STACK February 2017 Issue 148

48 / 95

Halo is back, sans Master can finally return to the realm of Captain
Cutter and The Spirit of Fire in the long-awaited HaloWars sequel. Words Alesha Kolbe
The Halo Wars real-time strategy series
is a welcome departure from the first-
person shooter genre the Halo franchise
is best known for. Halo Wars – a game still
regularly played by fans – launched way back
in 2009, and since then demand for a sequel
has grown.
With the help of distinguished Total War
luminaries Creative Assembly, 343 Industries
has finally given the people what they wanted
– Halo Wars 2.
Set 28 years after the first, and just after
events of Halo 5: Guardians , Captain Cutter
returns with his crew aboard The Spirit of
Fire, unaware of how the human/Covenant
war has progressed. His ship has lost its
slipspace drives and yet has remarkably found
itself above The Ark, or Installation 00 – the
creator of the Halo rings, and one of the most
dangerous objects in the known universe.
Investigating a UNSC distress call from the
Ark's surface, Cutter discovers there is now
much more than just the Covenant to worry
about.
Enter The Banished. An entirely new
enemy faction in the Halo universe, this ragtag
group of exiles is led by the fearsome Atriox.
Comprised entirely of a
rebel legion of Covenant
and Brute forces alike,
The Banished aim to rid
the galaxy of humans and
claim it for themselves.
Having worked with
Ensemble and Robot
Entertainment on Halo
Wars, it was essentially
a dream come true for
the passionate 343 team
to be able to work with
someone as prolific in the RTS industry as
Creative Assembly.
“It was ultimately a perfect match," says
Clay Jensen, design director at 343. "CA has an
interesting combination of skills; they can do
historical strategy really well, as you’ve seen
in their Total War series, but they can also do
a really immersive horror-survival game really
well (Alien: Isolation), and that was one of the
big tipping points for us.
"Another big thing was that it felt grounded
in the Halo universe, that it was ultimately a
Halo game and not just a separate, standalone
Halo Wars entry. CA really applied the same
rigour they would to creating a Roman Legion
as they did to crafting The Banished.”
The conception of this new faction in the
Halo universe is one that will undoubtedly
affect the core series of games – once they
have wrought their havoc against Cutter and
co., of course.
“The Banished is something we’ve been
waiting to do for a long time,” says Jensen
through a grin. “We have a new viable villain
in Atriox, their leader, someone the fans can
really get invested in. Even thinking about
The Spirit of Fire and Captain Cutter, the
two groups aren’t so different; they’re both
breakaways trying to get as much control as
they can. They’re both fighting over one of
the most dangerous things in the universe,
in that it can keep popping out Halo Rings
whenever it pleases. In the hands of Atriox,
it could undeniably be very dangerous, but
the thing with him is that his motivations are
ultimately something you can understand.
He’s up against the wall just like the UNSC
is – granted, he’s taken a slightly different
approach, but he’s relatable.
"Now that the story line follows events
48 FEBRUARY 2017
visit GAMES FEATURE
We have a new
viable villain in
Atriox... someone
fans can really get
invested in