I recently came across a video on my YouTube feed referencing Halo: Reach, a game that was released in 2010, and which was my first introduction to shooter games. More importantly, the game became a wider introduction for me into science fiction and storytelling. My brother had somehow convinced our father to buy an Xbox 360, along with a copy of Halo: Reach, marking a transition between my play of Nintendo games like Zelda and Mario into a series of more mature games such as Halo and even Gears of War. I particularly latched onto Halo: Reach, putting in tons of hours, completing the story and rising the ranks in multiplayer. It was a game that ~10-11 year old me could completely sink themselves into. It was fun. And the violence associated with killing aliens in opposition to people seemed to placate my dad.

Over the next few years, I quickly became a serious Halo fan. Going back to play earlier entries in the series from Combat Evolved to 3 and ODST, I caught myself up enough on the story to eagerly be excited for the release of Halo 4 in 2012, even preordering the title with the limited money my 12 year old self had. Beyond playing the games, I even read the extensive collection of novels that the Halo universe had engendered. Halo became this universe that was enthralling and intriguing. There was something there that naturally sparked my curiosity  – something which not every IP can or strives to do. Though I stopped playing after Halo 4, mostly due to a change in console I could not afford, I still look back fondly on the series. Glancing back on those years (and on the nostalgia I feel when seeing Halo), I now ask myself why that particular universe was so attractive to me.

The gameplay and action are pretty good, and the multiplayer in most Halo titles are heavily praised – even in a more controversial title such as Halo 5. Regardless, the story is where I lay the bulk of the blame on my years-long obsession with the series. I went as far to order 20th anniversary Bungie posters with money I barely had that hung in my bedroom until I finally moved, nearly a decade later. 

The story of the Halo games is fairly simple. By the 26th century humanity has moved into the stars, colonizing hundreds of worlds until they eventually come into contact with an alliance of alien races known as the Covenant. Due to certain religious interpretations of humanity, the Covenant embarks on a decades long genocidal campaign against humanity. Humanity is constantly on the back-foot, losing nearly every single engagement, battle, and campaign. Ancient, extinct aliens dubbed the Forerunners and a zombie disaster called the Flood get involved as well. The mainline games follow John-117, popularly known as the Master Chief, a painstakingly engineered super soldier dubbed a Spartan, who fights against the Covenant and the Flood on Forerunner constructs named Halo rings. Following the Master Chief, the player fights their way through engagements within the larger context of the Human-Covenant War.

That backdrop with human characters form – to me – the compelling narrative that makes Halo stick in my mind. Master Chief is a faceless, strong and silent type of protagonist, with other characters being more emotive, such as the well-known Sergeant Johnson who famously mocks the enemy Covenant: “Dear Humanity: We regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret that the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!” Combine the mostly silent, faceless protagonist in which a player could impart some of themselves into, memorable side characters, and a larger overarching conflict in which humanity faces extinction, and emotion gets formed – an attachment to the plot and characters. 

I’m a human (yes, not a robot), and Halo makes me proud of the fact that I am human. In presenting a humanity constantly on the backfoot, a humanity that is surviving, and showing that struggle so acutely in the games and novels, I can instinctively relate. Everyone in life faces struggle and suffering, it’s an unavoidable aspect of life. Most of the time, we struggle through. We survive. We are indomitable. Halo presents the indomitable human spirit full-force through setting and character. Fight after fight, level after level, the player and their companions fight through overwhelming odds to save the day in a broader military situation that seems completely unwinnable. Humans in the Halo universe rarely give up, and honestly? That makes me want to give up just a little less.