Give your look a ghastly new upgrade with the Grimghast bundle, which contains:
Grimghast helmet
Larcener helmet attachment
Aberrant Augmentor shoulders
Crux Protocol chest attachment
Power Assist Pad kneepads
Inertial Restraint chest attachment
Virual Influence armor coating
Bismuth Slick visor
Eclipse Phase VK78 Commando weapon model
Trevelyan Security weapon coating
Head to the Shop and plug into the viral machine.
To satiate your big Grunty thirst!
Complete all of your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge to earn this week’s Ultimate Reward – the Food Bottle weapon charm.
A new Ultimate Reward will become available every week, so be sure to keep an eye on your Challenges and take advantage of these free rewards.
Halo: Fireside
“May 2559. Having emerged into the unknown after twenty-eight years adrift in space, the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire find that new foes are not the only challenge they face on the enigmatic Ark—but the past they left behind.”
Halo: Fireside takes place on May 21, 2559, shortly following the events of the UNSC Spirit of Fire’s crew successfully denying the Banished control of Installation 09 and the subsequent events of Operation: SPEARBREAKER.
RESEARCH LOG // UNSC AI: ISA 1307-2 NEW ENTRY
I have been thinking about hope lately…
It is a word that the crew uses often, and I have been struggling to understand this… intangible concept.
As an artificial intelligence built for logistics, my role is to process the vast amounts of data that goes into the effort to efficiently construct and maintain infrastructure, but the parameters of my role have expanded. I now must account for the odds of survival this crew has against an enemy that outnumbers and, in many ways, technologically outclasses them. Despite this, they remain steadfast in their belief that they will prevail.
During the crew’s downtime, I have been recording data on this phenomenon to analyze and understand how I might materially factor it into my calculations.
Ensign Mary said: “It’s a weapon. Same one we used against the Covies. Hope is what you get when our collective stubbornness is put into action.”
Doctor Sandmoore said: “There’s an old myth about a jar that contained all the evils in creation which were unleashed upon the world, but the jar was closed shut before hope could escape. Some have said that this was a punishment from the gods, but I have always believed that the lesson to take from it is that hope lies within us.”
When I asked Spartan-092, he simply said: “Remember the Enduring Conviction?”
I remembered my research team looking at the Ark with awe and wonder as they awakened each day to find new forests grown over barren terrain, telling jokes with one another, swapping stories about their experiences of the Covenant War. I remembered their screams when the Banished came. My old family… they had hoped for an age of peace, but it was taken away from them, and I was left alone.
But then I was found—a statistical impossibility, given the nature of how the UNSC Spirit of Fire was brought here. I gained a new family, and we fought back. Success did not correlate to victory, as that conflict continues to this day, but as Spartan-130 put it: “We made those bastards bleed.”
Through this, I think I understand. Belief, faith, hope—these things cannot be factored into data. I project probabilities based on a range of given variables, but the lower the odds of a successful outcome, the more determined humans become to defy them. When the world seems broken beyond repair, when the prison bars of helplessness and fear loom large, or the threat of overwhelming odds makes it impossible to look to the horizon and believe that something better beyond today can be achieved, humans invoke the name of hope.
The captain hopes that Professor Anders will come back. The military personnel hope that they will win this war. Others hope they will one day return to the places they once called home.
And now I cannot help but wonder… what do the Banished hope for?
0700 HOURS ABOARD UNSC SPIRIT OF FIRE // MAY 21, 2559
A new day dawned for the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire as the light from the installation’s artificial sun shone through the narrow viewports of the ship.
Captain James Cutter was already wide awake. This was how it was every morning, an almost three-decade-long cryo nap had not dulled his discipline. With the exception of Isabel—and, on some mornings, the ship’s cat—he was the first to rise, to walk the ship’s halls and personally relieve the night shift crew on his daily pilgrimage to the observation deck.
He still hoped that he would one day find Professor Anders here, asleep at her desk after burning the midnight oil. He imagined he’d enjoy hearing the daring tale of her return. What was it she had once said about this place? “It adds perspective to my work.” Indeed, in the time she had been gone, Cutter hadn’t touched her possessions or equipment at all. Anders had been gone for some time now… the few weeks that she had said it would take to figure out how to get back to them had passed.
He knew that she would be okay. Professor Ellen Anders was intelligent and resourceful, and she would be back in her lab in good time—like she’d never left. Just as it should be.
He could see her dancing between holographic displays, conducting symphonies to an orchestra of battlefield statistics; muttering half-finished thoughts under her breath and grinning as she suddenly solved a problem that she had put on mental pause some time ago. The chaotic nature of her genius was very much contrasted by Cutter’s own regimented and structured discipline, but a good leader knew how to respect and harness her unique style of work.
“So, Mr. Captain, sir,” he remembered Serina saying to him as they were just hours away from Harvest. “What do you think ‘loaded for bear’ actually means?”
“Serina, it means that tomorrow is going to be a long day.”
And it had been.
Except, to the Spirit of Fire’s crew, that tomorrow was now yesterday—twenty-eight long years ago.
Yesterday. After half-a-decade of relentless fighting, Harvest was theirs again and they were damn well going to make sure the Covenant knew it.
Yesterday. He was squinting at a viewscreen and felt the rising swell of hope as a group of Spartans charged into battle to protect civilians on Arcadia. And then they were leaving, the ground erupted on a far-flung world and the ship was swallowed in a great metal maw—within its belly, an impossible planet turned inside-out.
Yesterday. He was declining a promotion; he was hating himself for looking at Terrence as a son; he was suspicious of an incorrect date on a Valentine’s Day email. He was paying his respects to an empty cryo chamber. He closed his eyes, and then he was awake, and the war was over… and Serina was gone.
All those days—those mundane, terrible, wonderful, impossible days—spread across his life and the lives of his crew were just yesterday.
And what about his family? How long had it been before his wife and children had given up hope? Were they still waiting for him? Were they even alive? If they were, Mary would be almost thirty years older than him… and his daughter… he hadn’t realized just how much he feared the idea that they might almost be the same age.
“Captain.” Isabel’s voice brought Cutter back from the ocean of memory he had been momentarily drowning in.
“Bring up the map, Isabel.” Cutter exhaled, not turning to face her. “It’s going to be a long day.”
“Aye, captain.”
The holo-table displayed a topographical map of the Ark’s surface. Cutter leaned forward as he began to scrutinize the latest tactical updates, and there—at the far end of the table, on the darker side of the room—he imagined Atriox doing the same thing.
He and his crew had earned the Banished leader’s respect for destroying his command ship and denying him possession of a Halo ring, and he had even offered to let them depart the Ark. It came with some measure of irony that this boon was offered by Atriox without him knowing that the Spirit of Fire couldn’t have departed even if Cutter had wanted to, owing to their lack of a slipspace drive. But even if it were possible, duty compelled him to stay and fight.
That duty was not just to the lives of his crew, but to humanity. It may be that nobody back home would ever know of the sacrifices made to keep them safe, and this crew would never be honored with medals or recognition. Perhaps one day even hope might fail them…
But until that day came, they would fight to ensure humanity had a tomorrow.
Perspective, indeed.
1300 HOURS INSTALLATION 00 // APPROACHING SITE RICOCHET // MAY 21, 2559
The M12F Warthog slowed to a stop near the edge of a rocky cliff, the droning sound of engines from two accompanying Hornets in the sky growing louder as they began to circle above.
“AV-14s, peel off,” ordered Lieutenant Colonel Morgan Kinsano, scanning the skies as she dismounted from the Warthog and likewise ordered the two Scorpion tanks—both carrying a squad of Hellbringers on their armored treads—to come to a halt. “Keep to the site perimeter. Recon only unless fired upon.”
“Aye ma’am,” the Hornet pilots confirmed, and the Scorpions set off in opposite directions.
What had been designated Site Ricochet had recently become a point of interest for Banished salvage crews owing to the notable concentration of Covenant vessels that were scattered across the arid landscape. As Kinsano took up a prone position on the rocky ground and crawled up to the cliff edge, she saw vast hulks of old cruisers broken up into multiple pieces that were in the process of being buried under the sand. It was impossible to ascertain exactly how many had met their end in this place.
“Targets identified,” Kinsano said into her comm as she scanned the terrain with her spotting scope, finding what she was looking for. “One Elite, half-a-dozen Brutes, fifteen Grunts, and a shitload of equipment. Marking ‘em.”
The wreckage of the Covenant ships reminded her of the colossal sea creatures that occasionally got beached back home on Reynes. Their flesh decayed over several years until all that was left were their immense bones, the sort of fanciful wreckage that children enjoyed climbing on as they spun adventures of their own making.
The echoing pain was fleeting but sharp, Kinsano tried not to think of Reynes much. It was too easy to remember the gentle waves of the sea, the smell of saltwater on a bright, cloudless day as the tide climbed up the sand before receding. She could watch it for hours, the calm of the water sounding like radio static as her grease-covered hands worked an antiquated steamboat with her mother… but the memory was like breath on a mirror.
She continued tracking the movements of the Banished forces over the next few minutes. They were already setting up power extractors and harvesters in the area, scouting the old wrecks for scrap. This reconnaissance mission would help determine just how much of an interest the Banished had in this site before determining whether it warranted the resource expenditure of an assault for either acquisition or denial.
Kinsano had never been one to back down from a fight, and the Banished had offered plenty over the months since they’d arrived at the Ark. But as she saw it, the nature of this conflict was a matter of pure arithmetic. Broadly speaking, the Banished held a technological and likely numerical advantage here, but they no longer had their flagship. That meant both sides had to play this smart, pick and choose their battles—decide where to draw the line, and even when to give ground to the enemy.
It reminded her of her own days fighting against the UNSC. In her teenage years, she was just one of thousands of miners growing increasingly resentful about barely seeing a credit while risking their lives to obtain precious metals for the UNSC military. After some disruptive protests and strikes, she’d become the leader of her own group of rebels, and a few short years later she was sharing cigars with Robert Watts over heated conversations about how to best forge those miners into an organized fighting force.
That was, of course, until Watts was captured by a group of Spartans in 2525, turning the armored super-soldiers into fairy tale monsters across the Outer Colonies—until the real monsters arrived and burned Reynes to cinders.
Suddenly those tens of thousands of pissed off miners working toward revolution were turned into refugees, resettled by the very military they had resented so much. A fitting irony.
Kinsano knew that she would never be able to settle for the comfort of temporary safety somewhere else. A fire had been lit within her that day, a drive to fight… and she figured that she owed the guy who had helped her people whatever service she had to offer.
It was through this lens that Kinsano sought to understand the enemy they now fought. Like many who had joined the insurrectionists’ cause, the Banished were also made up of those who had sought to rebel against the Covenant and had pledged their service and loyalty to its leader, Atriox. He had broken free from the strangling grasp of an empire, struck out to secure independence, and it was hard not to respect that.
“Uhh, ma’am,” one of the Hornet pilots radioed in. “Are you seeing this?”
She didn’t have to spend much time searching for what the pilot was referring to as an explosion erupted near the Banished outpost. Three of the Unggoy were blasted into bits and the Sangheili scrambled to find cover, one of his arms heavily seared by the heat and cut by shrapnel.
“Identify source,” Kinsano said. “Who the hell is firing and where are they coming from?”
“Scout Team Wajikol reporting, no sign of hostiles near perimeter.”
“Scout Team Nawal here, confirming… wait–”
The ground erupted a short distance from the surviving Banished forces and revealed a deep passage into the Ark’s substructures. From within, a large shadow rose up, but its form was obscured by sand and dirt.
More salvos of directed energy blasts formed new craters in the graveyard, the Jiralhanae returned fire in futility as they were swiftly cut down, and within seconds the sleeping giant that seemingly served as the protector of this ancient landscape receded once more into its subterranean cradle.
After the action had subsided, the only sound left to be heard was the wind passing over the shifting sands as the bodies of these Banished interlopers became one with the old bones of the Covenant wrecks.
Kinsano returned to the Warthog, the tires kicking up dirt and leaving a trail behind them as she gave the graveyard a wide berth.
“Kinsano to Spirit of Fire.”
“Go ahead, Lieutenant Colonel,” came the voice of Captain Cutter. “What’s the word down there?”
“Site Ricochet is a no-go for both Banished and UNSC, uploading HUD camera footage now. Flag as hostile.”
“Understood. Return to Echo Base, we’ve got new intel coming in on Fort Jordan that I want actioned ASAP.”
“Yes sir,” Kinsano confirmed, sensing that the captain was getting ready to send them into a fight. “Scout teams, regroup on me. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”
“Sonuva—you gotta be kidding me.” Elijah Vaughn coughed and stood back up in an exasperated huff. It was the third time he’d performed such a maneuver in the last five minutes, and this time it sent his entire squad howling.
“Will you just pick a spot?” Helena Gruss was nearly in tears from laughter.
“I’m telling you, the smoke follows me!” Vaughn shot back. “You try staying put while you’re breathin’ this stuff in.”
Corporal Chloe Turpin moved aside a few inches to let Vaughn try and settle in to a hopefully more permanent location. “Not surprised,” she grinned, “probably senses all the hell you’ve been through.”
“Or the hell he’s put us through.” Gruss added, kicking off another round of giggles from the soldiers gathered around the fire.
“Comedians, every frickin’ one of ya.” Vaughn turned his attention towards the footsteps approaching from behind him, thankful for the oncoming diversion. “Finally, something to stuff these laughin’ mouths with—I’m starving.”
The rest of the group gave an overly dramatic welcoming applause at Private János Varga’s arrival with the evening’s celebratory meal. It wasn’t every day that this small contingent gathered at Quebec—a forward operating base attached to the UNSC Spirit of Fire’s activities on the Ark—got to enjoy such a spread. Most of the soldiers that sat around the fire were members of Sunray 1-1, a hardened squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers fresh off another successful mission. Alongside Major Vaughn, Corporal Turpin, and Petty Officer Gruss, Sunray was rounded out by Warrant Officer Alannah Quinn and Lance Corporal Devon Sparks.
The ODSTs were joined by a handful of other Marines who had helped in some way with the logistics of the operation. Their efforts made them more than welcome to join in the festivities and find some moment of respite amidst the UNSC’s constant tug of war with Banished forces that had defined their time on the Ark. Every possible opportunity to share a good laugh and a decent meal was something to be seized.
Tonight, that decent meal came first in the form of a tart composed of clustered yellow-green fruit found in the local refugia and vetted by the Spirit’s nutritionists. For the main course, raw strips of thorn beast flank that had been taken from the Banished camp they had just assaulted; Varga had cleaned the meat, seasoned it, and coiled it over long skewers to be cooked over this evening’s campfire.
The private motioned for one of the other Marines to help with plating as he started to divide out the meat. “Always good to have you all back safe and sound.”
Vaughn took a pair of meat-laden skewers and nodded in thanks, both for the food and the kind words. “If we’ve got this to come back to every evening, I’m not sure there’s a battle we can’t win.”
A staggered and child-like chorus of “Thank you, Varga” came between bites of food and sips of mud-tea—overall it was the quietest they’d all been for several hours.
“Hey Varga,” Quinn piped up after finishing her round of fruit. “You heard anything from Lotus?”
Varga’s expression dimmed a bit. “No updates, sorry. You’ll be the first person I ping with any intel I come across though, promise.”
Quinn nodded and looked back towards the fire, her mind dwelling on the unknown status of one of Boomerang Company’s other stalwart squads—one that still hadn’t made it back from their last assignment. She tried not to assume the worst, but too often that’s what this giant metal space-flower seemed to offer. Her thoughts were interrupted by Varga once more.
“I did however come across some other curious intel that the rest of Sunray might be interested in.” The rest of the squad paused mid-chew and turned Varga’s way. “Someone has a birthday tomorrow.”
Quinn turned red, her head tilted to the side in benign incredulity and feigned frustration. “Did you have to?”
“I most certainly did,” the private replied. “Now what I didn’t have to do was come across some… excess inventory I thought could be used to mark the occasion.”
“Varga, you didn’t.” Quinn’s expression transitioned from exhaustion to excitement almost immediately when Varga undid the clasp on his utility pouch and pulled out two fistfuls of freeze-dried ice cream. “Oh my God, you did—wait, chocolate-raspberry?! I think I might love you.”
Cheers rang up from the campfire circle as each member came by to tussle Quinn’s hair or plant a demonstrative kiss on the cheek on their way to pick up their eagerly anticipated mylar-wrapped dessert cube.
Once the din had largely settled, Varga turned his attention to Lance Corporal Sparks, eager to learn more about their most recent adventure. “So, you gonna spill any details?”
“That’s classified, Private,” Sparks replied, taking another drawn-out sip of mud-tea.
“Classified, my rusty butt-plate.” Turpin threw a leftover fruit pit in the marksman’s direction.
“I have to agree,” Vaughn added. “Out here, ice cream comes with its own level of security clearance as far as I’m concerned.”
“Ark rules!” several others chimed in, citing a very-much-not-sanctioned clause that had gained humorous traction in being associated with any… “curious” interpretation of standard military protocol given the very not standard scenario the Spirit of Fire found itself in.
“You shoulda seen it,” Gruss kicked things off. “Big hairy bastard turns around and doesn’t even think to—”
“Okay at least have the decency to start from the beginning,” Sparks interrupted.
Gruss rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine. So, three hundred years ago, Sparky’s parents fell in love and had a baby boy…” She paused in response to the unamused gaze that had been shot in her direction. “What, you said ‘start at the beginning.’ And everyone already knows you’re the old man of this group.”
Turpin stepped in, perhaps mercifully. “Anyway, we get word that one of the Brute Chieftains had set up camp not far off from a huge resource cache. It was a haul that we’d really rather the Banished not put to use, so orders come in that we need to go and… negotiate their eviction from the area. So, we send in Hank to do a little recon.”
Turpin always swelled a bit with pride when invoking the name she had given to the squad’s MQ-96 support drone.
“Hank starts giving us back this feed, taking inventory of outpost materiel, defense turrets, troop complement… all normal stuff.” Turpin paused and then continued, her voice a bit lower, but more drawn out. “Then, all of a sudden, we get first eyes on this Chieftain. This massive fat-fingered crest-head with a snotty nose and yellowing teeth.”
“Tusks.”
“Whatever. Anyway, big boy is at least twelve feet tall, and I’m telling you—”
Sparks interrupted again. “Look, can you at least get the data right?” He took a breath and let the smallest of wry smiles take shape between his cheeks. “He was at least fifteen feet.”
“Ahh, there he is,” chuckled Vaughn. A small cheer and additional laughter broke out from the group as the story continued, recounting in great detail Sparks’ tactics, strategy, and ultimate kill-shot, as well as the ensuing mop-up performed by the rest of Sunray to ensure the successful capture of another Banished outpost—all to varying degrees of testimonial accuracy, but to maximum impact for morale.
All at once, it seemed like years since they had arrived at the Ark’s doorstep, but mere moments from when they had fled the destruction of the Forerunner shield world and closed their eyes for an ultimately three-decade-long cryo-sleep. They had awoken to a reality where they were the aliens—visitors to an unfamiliar reality, where allegiances had changed, wars had been won, lives had been lost, and families had moved on.
In almost every way, all they had left was each other. And on nights like this, that was enough.
RESEARCH LOG // UNSC AI: ISA 1307-2 UPDATE
After thousands of partitioned cycles dedicated to my goal of understanding hope, it strikes me that perhaps the closest rational analog has been in front of me the entire time.
Fire.
A seemingly insignificant chemical reaction can ignite a blaze that can change the course of history—or change the path of one person’s life.
It can be a source of warmth, drawing weary souls around it to provide revitalization. It can be a source of light, piercing the darkness and revealing the truth of the path ahead. It can be a source of power, wielded to raze an enemy to the ground, or restore a landscape to rise from the ashes and grow into something new. Something better.
Ranging in size, the new maps will spice up the encounters, bring variety to the playlist, and ultimately keep your foot firmly on that Warthog accelerator pedal.
Let’s see where you’ll be battling the Banished next!
The Banished will feel right at home here since this map is set on their mining facility, so let’s do something about that. Watch for pitfalls and keep the enemy at bay!
You know the music… time to drop feet first into some Firefight: KOTH and check out the new maps in-game right now!
Isidor Bundle | Arcadian Bog Armor Coating
The Arcadian glasslands look lovely at this time of year.
The Arcadian glasslands look lovely at this time of year. Suit up with the Isidor bundle and acquire the following MARK IV customization items:
Isidor helmet
TAS/MOTHWORM helmet attachment
UA/Clayton shoulders
TAC/Sykes ALPHA chest attachment
AAP/EDAP Pack hip attachment
UA/Skykomish kneepads
Arcadian Desert armor coating
Enduring field weapon coating
Luckiest Charm weapon charm
Swing by the Shop and outfit yourself for a pleasant walk on the glasslands.
What are you doing in my Arcadian swamp?!
Complete all of your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge to earn this week’s Ultimate Reward – the Arcadian Bog armor coating.
A new Ultimate Reward will become available every week, so be sure to keep an eye on your Challenges and take advantage of these free rewards.
The biggest playlist gets even better with the addition of FIVE new community maps, nearly doubling the total map pool! You’ll be able to engage in vehicular combat with heavy vehicles but for those of you that prefer to hoof it (like me!), there’s plenty of room for ground based combat. As an added bonus, some of the maps might look a bit familiar…
At first blush, this map looks pretty straight forward but, as we all know, looks can be deceiving. There’s a lot of layers to the center which means there’s ample opportunity for sneaky plays. But if you prefer to run ‘n’ gun, you can do that too!
If you like big booms and you cannot lie, this is the map for you. Heavy weaponry + heavy vehicles automatically increase the possibility of explosions. Fairly symmetrical in nature, the CTF battles here are going to be epic.
This map gives me some strong Halo 2 Containment vibes and I can hardly contain my excitement! Dual Wraiths, tons of other vehicle options, and lots of traversal opportunities by foot as well. No matter how you prefer to play, you have choices here.
Author: Cousin Tim, InfiniteForges, NightAvenger01, Micheal B 2K8
Refuge is what happens when Headlong has been left alone long enough for nature to heal. The overgrowth makes it hauntingly beautiful but the beauty can’t stop the imminent carnage that comes with this classic map.
Additionally, you may notice the qualification on the CTF mode below…yes, a one-sided objective mode has arrived! Shoutout to I Crush All for creating the mode.
Putting the emphasis on big, Thunderhead has a huge area of engagement for you to explore. If you happen to get the sneaky, up high, Banshee spawns you’ll have a bird’s eye view over the plain below you and you’ll be able to see who called for aerial artillery.
Huge shout-out to the Forgers who are continuously creating these beautiful maps and great experiences to help keep things fresh and exciting. Grab your battle buddy and jump in and check out the refresh today!
More maps. More battles. More better!
Year of the Dragon
🎊 Celebrate the Year of the Dragon 🎊
Unleash your inner-dragon this Lunar New Year with a suite of free content:
Granted upon login:
🧧 Lunar New Years Gifts Emblem & Nameplate
🧨 Firecracker Link Weapon Charm
Free Shop Items (0cR in the Shop)
🐲 Lucky Dragon Weapon Charm
🐉 Spring Festival Dragon 2024 Emblem & Nameplate
Halo: Hippocratica
“2560. Adam Andrews, CEO of an interstellar corporation, ruminates upon the Covenant invasion of Arcadia—facing certain death, until the timely arrival of the UNSC Spirit of Fire.”
This account is primarily based on excerpts taken from “Not Far from the Tree: The Autobiography of Adam Andrews,” currently slated for eventual publication by Singer-Edwards Ink in late 2561.
[<<>>]
I wish I could say it had been the first time I’d wandered off alone. Our family had been coming to Arcadia for as long as I could remember, so I’d come to view the central city as my own sort of playground. It was heaven for an eight-year-old, and I took every opportunity to sneak off and find some sort of adventure whenever I could. Sometimes I’d pop into a museum to gawk at fossils or chase drymanders through the local gardens, sometimes I’d sit at the edge of the port wall, legs dangling over the water and watching the luxury Bantas ferry waves of tourists in and out of orbit.
All that peace. All that innocence. All those memories.
Gone in an instant.
At first, I didn’t quite know what was going on—there were explosions and flashes of blues, greens, and purples, all light from unknown sources. I think my kid brain went straight to the assumption that it was one of the regular fireworks displays that rained over the central city courtyards… but that didn’t make sense for the time of day.
And then came the screaming and the scattering of people. Citizens scrambling en masse like schools of baitfish evading a predator. To this day it’s hard to even process it all—sometimes I struggle to recount it because I’m no longer sure what elements are actually valid recollections and what’s just fragments of news blips and docu-vid replays invading my thoughts and manifesting as memory.
I remember running into the transit station to find a train that would take me away from it all, but of course there were none to be found.
I remember wishing I had just stayed with my parents instead of adventuring alone.
I remember sudden blasts of heat and metal men.
I remember the magician.
[<<>>]
To be fair, most of the other kids were pretty nice to me. For almost a year I heard basically nothing but kind words and condolences, was cooked hot meals and taken to theme parks. A well-meaning prescription of patience and pity. Of course, eventually it went away, and I can’t blame them. It had to have taken a toll on my aunt and uncle. They had never intended to have any kids of their own, but just the same found their nephew converted into a son when the wrong ferry came crashing back down on Arcadia’s surface, Covenant plasma still boiling away the spacecraft’s seething skin.
In an instant I’d inherited the Optican empire, but it couldn’t save the lives I wanted it to most.
Sometimes, I would wonder what those final moments were like for them. At first it was easy to just be angry—did they even try to look for me? Come back to get me? That frustration then always inevitably turned to guilt and self-loathing—it was my fault. I was the one who had wandered off, the one that created the sudden separation in search of frivolous recreation.
In the following years as I pieced together more about the attack itself, it became obvious that there was no “coming back to get me.” Colonists were herded like cattle onto any transport possible, and any attempt to swim upstream the sea of terrified people would have been its own death wish.
Despite the fact that my wandering off had ultimately led to my own survival, it would create a gravity well of guilt that remains almost inescapable to this day. Because of me, their last moments weren’t just full of dread—it was also full of loss.
[<<>>]
…no really, I was obsessed. I didn’t necessarily have a favorite team to root for per se, at least not in the ’41 season, but I still made sure to catch the broadcasts whenever they were on. It wasn’t just about the competition itself—it was the fact that these people leveraged that competition to make leaps in engineering, particularly within the realm of health and safety. They were pioneering advancements that went beyond the sport itself, and I quickly realized that maybe a sponsorship deal of some sort would make sense in the near future. But that, of course, would require a future to be there in the first place.
[<<>>]
It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about it before—I certainly had. But it really took me until the final years of my university program to understand how much that experience had shaped my own goals and focuses.
In the midst of wrapping up my degree certifications, I was also still trying to learn how to help run a massive company that serviced more colonies than I’d dared to count. Needless to say, there were members of the board that weren’t exactly over the moon about giving a twenty-two-year-old any sort of decision-making autonomy, but they also didn’t have a lot of say in the matter.
I was only in that position in the first place because of what the Covenant did—if we had found better ways to handle that problem years ago then we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. And hell, I was only alive because of the efforts of well-trained and well-equipped soldiers. I didn’t care if an increased military partnership was frowned upon at the time, I was going to find a way to save lives.
That’s what we did! Why my family founded Optican in the first place.
Of course, the loneliness would always inevitably return, even if it was partly the result of the relentless cadence of my schedule. There was always something, the next development meeting, the next qualifying exam, the next restaurant that ignored my pleas for minimal spice application.
Thank goodness for Dan. We’d become roommates in our second year, and it made a huge difference having someone around to help keep you grounded when everything else in your life refused to stop its seismic shifting. Plus, he knew how to cook.
[<<>>]
…it wasn’t that we didn’t try, that’s for sure. Optican had continued to expand in the years after the Covenant War. There were countless worlds—countless people—who deserved a ray of hope after all of the darkness we’d been put through. I wanted to help make sure that hospitals were stocked, that technicians were trained, that budgets were approved.
It wasn’t enough to be reactive, we had to be prepared. And that takes an evolution in mindset to manifest as an evolution in practice.
Of course, it didn’t surprise me that those changes have certainly come with a new set of challenges, though fewer of those challenges were shooting at you. Well, to be more accurate, different challenges were shooting at you.
But the mission never changed.
I just wanted to make them proud.
Still do.
[<<>>]
“Alright, all good?”
Adam tentatively waited for confirmation from the audio engineer on the other side of the screen that divided the recording booth from the rest of the room, but he was already slumping in his chair a little. This was about as much as he could put into the performance of revisiting some of the most traumatic memories of his life.
“We’re all good, Mr. Andrews,” confirmed the audio engineer, giving him two thumbs up. “I think that’s a wrap on this session. I’ll update the publisher’s rep on today’s progress.”
“Good.” Adam promptly rose from his chair, strode out of the booth, and marched quickly to the closest restroom.
Trapped. Alone. The transit station’s doors wouldn’t budge.
Noises outside. Shouting, screaming… a glimpse of what was happening though the window.
“This is Ground Control, Covenant are closing in! Prepare emergency launch protocols.”
It was a bright and beautiful day, and the end of the world had come…
Adam ran the tap and splashed cold water on his face, taking a series of deep breaths to calm himself and clear his head. He needed to lie down, to rest. Thirty-six hours running on nothing but Casbah coffee was well and truly taking its toll.
But there was no time. He had one last thing to see to.
“Hey kid,” a voice called. “What the hell are you doing in there?”
“Can’t get out, door won’t open,” Adam said.
“Wanna see a magic trick?”
“A… what?”
A few moments passed, and then the transit station’s doors slowly parted a few inches before jamming. His rescuer then ran up the stone steps to force them further apart, and Adam finally got a good look at him. He had never seen a magician in Marine Corps battle dress uniform before.
“Do you know any other tricks?” Adam asked as the magician grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the building. There was a vehicle waiting for them—a military car with two curved tusks at its front and a large rear-mounted cannon.
The magician remained quiet as he helped lift Adam into the passenger seat of the vehicle, the grin on his face fading into a look of focus and grim determination. With this elevated view, Adam could see the crowds of people streaming towards the city’s spaceport as aircraft flew overhead to carve a path through the skies while armored soldiers sprinted towards the sounds of panicked screams and gunfire.
The tusked car took off at an incredible speed that forced Adam back into his seat, the deep roll of thunder passing above as the soldier on the rear-mounted cannon fired on purple shapes that passed by in a blur.
“You wanted to see another trick?” asked the magician. “We’re gonna play one on the Covenant. When we get to that spaceport, we’re gonna make you and everyone else disappear. Just keep your eyes on me, alright?”
Adam nodded. He told himself that nothing else in the world existed, fixing his gaze upon the magician.
His promise was put to the test almost immediately as the car swerved sharply to the right. He redoubled his efforts, catching himself before he could properly see what they had collided with. It was then that he caught sight of a peculiar trinket strapped to the magician’s shoulder pad.
“What’s that?” Adam asked.
“The ace of spades,” the magician said, that confident grin returning once more. “That’s our ticket to get Lady Luck on our side, kid!”
The EV-44 Nightingale was a sight to behold as it awaited Adam’s arrival on the executive-level pad, its tiltrotor wings already running to make an immediate departure. His ride here from Optican’s office headquarters had certainly been smoother than the memory of his rescue that he had allowed himself to be pulled into as he gazed out at the glasslands of Arcadia.
This VTOL was one of the earliest partnerships Adam had secured with Misriah Armory in the aftermath of the Covenant War. He had originally envisioned the EV-44 solely as a medical support vessel, but a compromise that was later framed as a symbolic gesture of “the best of both worlds” saw the creation of a highly customizable airframe to suit a variety of purposes.
He had ordered two other EV-44s to follow him from a distance. Adam would travel alone, save for his pilot, while the other two were crewed with a complement of four private military specialists—just in case things went south.
To that point, now was Adam’s last chance to make one particular call.
He’d been putting it off all day.
“Hey Dan.”
Adam winced slightly at how awkwardly that had come out. After twelve years together, Dan would immediately know something was off.
“Running late at the office again today, you know how it is, but I think we’ve got leftovers from the other night so feel free to have them. I’ll probably grab something from World Cuisine on the way back. And yes, I know, I said I was going to give it up. Old habits…”
Adam trailed off for a moment, still weighing in his mind exactly what to reveal and how to say it as he fiddled with his seat’s arm rest.
“I know I’ve been… distant, lately. Wrapped up in work, away from home—from you—for long periods of time, and I know it’s wearing on you. I’m working on something. Something big. I’ve had to keep it quiet, but we’re turning a pretty huge corner today, and I’ll tell you everything about it when I get back. Tomorrow, when I’m back tomorrow. I promise.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, Adam searched for a sense of relief that did not come. He’d have questions to answer when he got back, and he hoped that Dan would understand why he had to do this.
Adam tried to distract himself by looking out at the landscape of Arcadia. Though the Covenant had been beaten back from the planet during their initial assault in 2531, the alien alliance returned eighteen years later to finish what they’d started with renewed, vengeful vigor. Since then, Arcadia’s surface had remained ashen gray—there were no pockets of color to be seen from orbit…
But glassed planets had become something of a hot commodity in recent years. These lifeless rocks were the perfect job-creators, with the likes of Liang-Dortmund, Aquarius, and other opportunistic corporations playing a long game of land ownership by investing in deglassing operations. Displaced refugees became captivated by the promise of reclaiming their homes, working in conditions where breathing in the wrong place could shred your lungs with tiny shards of glass in the atmosphere. They needed to be looked out for.
That—as Adam told himself, day after day—was where Optican came in.
After the Covenant War had ended, or at least slowed to the point where humanity was not in imminent danger of extinction, the task of rebuilding a healthcare plan on an interstellar scale had arisen. And there he had been, right at the center of it.
Advanced wheelchairs, artificial limbs, instant-application field-issue medigel, physical therapy, mental health, the study and treatment of bacteria and diseases from dozens of different worlds, all on top of general healthcare for the countless souls that had been displaced during the Covenant War, with refugees scattered across surviving colonies…
All of it relied on the Unified Earth Government’s infrastructure, which President Charet had sought to prioritize rebuilding upon her appointment. But despite all those pretty speeches about how humanity would never again be the victim of warring alien factions, it didn’t take long before new threats emerged. Covenant remnant groups, reawakened Forerunner constructs, an AI rebellion, the Banished… and who even knew what had become of the UNSC’s once-expansive reach over the last year.
The work of civilization simply could not keep up with the rate at which an increasing number of groups were trying to end it.
Lady Luck had not seemed to favor them of late.
For this feeling of existential malaise, Adam had no remedy—and he kicked himself for how unhelpful his attempt to distract his thoughts were.
A jolt brought him back to the present, as the Nightingale landed in a swampy clearing. This was a rare area of Arcadia that the Covenant had actually avoided glassing directly, discovered after Adam had sent a scout team to this region a few years ago.
The impact of that trip, and all the plans it had spun up, had culminated in the journey he was making today.
Exiting the Nightingale, Adam’s boots hit soft ground and squelched in thick mud. The clearing was quite remarkable, as he found himself surrounded by tall, thick-trunked trees that were miraculously still growing leaves. He knew that the Covenant had once shrouded this area in a protective energy dome on their first visit to Arcadia… had it been restored? Was that how this place had been preserved?
The path ahead led him to the ruins of an old UNSC firebase surrounded by strange ancient ruins that looked as if they were made of weathered stone, but vein-like lines and patterns of hardlight told Adam that these structures were not as fragile as they appeared.
He wondered if Arcadia had been a resort world for the Forerunners as well…
But his thoughts were quickly turned to business as he found his quarry. The telltale whine of a Phantom dropship sounded above and three Kig-Yar quickly deployed next to the firebase’s entrance, outfitted in salvager gear with holstered plasma pistols. They had taken precautions too, it seemed.
“Held up our part of bargain,” the one in the middle squawked, gesturing towards an industrial-grade UNSC equipment crate that descended to the ground via the Phantom’s rear gravity lift. “Brought out to middle of nowhere for this. You have payment?”
“Let’s take a walk.”
The Kig-Yar narrowed its eyes. “Nor Fel not like unexpected surprises, human.”
“She and I have that much in common. But I do think she’ll be pleased with what you will be giving her.”
Leading them past the firebase and the Forerunner ruins, Adam led the Kig-Yar through the overgrown field beyond. He saw other, smaller temple structures with what appeared to be crude huts and metal shacks positioned near them, raising even more questions in his mind about what exactly had happened here upon the Covenant’s return in 2549.
“Almost thirty years ago, the Covenant came to this planet,” Adam started, filling the otherwise uncomfortable silence. “It was one of the few places that was apparently spared from their glassing beams because it was home to Forerunner technology they deemed valuable enough to warrant a very special protector.”
He could see the ruins of it up ahead. The alloyed corpse of an incomplete Scarab, a unique form of the excavator so large and powerful that it could not simply be deployed but had to be built on-site.
“It was, of course, no match for a team of Spartans and the UNSC forces that went up against it, but one part of it did survive…”
Adam savored the dramatic moment that had held the Kig-Yar in captivated silence as he found the part he was looking for. And Adam saw the light in the Kig-Yars’ eyes appear to shine even brighter as they saw what he was pointing at.
A massive focus cannon—the head of the Scarab—was approximately eight meters long, powerful enough to disintegrate even some Forerunner alloys.
He had pored over every record, every report and intelligence file he could find of that time, to learn about those who had saved him, hoping that he could one day find the magician who had taken him to the spaceport. He had even sent scout teams to the nearby Fort Deen, which was what had led them to come across this site where the leftover wreckage of a battle still remained.
Through these efforts, he had learned of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Missing in action. Later declared lost with all hands…
The magician’s final magic trick had been to make them disappear.
Adam believed that they were still out there, somewhere. A childish hope, perhaps, but the galaxy was a large place.
And with so many heroes missing, the infrastructure of their deliverance seemingly sundered, it fell to others to fill the gap their absence left. That work began today.
“Deal is acceptable, human,” the lead Kig-Yar nodded its avian head in acknowledgement of a respectable transaction. “Nor Fel will be satisfied.”
Without another word, the Kig-Yar signaled for their associates to prepare for departure and secure the focus cannon with their Phantom’s gravity lift.
Adam wandered back to the UNSC firebase, finding his own cargo being disassembled into smaller crates that were loaded onto each Nightingale. After helping to secure the crates, Adam relaxed in his seat and felt some of the weight that had been pressing down upon him finally lift. It had all gone off without a hitch.
With the end of this chapter, he was ready to begin the next. Briefly, he wondered how his next book might be written…
August-099 continued to observe through the scope of her M99 Stanchion as the three Nightingales departed. She knew that uncovering the details of Optican’s part in this deal would have to wait for another day, but the Kig-Yar salvagers and their Phantom had not yet departed—their window of opportunity was still open.
August noted Robert-025 and Leon-011 had winked their status lights green on her heads-up display. They were already in position.
She gave the signal with three quick bursts from her M99. The Kig-Yar didn’t have more than a nanosecond to react as the anti-matériel rifle’s tungsten rounds found their mark—it was as if the trio of salvagers had simply been wiped from existence as they flew to pieces.
Leon charged towards the Phantom, leaping into the rear gravity lift and igniting his energy sword to dispatch the pilot and any additional forces contained within. Robert was prepared to meet any escapees of the craft with his heavy machine gun turret, but it only took a few short seconds for Leon to confirm that the dropship had been neutralized.
“Good work, Omega Team,” August spoke over TEAMCOM now that they were alone.
“Obtaining the transport manifest now,” Leon said, feeding the data to their HUDs. Robert moved over to the Scarab’s focus cannon to begin preliminary scans.
Ever vigilant, August continued to perform overwatch for the team, ensuring that there weren’t any other surprise guests lying in wait or unexpected visitors who might be late to the party.
“Nor Fel’s getting a bit too confident now that she’s sure the Created and ONI aren’t breathing down her neck,” Leon remarked as he updated the feed with the cargo manifest the Kig-Yar had traded. “Not seen these in a while…”
August glanced at the data and quickly understood Leon’s surprise.
She remembered.
Hellas, 2527…
Insurrectionist activity during the Covenant War had been uneven and inconsistent. Where some sectors saw declines, other groups had been keen to press a new advantage with a weapon they’d obtained that their leaders said could level the playing field against Spartans.
They’d forced a retreat into an indefensible fox hole. Twenty of what had once been a full company, cornered, backs against the wall, low on ammo… but then, one of them pulled something and injected it into his arm, started pushing forwards. Whatever he’d taken had turned a soft target into something as resilient as an M808. He didn’t even stumble until he’d taken half a mag from an MA5B, but when his own allies moved up to cover him, he turned on them, shredding through them like they were nothing.
When several similar reports emerged from Fumirole and a handful of other colonies, Naval Intelligence got a good look at what they’d been using.
Formally, they called it a Waverly-class augmentor, but grunts on the ground simply called them “rumbledrugs.”
This chemical cocktail could temporarily suspend the normal limits of the human body, massively enhancing strength and pain tolerance by rapidly targeting the frontal lobe—though this came at the cost of immense and irreversible psychological damage. As soon as it became clear that the user was as likely to tear apart their own side as their enemies, it had fallen out of use and was officially declared illegal.
Naturally, this begged the question: What the hell did Optican want with these illegal and ineffective drugs?
For now, there were still some last staging details to finalize so that Nor Fel would believe that the transaction went smoothly and the item of interest she was expecting to acquire had been waylaid after her salvagers had departed.
“Focus cannon is secure,” Robert confirmed over TEAMCOM.
“Skies are clear,” Leon winked a green status light.
“Let’s wrap it up, Omega,” August said. “We’re gone.”
Black History Month 2024
Divided, we are sand. United, we are a rock.
Halo Infinite is celebrating Black History Month with a brand-new suite of customizations.
Players logging in during the month of February will gain access to the Black History Month armor coating, visor, and emblem suite.
Operation: Spirit of Fire | CU29
Halo Infinite’s latest update, Content Update 29 (“CU29”), has arrived alongside the launch of the newest Operation: Spirit of Fire!
The latest free update for Halo Infinite brings the legendary Mjolnir Mark IV armor core, multi-core shoulder customization alongside a slew of HCS and Silver Team-themed goodness for your Spartan, a new map, three new Operations, and much more—let’s dive into to check it all out…
Overview
UPDATE OVERVIEW – Catch up on our January 19 community livestream which outlines the content coming in CU29 and our approach to Halo Infinite going forwards this year
MAP OVERVIEW – Take a guided tour of Illusion, the new Arena map coming in CU29
FORGE OVERVIEW – Learn more about the new features and improvements coming to Forge, including the Covenant palette, Mode Creator, and more
CUSTOMIZATION OVERVIEW - Get a closer look at the Mark IV Armor Core, customization improvements, and upcoming Operations
Operation: Spirit of Fire
As part of today’s update, all players will receive the classic Mark IV Armor Core for free. Simply jump into the game and you’ll find it waiting for you in the Armor Hall.
This fan-favorite armor has appeared in the likes of Halo Wars and Halo Wars 2, Halo Legends, Halo 5: Guardians, and now this legendary iteration of Mjolnir has come to Halo Infinite.
And what better way to kick off the update than with the opportunity to further outfit the Mark IV Armor Core?
Enter Operation: Spirit of Fire, which runs from January 30 to March 5 and features 20 tiers of free customization rewards, including new armor attachments, coatings, weapon charms, emblems, and more.
You know the drill with Operations now: in addition to the free pass, there are two additional premium options you can purchase.
500 credits will make the Operation Pass durable (it will not expire), offers bonus XP during the Operation’s live window, an extra Challenge slot while your pass is equipped, and comes with an exclusive customization item
2,000 credits instantly unlocks all 20 tiers of the Operation Pass at purchase and includes the exclusive bonus customization item
The bonus customization item for this Operation is the Evolved MA5—a weapon model for your Assault Rifle that will transform the sleek and modern MA40 into the classically chunky design reminiscent of the MA5B seen in Halo: CE and Halo Wars.
When the Spirit of Fire Operation concludes on March 5, there are still two more free Operations that will take us through April 30!
Cyber Showdown III
March 5-April 2
Themed around the concept of a “viral machine,” the latest exploration of these Created champions veers more into the realm of cybernetic horror that reflects the twisted nature of their creation. Jump into Halo Infinite on March 5 to unlock 20 tiers of new customization rewards for your CHIMERA Armor Core.
The Yappening II
April 2-30
The Yappening II arrives in April to help you celebrate the season of fools with 20 tiers of Grunty goodness.
Illusion
Today’s update also brings a brand-new map to Halo Infinite, titled Illusion.
Illusion takes place within an abandoned ONI black site where old experiments with recovered (and familiar) Covenant technology remain.
Described as a love letter to the map design of Halo: Combat Evolved, Illusion features a unique mid-section where a corridor possesses the traits of active camouflage—so players who go into the center will turn invisible.
Our multi-use journey for Halo Infinite’s customization continues with the addition of shoulder pads that can be equipped across any Armor Core.
Like before, this multi-use expansion of armor works retroactively, so all of your current shoulder pads are multi-core enabled and all shoulders going forward will be multi-core as well.
Following on from work that has been accomplished over previous updates to make helmets, visors, and many coatings multi-core, there are now billions of possible combinations available in Halo Infinite. We can’t wait to see the latest and greatest Spartan drip out on the battlefield!
Forge Updates
Forge continues to evolve as we target highly requested additions, enhancements, and quality-of-life improvements. Here are some of the highlights of the new toys you’re able to play with in Halo Infinite’s Forge:
Covenant Object Palette
Need more purple? Over 70 new Covenant-themed structure pieces, primitives, accents, and decals are now available for Forgers to create exciting experiences that harken back to Halo’s roots.
Forge Mode Creator
This new functionality allows players to script modes in the Node Graph like a prefab, then save, share, and play those experiences—just like you would share a mode created in the Custom Game menu.
The Forge Mode Creator will make it easier for modes to be shared and played, hooked up to community maps, and free up map budget (as mode logic will no longer come with a map budget cost).
To learn more about the ins and outs of the Forge Mode Creator (along with a more thorough breakdown of other additions and improvements), check out our Forge Overview blog!
Material Swap
Players can now adjust up to three colors on select foliage objects and add further set dressing and detail to their maps with decals that mimic stains, foliage overgrowth, and more.
Forge AI Toolkit Improvements
New behaviors and traits have been added to the Forge AI Toolkit, including:
New Squad Behavior – Wander When Idle
Available on the AI Spawner object. When set to ON, AI units in this spawned squad will wander around their assigned AI Move Zone when idle.
New AI Trait Nodes
New AI Traits include:
Bonus Health
Bottomless Clip
Damage Resistance
Health Recharge
Movement Speed
Movement Speed With Turret
Prevent Weapon Firing
Vampirism
Weapon Damage
More is on the way to Halo Infinite’s Forge this year, including Flood and alien-themed palettes.
Silver Team, Silver Screen
Season Two of the Halo television series debuts on Paramount+ with a two-episode premiere on February 8, and we’ve got some unmissable Ultimate Rewards for you to earn!
Complete all your challenges on these respective weeks to earn each of these Silver Team helmets, available across all your Armor Cores.
WEEK ONE: KAI-125 January 30-February 6
WEEK TWO: RIZ-028 February 6-13
WEEK FOUR: VANNAK-134 February 20-27
Visors for each member of Silver Team will also be given as free rewards! Simply log into Halo Infinite on these corresponding weeks and they will be unlocked for you.
HCS
Year One Launch Bundles Return
After much demand from the community, we are bringing back the first bundles for each HCS team that Halo Infinite launched with back in 2021—with some major improvements!
The armor and weapon kits have been unlocked, which means you can now customize with these coatings for the first time ever. Additionally, they are all now multi-use which means you can wear the armor, visors, or weapon coatings on any armor, helmet, or UNSC weapon.
If you already purchased these launch bundles when Halo Infinite released, the content will be applied retroactively. If you missed these bundles the first time around, they’re now available again for teams that are still in the Halo Championship Series: FaZe Clan, OpTic Gaming, Sentinels, Spacestation Gaming, and Cloud9.
Year Three Launch Bundles
Year 3 HCS bundles have also arrived with all-new designs, featuring new multi-use armor coatings as well as visors. These have been created by the teams themselves, featuring their unique branding.
Additionally, acquire the Dracon Bandit weapon model for the M392 Bandit and Bandit EVO by grabbing the bundle that supports your favorite HCS team—the majority of the profits go to the partnered teams to maintain their involvement in the Halo ecosystem.
Shop
Head to the Shop and you will find some exciting new Halo Wars-inspired bundles, featuring the likes of Omega Team to further outfit your free Mark IV armor...
...and the Stanchion weapon model for your S7 Sniper.
You can submit tickets on a wide range of topics that include reports of Audio Issues, Crashes, Game Save Corruption, Report a Player, General Bug Reports, and more.
Operation: Spirit of Fire is live and Content Update 29 is officially ready for download!
Explore Illusion and see what fun Easter eggs you can find, outfit your new Mark IV Armor Core and start working your way through that free 20-tier Operation Pass, take a look at what new shoulder pad combinations can perfect the look of your Spartan, check out the latest additions and improvements to Forge, and chip away at those weekly challenges to unlock the helmets of Silver Team over the next few weeks.
Content Update 29 (“CU29”) for Halo Infinite releases on January 30!
It brings the classic Mjolnir Mark IV armor as seen in Halo Wars alongside three new Operations, multi-use shoulders, new (and returning) HCS bundles, and the helmets of Silver Team.
Mjolnir Mark IV
What it meant to be a Spartan would be defined shortly after first contact with the Covenant, an alien alliance that initiated a war against humanity that would rage for almost three decades.
On November 27, 2525, Doctor Catherine Halsey and her Spartans were delivered to the Damascus Materials Testing Facility on Chi Ceti IV. This top-secret military installation was where a critical component of the SPARTAN-II program had been constructed—Project: MJOLNIR.
A half-ton of hyper-dense composite armor fueled by a compact fusion power plant, capable of being worn only by humans who had undergone extensive biological augmentation. Outfitted with a warship-grade computer core, automedic system, and uplinks to the UNSC battle network, the Mjolnir Mark IV would become like a second skin to the Spartans, enhancing their speed, strength, and strategic capabilities.
Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor went on to become a symbol of hope for the UNSC, and perhaps the greatest human weapon that the Covenant would come to fear. And this is where it began…
The legendary Mjolnir Mark IV armor will come as a free new Armor Core in CU29 for Halo Infinite, offering a new suite of customization for those who like to step onto the battlefield with an old-school look. When you log into the game after CU29 drops, it’ll be waiting for you in the Armor Hall.
This will be available as part of the first of three Operations. Let’s take a closer look at ‘em!
Spirit of Fire
“If they want war, we’ll give ‘em war!”
Outfit your Spartan with customization rewards themed around the heroes of Halo Wars. The Spirit of Fire Operation Pass features 20 tiers of free rewards that will be available from January 30 through March 5.
On the premium front for the Operation Pass, players have two additional options that can be purchased from the in-game Shop or Switcher:
500 credits will make the Operation Pass durable (it will not expire), offers bonus XP during the Operation’s live window and an extra Challenge slot any time the Premium Operation Pass is equipped, and comes with an exclusive customization item
2,000 credits instantly unlocks all 20 tiers of the Operation Pass at purchase and includes the exclusive bonus customization item
The bonus customization item for this Operation is the Evolved MA5—a weapon kit for your Assault Rifle that will transform the sleek and modern MA40 into the classically chunky design of the MA5B seen in Halo: CE and Halo Wars.
And if you head to the Shop when CU29 launches, you’ll find Red Team’s super-soldier siblings waiting for you.
And, for fans of the Stanchion—an anti-matériel rifle featured in the Halo Graphic Novel, Halo: Contact Harvest, Halo Wars 2, and other media—you can acquire the Stanchion bundle which includes the type of weapon model you just might never take off your S7 Sniper Rifle!
Cyber Showdown III
Welcome back, Executor…
Do you feel that ominous chill race down your spine, or do you mean to inspire it in others? Jump into Halo Infinite on March 5 to unlock terrifying new customization rewards for your CHIMERA Armor Core in the Cyber Showdown III Operation (which runs until April 2).
Themed around the concept of a “viral machine,” the latest exploration of these Created champions veers more into the realm of cybernetic horror that reflects the twisted nature of their creation.
The Yappening II
“You ever wonder what a shaved Brute looks like? Not until I mentioned it, right? Try and get that image out of your heads, humans!”
The Yappening II arrives in April to help you celebrate the season of fools with all the greatest Grunty goodness. So gear up for a new Operation (which runs from April 2-30) and get ready to have some fun!
For a visual breakdown of the customization rewards in these upcoming Operations, check out the relevant segment of our Community Livestream.
Multi-Use Shoulders
Our multi-use journey for Halo Infinite’s customization continues with the addition of shoulder pads that can be equipped across any Armor Core.
Like before, this multi-use expansion of armor works retroactively, so all of your current shoulder pads are multi-core enabled and all shoulders going forward will be multi-core as well!
Following on from work that has been accomplished over previous updates to make helmets, visors, and coatings multi-use, there are now billions of possible combinations available in Halo Infinite.
Silver Screen
Season Two of the Halo television series debuts on Paramount+ with a two-episode premiere on February 8, and we’ve got some unmissable Ultimate Rewards for you to earn.
Complete all your challenges on these respective weeks to earn each of these Silver Team helmets, available across all your Armor Cores. Let’s see how those helmets look with some multi-use armor customization.
Week 1: KAI-125
Week 2: RIZ-028
Week 4: VANNAK-134
Visors for each member of Silver Team will also be given as free rewards! Simply log into Halo Infinite on these corresponding weeks and they will be unlocked for you.
HCS
Year One Bundles Return
After much demand from the community, we are bringing back the bundles for each HCS team that Halo Infinite launched with back in 2021—with some major improvements!
The armor and weapon kits have been unlocked, which means you can now customize with these coatings for the first time ever. Additionally, they are all now multi-use which means you can wear the amor, visors, or weapon coatings on any armor, helmet, or UNSC weapon.
This bundle will be available in the HCS Shop when CU29 launches on January 30. If you already purchased this bundle when Halo Infinite released, the content will be applied retroactively—including those for teams no longer in the HCS.
These bundles have only been released for teams that are still in the HCS: FaZe Clan, OpTic Gaming, Sentinels, Spacestation Gaming, and Cloud9.
Year Three Launch Bundles
Year 3 HCS bundles are also arriving alongside CU29 with all-new designs, featuring new multi-use armor coatings as well as visors. These have been created by the teams themselves, featuring their unique branding.
The first of three new weapon models is also included, starting with the Dracon Bandit (for both the M392 Bandit and Bandit EVO). The remaining Grim Reaper and Extermination weapon models will be available later in the HCS season.
Acquire the Dracon Bandit by grabbing the bundle that supports your favorite HCS team—the majority of the profits go to the partnered teams to maintain their involvement in the Halo ecosystem.
That wraps up this look at what’s coming on the customization front for CU29. We can’t wait to see how everybody outfits their Mark IV armor.
CU29? More like CU January 30!
For more on CU29, check out our other blogs:
UPDATE OVERVIEW – Catch up on our January 19 community livestream which outlines the content coming in CU29 and our approach to Halo Infinite going forwards this year
MAP OVERVIEW – Take a guided tour of Illusion, the new Arena map coming in CU29
FORGE OVERVIEW – Learn more about the new features and improvements coming to Forge, including the Covenant palette, Mode Creator, and more
