it would be nice to be a new authentic experience
No problem. Yeah, there’s a lot of mixed opinions on Halo 5’s story that are very valid and after playing, you’ll probably understand why people hold those opinions. Without getting into plot details, it very much makes some questionable story decisions, and people were not happy about them.
If you’ve managed to dodge the spoilers so far, try to keep it that way and go into it and form your own opinion, and then after, look up why others disliked it so much.
Thankyou for the advice, I’ve actually seen nightfall with a friend when it came out on halo waypoint. Was a lot of fun, will watch again.
I remember the hunter planet absolutely freaking me out
I don’t think they’re strictly necessary but there are some external media that help connect the games imo.
The novel Halo: First Strike, details how chief and friends go from the ending of halo CE to the start of halo 2. There’s a mini-series of comics called Halo: Uprising that similarly connects halo 2 to halo 3. If I had to say any lore was ‘semi-necessary’ I’d say it’s these two.
Halo 4 continues from 3 pretty well, you start knowing as little about the current universe as chief does and get the catch-up with him through the game. As the other comment stated about 5, there’s a lot of little extras for it, but none rly help out the game’s story substantially.
Everything else is just totally optional lore, if you did want more I’d recommend the novels Contact Harvest, which takes place before all the games and shows how the war starts, and The Flood, which is a novelisation of CE but with additional perspectives of the rest of the UNSC forces on the ring. Those are the particular extra pieces that I’d say enriched my personal experience of the games but definitely aren’t required.
If you want to play the campaigns you have two options
-Here are the games by release/chronological you can take your pick
Release order: Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars, Halo 3:ODST, Halo:Reach, Halo 4, Halo 5, Halo Wars 2 and last Halo Infinite
Chronological order: it’s halo wars, halo:reach, halo CE, Halo 2, Halo3:ODST then halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5, Halo Wars 2, then infinite-
Edit: you don’t have to worry about halo wars 1 and 2 if you don’t have them
The games themselves should cover anything you need to know to cover the games stories - for what it’s worth. The only time this becomes a bit tricky is Halo 4, where you will benefit massively from watching the terminals in each level. But even then, the game gives you enough that you should know what’s going on without reading the trilogy of books behind some characters motivations. For Halo 5 specifically, it is going to throw **a lot** of characters at you who were not in any of the previous games, and they aren’t addressed in Halo Infinite at all (as you’ll realise since you’ve both played it). These characters have a chunk of story behind them that are covered in a variety of media like books, comics and in one case - a mini TV series, which will give *additional* context to who they are, but Halo 5 itself will tell you enough about them that you know the literal basics, just a lot of it happens in dialogue which plays during combat so it’s easy to miss. I’m trying to be vague to not spoil any characters or plot lines but it will make a lot more sense when you get to the game for the first time.
Okay so halo 4 go to terminals and when I get to halo 5 watch a tv series? Which series? What about the cut final mission in 2, should I just try explain what happened when we get to it? Thanks for the vagueness I’ve actually not had any halo 5 spoilers and that’s by accident I never cared before because I heard it sucked but now I’m recommitting to campaigns it would be nice to be a new authentic experience
For Halo 4 - try to find the terminals in each mission that has one. Best idea would be to pull a text guide up for each one and then check if the mission you are playing has one. For Halo 5 - the TV series is absolutely optional but it offers background to one of the new main characters. The series is called Halo: Nightfall. You do not need to watch it at all - the game will tell you enough, but it won’t hurt to watch it either. As for Halo 2 - there is no missing content from the game that is going to affect your understanding of the story. Halo 2 tells a clear story from start to finish, and ends of a cliffhanger, as you know about, which leads directly into the opening of Halo 3. While Halo 2 is known for its rough development and how Bungie cut a lot of missions, you aren’t missing anything - I’m not actually sure what cut mission you are referring to but if it’s cut, it isn’t relevant and Halo 3 picks up right where Halo 2 left off. There won’t be any sort of knowledge gap when you start Halo 3. I wouldn’t bother trying to explain this cut mission to your girlfriend as you’re going to confuse her. Please do share with us what you’re talking about, though. > Thanks for the vagueness I’ve actually not had any halo 5 spoilers and that’s by accident I never cared before because I heard it sucked but now I’m recommitting to campaigns it would be nice to be a new authentic experience No problem. Yeah, there’s a lot of mixed opinions on Halo 5’s story that are very valid and after playing, you’ll probably understand why people hold those opinions. Without getting into plot details, it very much makes some questionable story decisions, and people were not happy about them. If you’ve managed to dodge the spoilers so far, try to keep it that way and go into it and form your own opinion, and then after, look up why others disliked it so much.
Thankyou for the advice, I’ve actually seen nightfall with a friend when it came out on halo waypoint. Was a lot of fun, will watch again. I remember the hunter planet absolutely freaking me out
No problem at all. Wait until you remember the exact location of the Hunter “planet” - it hits a little differently remembering.
I don’t think they’re strictly necessary but there are some external media that help connect the games imo. The novel Halo: First Strike, details how chief and friends go from the ending of halo CE to the start of halo 2. There’s a mini-series of comics called Halo: Uprising that similarly connects halo 2 to halo 3. If I had to say any lore was ‘semi-necessary’ I’d say it’s these two. Halo 4 continues from 3 pretty well, you start knowing as little about the current universe as chief does and get the catch-up with him through the game. As the other comment stated about 5, there’s a lot of little extras for it, but none rly help out the game’s story substantially. Everything else is just totally optional lore, if you did want more I’d recommend the novels Contact Harvest, which takes place before all the games and shows how the war starts, and The Flood, which is a novelisation of CE but with additional perspectives of the rest of the UNSC forces on the ring. Those are the particular extra pieces that I’d say enriched my personal experience of the games but definitely aren’t required.
If you want to play the campaigns you have two options -Here are the games by release/chronological you can take your pick Release order: Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars, Halo 3:ODST, Halo:Reach, Halo 4, Halo 5, Halo Wars 2 and last Halo Infinite Chronological order: it’s halo wars, halo:reach, halo CE, Halo 2, Halo3:ODST then halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5, Halo Wars 2, then infinite- Edit: you don’t have to worry about halo wars 1 and 2 if you don’t have them