As a new threat emerges from the fringes of the galaxy, and his SPARTAN-II squadmates, Blue Team, disappear. Faced with growing questions over their loyalty, the (UNSC) dispatches and his unit, Fireteam Osiris, to locate them and solve the mystery of their disappearance before the solar system is overrun.
Development[]
At (E3), announced a new, then-untitled addition to the , along with a trailer appearing to depict a post- Master Chief. After E3, corporate vice president said that the "Reclaimer Trilogy" had been expanded into a longer series of games, saying they "[didn't] want to limit the Reclaimer story within a trilogy." of confirmed the game's Halo 5: Guardians title and 2015 release date in a May 2014 blog post. The game will be exclusive to the and run at 60 (FPS).
On the departure from the hardware, Ross noted that the Xbox One allows 343 Industries to broaden the game's scope, as its and four-player online campaign modes will utilize the 's support. Franchise development director Frank O'Connor explained that Halo 4 pushed its to the limit, such that moving on to the Xbox One called for the development of a new engine. Producer Josh Holmes stated Halo 5 's engine employs a "new progressive system that allows us to dynamically scale the resolution at which we render the game" to guarantee it maintains a frame rate of 60 FPS; this is achieved by decreasing its resolution from during periods of intensive gameplay.
Unlike previous in the Halo franchise, Halo 5: Guardians will not feature any offline capabilities, including split-screen cooperative campaign and multiplayer modes; it will also not have any options. The removal of split-screen play has led to controversy among fans and several petitions to introduce local split-screen functionality to the game.
gave players exclusive access to Halo 5 's multiplayer , which began December 29, 2014, and ran through January 18, 2015. In response to the negative coverage of The Master Chief Collection 's broken launch, O'Connor announced that Guardians will not be broken at launch.
Marketing[]
During the Season 5 finale of , two different advertisements aired, which revealed the release date of October 27, 2015. In June 2015, featuredHalo 5 as its cover story, in which it revealed more information about the campaign and multiplayer. It was revealed that the campaign would feature four player co-op, and that it featured Blue Team, led by Master Chief, and Fireteam Osiris, led by Spartan Locke. They revealed that Fireteam Osiris consisted of not only Spartan Locke, but included Holly Tanaka, a new character named Olympia Vale, and fan favorite Edward Buck from . On the multiplayer side, it was revealed that there would be a new map called Fathom, as well as that there were changes to the map Empire from the beta. A new mode that would combine all of the sandbox (later revealed as Warzone at ) was hinted at, and it was revealed that the game would feature 20 maps at launch, and 15 maps would be added later for free. At E3 2015, a new campaign trailer was shown that featured Fireteam Osiris, and a trailer for the new Warzone multiplayer mode was shown. The game was also shown being played by in the film .
Hunt the Truth[]
On March 22, 2015, Microsoft launched Hunt the Truth, a website marketing campaign for Halo 5. In the first season, the site features audio episodes from fictional journalist and war photographer Benjamin Giraud (voiced by ), who investigates the Master Chief's background.
E3 2015[]
Microsoft began its E3 2015 press conference with gameplay from the campaign of Halo 5: Guardians. This gameplay was from a mission known as "The Battle of Sunaion" and featured Fireteam Osiris. A new multiplayer mode known as "Warzone" was also shown off at E3. Warzone will combine (PvP) and (PvE) gameplay. There will be twelve players on each team, and there will be enemy and Promethean (AI) as well as bosses. Points can be scored by capturing bases, killing enemy Spartans and enemy AI Marines, and killing Covenant and Promethean AI and bosses. A team can win by doing all these things to reach the score cap of 1,000, but there is another way to win. If your team captures all three main bases, the enemy team's "core", located in their base, will become exposed. The player can then win the game by destroying the core. As one plays through the game, they level up through the tiers of the "REQ" or "Requisition" system, which will allow the player to unlock power weapons and vehicles as they score more and play through the game. It was stated that the maps in Warzone will be four times larger than any previousHalo map. On the show floor of E3, Microsoft's was used in a simulation to introduce guests to Warzone. The simulation made guests appear to be on board the UNSCInfinity, receiving a briefing about Warzone.
Halo 5 is the first Halo first-person shooter in the series to be rated Teen as opposed to Mature by the (ESRB).
eSports[]
Previous Halo games were featured in tournaments held by and other organizations.[] In 2014, Microsoft announced the "Halo Championship Series", its own tournament. Prior to Halo 5 's release, Microsoft announced a $1 million prize pool. A portion of the proceeds from REQ packs bought with real currency contributes to prize pools.
