The world of Halo 5: Guardians is stuffed with character and world details outside of the main story campaign, but rush through the game and you might miss them. That’s the message 343 Industries shared with fans today at Comic-Con during a panel dedicated to storytelling for the upcoming Xbox One shooter.
“If you like our story, you’ll definitely want to take this one slow,” narrative designer Morgan Lockhart explained. “You won’t want to rush through it.”
She went on to describe Halo 5’s story as one that has numerous layers.
“We definitely approached this story as a story of layers,” she said. “So there’s the high level that you’re always going to see that’s going to be the driving story that you need to understand to appreciate the game. But then there’s a lot of narrative that you won’t find if you rush through it. But if you take it slow and look and explore, you’re going to find all these rich character and world details.”
Lockhart went on to tease that Halo 5’s story will deal with many “deeper questions” players might have about the Halo universe. This includes “controversial” topics such as the SPARTAN-II program and the Sangheili Civil War.
Halo 5’s story will also be deeper and more involved than past entries in the series simply because the game has more main characters by virtue of Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris. These are the two soldier squads of four led by Master Chief and Agent Locke respectively in the game’s campaign.
“By having these unique voices, we’re able to offer different perspectives and opinions, and our characters are able to argue, or find places to agree about these really big questions,” Lockhart said.
Halo 5 launches October 27 for Xbox One. Also today at Comic-Con, 343 responded to concerns about the fact that the $250 Halo 5 Limited Collector’s Edition does not come with a physical disc.