The Best Order to Play Halo Games
Halo is a franchise of first-person shooter (FPS) video games that became famous for its sci-fi environments, fun gameplay, unique enemies and multiplayer modes. Halo games also notably feature single player campaigns.
While Halo games have mostly been exclusive to Xbox consoles for many years, the series left console exclusivity when it was ported to personal computers (PCs) through the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which was initially released on computers in 2019.
What Are Halo Games Like?
Halo video games are generally FPS games set in a distant future. Quite often in Halo games, the player character is tasked of fighting alien enemies, which are known as The Covenant. Players must use different weapons and firearms to fight these enemies, as well as melee attacks, and the story is mostly told through single player campaigns.
The single player campaigns of the Halo video games have a gameplay similar to those of other single player FPS games, such as Doom (1993), Quake (1996), Unreal (1998), Half-Life (1998) and Medal of Honor (1999). The similarity exists in the sense that the player progresses the story by talking to NPC, defeating enemies, collecting ammunition and items and adventuring in the environment. Some of the important differences in the Halo games, when compared to these FPS games, is that Halo games are set in a sci-fi environment and that the player is often accompanied by the AI Cortana. While Half-Life (1998) also featured a sci-fi environment, its environment is not set many centuries in the future like Halo games. Doom (1993) is also set in a sci-fi environment, however, most of the weapons in the game are very similar to the weapons used in the early 21th century, such as pistols and shotguns. Halo games, on the other hand, which take place in the distant future, feature sci-fi weapons, like a plasma pistol, for example. In Halo games, players will often be fighting the alien Covenant enemy force in spaceships and other sci-fi environments.
The multi player part of Halo games is similar to other multi player FPS games such as Team Fortress (1999), Unreal Tournament (1998) and Counter-Strike (2000). Indeed, by the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, multi player FPS games were becoming increasingly popular, with some notable releases such as Battlefield 1942 (2002) and Call of Duty (2003). At the same time, single player FPS games also enjoyed prestige and mainstream success, such as seen in the case of Half-Life (1998). The first Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved, successfully featured single player and multi player gameplay, and was able to captivate and reach new audiences.
The Chronological Story Order of the Halo Video Games
This is the chronological story order of the Halo video games. In other words, this is the chronological order of the story events of the Halo games. This is the most suggested order to play the Halo games for players to have the most comprehensive story experience possible of the Halo games universe. Thischronological story order of the games is very different from the chronological release date order of the games.
This is meant to be a chronological story order list for all of the Halo video games. For this reason, I have not limited this list to only the FPS Halo games. Instead, I've done my best to include all of the Halo games, without exceptions. For this reason, there are multiple Halo games of different genres in this list.
Halo Wars
Halo: Reach
Halo: Combat Evolved | Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
Halo 2
Halo: Spartan Strike
Halo 3: ODST
Halo 3
Halo: Spartan Assault
Halo 4
Halo 5: Guardians
Halo Wars 2
Halo Infinite
Halo: Comat Evolved and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary are technically different games. However, both of these games contain the same storyline. For this reason, playing either of those games should provide the same essential, core story experience. Thus, both games should be considered a viable option for a story playthrough of the Halo video games.
Despite what may otherwise seem, Halo 3: ODST indeed takes place before Halo 3, and after Halo 2 (and most precisely, after Halo: Spartan Strike). Some people could consider Halo 3: ODST to be an expansion or an episode of Halo 3 due to its name, but the story of Halo 3: ODST is set after Halo 2 and before Halo 3.
What Does Halo 3: ODST Mean?
The "ODST" in the Halo 3: ODST name means "Orbital Drop Shock Troopers", which is are a special type of soldiers that appear in the game.
Who Are the Protagonists of the Story of Halo Games?
In most cases, the protagonists of the story of the Halo video games are Spartan Master Chief and AI Cortana. These are the main characters of most of the Halo main games, even though they do not appear in all of the Halo video games.
The Story Timeline Order of the Halo Video Games in Years
For Halo fans and for players who want to have a clear understanding and notion of the time period of each Halo video games, I wrote a list that includes the years of each Halo game. This list is quite useful to have a more comprehensive idea of how the timeline progresses with each Halo video game.
2531 Halo Wars
2552 Halo: Reach
2552 Halo: Combat Evolved | Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
2552 Halo 2
2552 Halo: Spartan Strike
2552 Halo 3: ODST
2552 Halo 3
255? Halo: Spartan Assault
2557 Halo 4
2558 Halo 5: Guardians
2559 Halo Wars 2
2560 Halo Infinite
It is noteworthy that quite a few Halo games take place in the same year of 2552. However, in that year, there are multiple different events happening, and there is a clear order of the events of these different games. For this reason, despite being very close, time-wise, there is still a reasonable order for the story events of these different games, and this order was respected in the timeline order list that I wrote.
Halo: Spartan Strike is divided in two parts. The first part of the game takes place in 2552, and the second part takes place in 2557. Considering that in my list I considered the year of the start of the gameplay, I placed Halo: Spartakn Strike in 2552, after Halo 2.
Halo 3 is set in both the years 2552 and 2553, but in my list I organized the games based on the year in which the gameplay starts, and for this reason, considering that Halo 3 starts in 2552, that is the year with which I marked this game.
When Is Halo Set?
The first Halo video game, Halo: Combat Evolved, is set in the year 2552. Most of the Halo games are also set in the same decade of 2550s, with some exceptions like Halo Wars, which is set in 2531. In general, Halo video games should be considered to take place in the 26th century, a distant future scenario when humanity must fight the Covenant enemy force.
Are All Halo Games FPS?
While some of the most famous Halo video games are FPS games, such as Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo: Reach, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo: Infinite, there are some Halo games that are not FPS. Some of these games include Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Spartan Assault, which are twin-stick shooter games, and Halo Wars and Halo Wars 2, which are real-time strategy (RTS) video games. However, and specially considering that some of the most famous Halo games are FPS, it seems that the Halo series of games is mostly known as a franchise of FPS video games, even if it does feature games of other genres.
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