Halo Infinite's marketing has ranged from beautiful CGI trailers to in-depth gameplay overviews. In a new live-action video for Halo Infinite, the origins of the technology behind Master Chief's energy shields are revealed.
This trailer is not Halo's first foray into live-action material, with there being numerous other projects that have come before. Going back to Halo 3, there was the "Believe" campaign, that featured interviews with veterans of the Human-Covenant War, which culminated in the legendary diorama where Master Chief ignites a plasma grenade and rallies the soldiers. Halo 3: ODST featured a haunting video following the plights of a group of Helljumpers, and Halo: Reach had the "Deliver Hope" trailer, which showed what it takes to become a Spartan. Beyond official projects, there are many Halo fan films that demonstrate the passion people have for this series.
A new live-action Halo Infinite trailer explores the story of Master Chief's energy shields and the sacrifices made to acquire them. The video titled "UNSC Archives - Unspoken" opens with a description of the incident: "Assigned to a freighter escaping the destruction of Harvest, two marines confiscated alien energy shields while defending passengers from an enemy boarding assault." What proceeds is the beautiful testimony of Chris Preston, one of the soldiers from the incident, who recounts in sign language, the heroics of David Dominguez to his parents, and how important his sacrifice was. The recording takes place in 2026, one year after the Human-Covenant War began on Harvest.
Interestingly, the trailer is devoid of a lot of spectacle, really focusing on just the words of Preston, and the actor's performance. It is an aspect of Halo that is often overlooked in-game and what makes the limited live-action projects of the series so compelling. Besides Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, the live-action feature-length film that released alongside the game, there are no other large scale live-action projects that have been produced. There have been many live-action Halo projects attempted, but for reason or another, they are continually scrapped or stranded in development limbo.
This new trailer suggests that it is part of a series, with more "UNSC Archives" videos likely coming soon in the run up to Halo Infinite. While wreaking havoc as Master Chief through the often over-the-top nature of the gameplay, it can be easy to forget that Halo is also a story about survival against a daunting alien threat. Games like Halo: Reach and Halo 4 try tap into these themes a bit more than some other games, but they are best fleshed out in the litany of Halo novels that have built out the universe for the last 20 years. One has to wonder what other stories are hidden in the UNSC archives.
Halo Infinite releases December 8 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.