A recent comment by actor Verlon Roberts suggests that a character from Halo‘s expanded universe will be making an appearance in the upcoming Halo Infinite. This speculation has some solid evidence behind it, but the main plot of the game is still shrouded in mystery. Halo books and graphic novels have plenty of stories and characters that the games frequently set up and pull elements from, so this specific character might be one of multiple making an appearance in the next installment of the game series.
Halo Infinite has remained both highly anticipated and scrutinized since it’s announcement in June 2018, and that attention increased significantly when the game was delayed from its November 2020 launch alongside the Xbox Series X/S to Fall 2021. This came after a poor showing during a campaign gameplay demo, and developer 343 Industries seems to have taken community criticism, having documented many changes to Halo Infinite‘s look and feel since then.
As first reported by IGN, Reddit Halo subreddit user Atill555 shared a clip from the Fadam & Friends podcast, which had Verlon Roberts on as a guest in a March 15 episode. Roberts spoke of his experience doing performance capture for Halo Infinite, detailing his portrayal of a character named Spartan Griffin and opposite of a baseball cap atop a tennis ball representing Master Chief’s in-game model. This is some of the most comprehensive information that is out there pertaining to the plot of the upcoming game since a secret Cortana tease made by 343 in a blog post.
It did not take long for Halo fans to point out that there already is a character named Spartan Griffin within the Halo universe. A Spartan named GRIFFIN featured in the novel Halo: Shadows Of Reach as a member of Commander Sarah Palmer’s Fireteam Taurus. For now, there has been no confirmation that these characters are the same, but it is fair to assume that they are, especially since Palmer has been confirmed to play a role in Halo Infinite‘s story. The expanded universe of Halo is rich with stories that 343 can pull from. The universe spans the core series of games, the Halo Wars series, novels, graphic novels, and even television.
343 industries has continued to release monthly updates on the development of Halo Infinite ever since their preview of the game before it’s original release date was met with such criticism. The studio has even received assistance from other notable studios during the process. With Halo being Xbox’s flagship franchise, it is an interesting time to see a new Xbox with no new Halo games to call its own. The intense pressure of the community and the history of the franchise ahs made for a very storied development, but a solid release date has still yet to be announced at the time of writing.
Halo Infinite will be available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC in Fall 2021.
