Exploring the Expanded Universe of Halo: Campaign Evolved

It may be 25 years old now, but Halo’s first installment still has the power to wow. Combat Evolved is packed full of awesome moments: the first view of the titular ringworld arching above you, the Covenant swarming onto the Pillar of Autumn, and driving a warthog through vast Forerunner structures.

As you push forward through Master Chief’s debut mission, there’s the sense of a rich universe being teased, whether its ancient civilizations or the extent of humanity's reach across the galaxy. The series' founder, Bungie, created a universe with so much intrigue that its expanded universe was able to begin before the first game even launched – the beloved prequel novel, The Fall of Reach, was published a couple of weeks ahead of Combat Evolved’s launch.

Today, the series’ current stewards, Halo Studios, continue to expand the universe through novels, comics and, soon, the new missions of the Halo remake, Campaign Evolved. And however the quality of Halo's constantly-unfolding saga might be judged, this multi-medium expanded universe has become a tremendous and rarely matched project.

Campaign Evolved’s new three-mission miniature campaign, dubbed Operation METEORITE, returns to the legendary pairing of Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson. We know very little about the plot, aside from it being set a year prior to the original story, but the trailer suggests a load of Halo staples will be present, including Johnson at his wisecracking best and combat fought through the purple facades of a Covenant vessel.

Operation METEORITE will send the duo down onto an agricultural planet, a setting that could act as a gateway to Halo lore that was written long after Combat Evolved first arrived. Will Johnson look back at his time on the planet Harvest, fighting the first ever Covenant incursion, as detailed in Joseph Staten’s 2007 novel, Contact Harvest? And will the planet be occupied by the Insurrectionists, the human threat to the UNSC that preceded the species-threatening Human-Covenant War that have featured in numerous novels, comics, and even anime shorts and marketing beats? The Halo universe is so expansive now that it's hard to imagine these missions being able to avoid some of the deeper lore. To do so would risk disappointing fans.

The involvement of Troy Denning, a current key writer of the series' novels, is the biggest hint that Campaign Evolved’s new missions are not just going to be a bit of frivolous, nostalgic gunplay. He has experience writing about many different facets of the universe, whether delving into the dynamics between Elites – or Sangheili, as readers will know – or showing the Chief taking on an Insurrectionist stronghold. It's possible that he's been brought on board to elegantly weave in some elements of the deeper lore. He's also clearly simply trusted to weave a compelling story, with Denning being not just a Halo stalwart but historically having crafted galaxy-upending Star Wars novels.

The big difference between Halo and Star Wars, though, is the level of cross-pollination. Unlike in Star Wars, where the theatrically-released movies are clearly the series’ main vehicle, Halo has a much looser approach to which storytelling medium matters the most.For instance, while Sgt. Johnson is undeniably a vital part of the original trilogy, his background is largely absent from the games. They portray Johnson as a smart-mouthed, confident leader, but one also with fierce, honest compassion for his fellow soldiers. The expansion of his narrative in the novel Contact Harvest, meanwhile, is not an insignificant bit of trivia; it makes Johnson more than just a hero, and rounds him into a flawed character. He's devoted and simultaneously deeply troubled, living with the guilt of his involvement in the brutal suppression of human enemies. Such an understanding of the character makes his trajectory to self-sacrificing heroism all the more affecting.

It's unlikely that Master Chief will start wistfully bringing Johnson up to speed on his own past in Operation METEORITE, given that the trailer has the latter rib him for his stony manner. However, Master Chief’s story has also been significantly fleshed out in the novels, starting as far back as Halo: The Fall of Reach. The book is a fan favourite, and its importance in setting up Halo's lore is enormous: the Spartan's creator, Dr Catherine Halsey, is introduced; Master Chief's name is revealed as John (which didn't happen in the games until Halo 3); Chief is shown to be part of a squad of Spartans known as Blue Team. The character's uniquely, oddly taciturn nature is also given an implied origin, with Chief experiencing the death of a fellow Spartan in their childhoods. It was a popular enough novel that Bungie directly addressed the changes they made to book canon in Halo: Reach, and it's likely its popularity is a reason that game got greenlit.

In short: Halo's expanded universe has always mattered.

The continued expansion of Halo is something that clearly has significant appeal for many fans, with the franchise's dedicated wiki – unsurprisingly known as Halopedia – still seeing regular updates of tremendous depth. Detailed articles exist, of course, for the shooter’s great range of weapons and vehicles. Perhaps more surprising to fans of just the games is the fact that novels and their characters have been lavished with massive amounts of attention. A case in point is Rion Forge, a smuggler-turned-hero who exists only in the books but has been extensively documented, with not only a lengthy biography but also paragraphs that detail her personality traits. Some fans have distaste for anything Halo that exists outside of Bungie's 2001 – 2010 stewardship, but this extensive, ongoing passion project shows that such feelings aren't universal.

Some are unhappy with the way the narrative has unfolded without Bungie, but it's arguable that the knottiness of Halo tales began