The Halo's Journey
The original cover of Halo Combat Evolved, Recreated in Halo 4.
When a genre has been prominent for any amount of time, there exist unwritten rules that a text within that medium will unconsciously follow and be defined by those who both create and consume them. Of all storytelling mediums, video games are most defined by their respective genres; bound by the laws of what their programming will allow them to achieve. Unlike other mediums such as film and television, where the blending of genres is relatively easy e.g. it is entirely possible to create say a television series that blends science fiction and comedy with elements of a thriller. Video games are significantly more limited with what their genres can achieve when mixed together; for instance the hypothetical fusion of a first-person shooter and a traditional 2D fighting game being near impossible with the objectives and visual displays of each genre clashing to the point where integration is impossible. It is this solitude of genre in video games that makes their aspects so recognizable in terms of narrative, iconography, and game-play.
So…Halo.
Despite it no longer being gaming’s absolute top dog, Halo is undoubtedly still a Juggernaut property, a universal icon that is fondly recognized and remembered even by those who have long since hung up their duke controllers. And whilst Halo games thrive of Multiplayer, we all first came for the campaign. Like with a lot of games Halo’s story campaigns borrow heavily from the structure of ‘The Hero’s Journey’: a set of narrative guides that have assisted writers in all mediums for years is an outline coined by Joseph Campbell. However, none follow this structure to a tie like the first Halo; Combat Evolved.
‘A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered, and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man’ - Joseph Campbell
(Campbell outlined these steps as the major points of the Hero’s Journey, the elements that the hero experiences in their progressing quest)
Call to adventure
Supernatural aid
Threshold (beginning of the transformation)
Challenges and Temptations
Revelation
Transformation
Atonement
Return
(For the sake of simplicity, these are the basic levels of the Hero’s Journey, I won’t focus upon a lot of the sub headings of Campbell’s outline)
The structure of Halo’s overarching narrative is indicative of the Hero’s Journey but also a common structure of FPS campaigns. For those unfamiliar, lets catch you up: Halo begins with the tile character ‘Master Chief’ awakening on board the Pillar of Autumn battle cruiser currently under attack from the Covenant (a religious alliance of multiple aliens seeking humanities annihilation). Chief is then tasked with protecting the Pillar of Autumn’s highly advanced A.I Cortana, as the crew of the Autumn crash and on a mysterious ring world called ‘Halo’. Now lets outline each step of this Halo’s Journey, from the first steps to finishing the fight and see how Halo adheres and excels in the narrative structure.
Call to adventure: This is an easy starting link, Chief is literally awakened from cryogenic sleep and tasked directly by Captain Keyes to escort Cortana off the Pillar of autumn, a clear call to a new adventure or quest and the start of our journey. With Chief coming out of cryo-stasis, he is still adjusting to walking and readjusting to his armor, this means the player and Chief are in essence at the same level of understanding so it allows for both the player to get used to the control schemes and justifies a tutorial, among other game-play introductions that have an in universe meaning. Both the sense of embodiment and the narrative progression of the heroes journey are being met here.
Supernatural Aid: This actually comes in multiple forms: first with Keyes handing you an empty M6D magnum (which with its precision, power and it’s ‘can take down a tank’ versatility, its pretty damn supernatural honestly) but more conventional aid comes in the form of Cortana, our guardian angel, Chief’s and by proxy the players eyes and ears throughout this adventure. With Cortana being an advanced A.I she fits this archetype of supernatural guardian well. With Cortana’s running commentary throughout the course of the levels this sense of interactivity between us as Chief and as the player, its still Chief’s story, but we’ve got front row seats.
Once landed on Halo, the journey truly begins.
Threshold:
The goal of any traditional FPS is escalation, the innate sense of stakes always rising to co-inside with the advancing progress of the game in order to satisfy and reward player investment and participation:
Halo’s first Major threshold being the discovery that the Halo ring world is believed to be a weapon by the Covenant, that then gives Chief and the rest of the Marine forces a goal: find Halo’s control room. This builds the mystery of what this planet sized ringworld is whilst giving the rest of the story arc a definitive goal (later to be subverted): find Halo’s control room. The nature of linear based games is that there is usually a built-in sense of progression; felt both internally with an increase of skill as you subsequent adjustment to the games controls/design and externally with the game granting access to new weapons and further areas now that the player is accustomed and ready to move forward. The Hero’s journey method of storytelling works well with the sense of progression found in FPS games. The storytelling of the hero’s journey is reliant upon the hero (or here the ‘player) advancing through bigger and bigger challenges as the journey continues with a climax that is (ideally) a culmination of everything the hero has faced thus far.
In regard to the FPS genre and its relationship to narrative, a common trope back in the days of yesteryear of its protagonists is that they are effectively ciphers: blank slates that have little defined personality and are designed whether that be consciously are not, to be the ultimate embodiment of the player. However, Halo when it first released sat in a cross road with this approach:
Whilst Master Chief does communicate during cut scenes, indicating he is his own character, during game-play he is usually silent which is where the act of embodiment takes place. The Halo series at its core is an event-driven story-line, whilst you couldn’t write essays on any of the main cast in this initial instalment, the events they encounter and that drive the story are so varied and interesting that it benefits Halo’s storytelling. And if we’re talking about the Hero’s Journey, it allows us to have a balanced relationship between Halo being Master Chief’s journey and our journey. Though this is balanced by the fact that as mentioned prior, Chief does speak within the games cut scenes; voicing his view on the world and therefore interacting with the progressing storyline. This works alongside the players embodiment, with Chief being an established character during the storied cut scenes as not to be a completely blank slate but allowing for player reliability when journeying through the actual game, thus allowing for a balance of player and designer fulfilment.
Challenges and Temptations:
Beginning at ‘the Silent Cartographer’ stage, Halo has now introduced a wide range of Covenant enemies, each with their own weapon, attack and movement types, and the challenge then comes from navigating combat spaces of varying size. From open beach fronts to tight underground Forerunner facilities, the key to Halo’s combat is quickly strafing and deciding which two weapons (a limit uncommon in fps’ circa 2001) would be best in your current surrounding environment. Experimenting with said weapons is key to success, the level Silent Cartographer is a great example of this with the introduction of the Hunters:
Enemies with seemingly impenetrable amour, forcing you to manoeuvre around and aim at their exposed flesh, and by experimenting you’ll find that some weapons such as the Magnum and Sniper rifle take down these behemoths in a single shot. Another aspect of challenge is Halo’s usage if both triggers as Grenades and Firearms. Prior to this game, commonly in FPS design, grenades would be just another selectable weapon on a weapon wheel, with them being mapped to a single key and there being two types available, this creates another level of strategy as when to use grenades in the midst of a firefight and what type (Fragmentation or Plasma) best suits your environment.
A note of interest in the weapon selection of Halo is that every weapon is designed with a specific purpose and usage: though the weapon roster may not be nearly as expansive as modern military shooters such as the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises, whose weapon caches can range in the 100’s per game, each weapon is defined by its range and power so that when picking up any given weapon players will be able to instantly recognize the weapons function, strengths and weaknesses. Considering that Halo helped set the trend of limiting players to only being able to carry 2 to 3 weapons at once, it is important that in the midst of a firefight that players are able to pick up weapons at their feet and instantly know why and how to use them. From the Assault rifle, used a close-medium range, to the Magnum pistol used for distanced combat to the Covenant plasma pistol’s overcharge mechanic, that depletes enemy over shields. It is inherent to the players growth that they learn and adapt to each advancing level and remain mindful of enemy A.I. patterns and weapon usage in order to advance further through the world of Halo.
The Spartan Amour and its rechargeable shields and ‘Hud’ (Heads Up Display) puts Chief far above the other human marines around him, giving us a sense of purpose and a unique quality. This in-game mechanic helps emphasize towards the player that they are embodying what is important in this world whilst still telling a story that is not necessarily theirs:
When it comes to the discussion of narrative in video games, there exists an obsession with ‘player choice’ and how that is what truly dictates a narrative’s worth. With Marines around you often bantering and gasping in ore at your presence, Master Chief doesn’t have to speak much in-game for you to feel like a veteran Space Marine, and with more weapons being accessible with different environments within the game, through the natural progression of playing the game we feel more and more capable…well until our legendary runs.
‘Keep your head down! There’s two of us in here now’ -
Cortana’s in game reaction to the first time a players shields are completely depleted.
Revelation: Halo’s Mid point has a special interpretation of this phase of the journey:
Now usually at the point of a fps campaign there is an escalation of stakes, of conflict, an event that triggers a mass increase of danger and worry for the central protagonists that (hopefully) changes the game of the Campaign. Halo has this, but the way it plays with Revelation both homages and twists the traditional narrative. An easy move on the part of the writing staff would be for the Covenant to access Halo’s control room and have Halo be a conventional weapon of mass destruction, having Chief then destroy it ensure it isn’t used against Earth.
I’ll not mince words; the introduction of the Flood is genius. Having the Covenant uncover an even greater threat in the form of an undead parasitic hive-mind that makes them looked dwarfed in comparison completely shifts the story and game-play dynamic up until this point. Before the discovery of the Flood, Chief leaves Cortana in Halo’s central computer, meaning we’re without her commentary or guidance, all alone wandering into this abandoned swamp facility. This sense of isolation assists in building the tension for the eventual dark reveal and the revelation of the flood and what Halo actually is.
This introduction of the Flood and later the sentinel enemy types do not simply change the game in an artificial manner. Instead of there simply being just more enemies’ variants to fight, with the only consequence of this narrative change being within the cut scenes, these changes affect how the game is constructed and subsequently how the player choices to tackles them. For instance, throughout multiple levels you will encounter both the Flood and the Covenant at the same time and the two forces will be fighting each other instead of focusing singularly on the player. This forces you to adopt different approaches to how they choose to deal with both sets of enemies alongside one another.
‘Halo doesn’t kill Flood, it Kills their food supply. Humans, Covenant, we’re all equally edible’
- The Flood’s reveal makes the third wheel enemy the greatest threat in the galaxy.
The manipulation of Guilty Spark
Transformation (Death and Rebirth):
Through the middling portion of an FPS game there usually comes a sort of fallout where the dynamics of the game shift to present either a new or increased threat. This is done with the intention of aping the death and rebirth phase of the Hero’s Journey and is manifested within Halo’s campaign with the reveal of the parasitic Flood, the uncovered truth about the Halo ring and the subsequent betrayal of the A.I monitor of Halo, 343 Guilty Spark. These events alter how the player views the world of Halo and its level mechanics:
Throughout the hero’s journey, between the beginning phase of the ‘transformation’ and the following death and rebirth the hero gains additional knowledge and skills to use in the world around them. When applied to the FPS genre this can be translated into additional weapons added to the players arsenal and/or knowledge about enemy capabilities such as movement patterns, arsenal, or damage output. Throughout the early stages of the Halo campaign the player through Chief’s eyes is being exposed to new different kinds of weapons and is given the time to adjust to them with certain missions being tailored to specific weapons. The player is also introduced to various enemy covenant units and is given the chance to observe their capabilities. In particular the fact that the strength of covenant enemies is determined in game by their colour coding thus giving the player an indication of the challenge that awaits them.
But after the betrayal of Guilty Spark, there is a sort of rebirth with Chief being reunited with Cortana and their mission now being to stop Halo from activating, the original guide and hero reunited with their eyes opened to the revelations now
Atonement: In many ways Chief’s atonement is the players atonement: On our journey we were led by Guilty Spark’s metaphorical hand, trusting this whimsical British bot blindly as we unwillingly helped him prepare to slit the galaxy’s throat. Now armed with the information of Halo’s true function and Cortana back in our head we can right our wrongs. She is Chief’s eyes and ears after all, and after leaving left her in the depths of Halo’s central interface we needed a guide and willingly followed Guilty Spark in the confusion of the Flood outbreak. Now that we’re reunited with our true guide there is a sense of reformation and atonement, Its Chief and Her against the world and we know what we have to do: stop the gun pointed at the head of the universe.
Stop Halo.
But we are also atoning for Keyes:
In the penultimate mission Keyes speaks to us telepathically, telling us that coming back for him was a mistake. Making our way through the Flood infested remains of The Truth and Reconciliation Flagship we eventually find him now apart of the Flood collective, absorbed into a mass of flesh. The override key for the Pillar of autumn’s self destruct is within Keyes now zombiefied head, and with a reluctant but swift punch, its now ours. With Keye’s narratively, being in a position of a superior officer/guide his loss fits well with the Hero’s Journey narrative as the loss of the mentor archetype; where an individual in a higher place of respect or experience in the hero’s life, perishes and forces the hero to grow into similar roles are responsibilities. In the case of Halo, Chief takes the responsibility for the destruction of the Autumn to atone for Keye’s death and the fact that the humans forced landing on Halo was the trigger of the Flood.
Return:
The Final return phase is where Halo adapts the Hero’s Journey in the most literal sense: Having Master Chief physically return to the starting point of the game, the now crashed and flood infested Pillar of Autumn. Exploring the same hallways and vents where we were first called to our adventure but fully aware of the stakes at hand. Returning to the beginning of the Game but now armed with the experience and knowledge of Halo’s game play and weapon’s mechanin’s, we’re able to truly return a changed player. Now having full access to the rest of the Pillar of Autumn and its armories.
The return stage also ties back to the Atonement, with is Halo ends with you detonating the Autumn’s engines and then racing against a countdown to escape Halo before it tears itself apart. The final scenes shown are aptly appropriate, the entire game had began with Master Chief waking up alone so appropriately ends with just him and Cortana staring off into the vastness of space, now competently alone is oddly poignant, with Chief’s final line ‘No…I think we’re just getting started’ cements that the hero has grown and returned having gained new knowledge, yet is prepared to start the journey all over again.
Halo is an apt demonstration of how it’s design philosophy, adhere very closely to the narrative structure of the hero’s journey in terms of both game-play and in game storytelling. And it’s through this structure that a coherent balance is made, between streamlining objective-based game-play and infusing a narrative within said play, that truly allows for player embodiment in the protagonist but not in a manner that restricts the narrative and characters within the game. I really hope this joint narrative and level design can make it way back into Halo, because I’m always ready to begin to the next journey to finish the fight.