The Mixed Fates of Halo Wars 2

Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy video game made by 343 Industries and Creative Assembly. It was published by Microsoft Studios and came out in February 2017 for Windows and Xbox One computers. The game takes place in the science fiction world of Halo, where it’s set in the year 2559. This is the sequel to another game called Halo Wars that was released back in 2009. The story revolves around the crew of Spirit of Fire, a spaceship owned by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC). When Spirit of Fire reaches the Ark, a huge structure built by an ancient alien civilization known as Forerunners, things start to get out of hand between UNSC soldiers and aliens called Banished who want control over the Ark.

In Halo Wars 2, you build your base, collect resources to make soldiers and cars, and control everything from up high on the battlefield. The main job during a fight is usually to knock down an enemy’s bases or take over key areas on the battlefield. A special system helps balance combat by making certain things strong against others – like how tanks are good at fighting foot soldiers, but not so good at fighting planes, and planes can’t even touch cars. The game lets you play with other players online, either working together or competing against each other.

Development of Halo Wars 2 started in 2014 when 343 Industries, the maker of the Halo franchise, decided to work with Creative Assembly, a gaming studio known for creating real-time strategy games. This collaboration aimed to bring the story of Halo Wars 2 even closer to the ongoing storyline of the entire Halo series. To fix this, the game was set 28 years after the first Halo Wars. The announcement took place in 2015 at Gamescom and showcased at several video game events before its release. In the final year leading up to the game’s release, two open betas were held so that the development team could make changes based on player feedback.

Halo Wars 2 generally got good reviews from critics. The animated scenes in the campaign were very impressive, thanks to Blur Studio’s hard work. Many reviewers thought the game was easy to understand for new players, but some felt it lacked more challenging parts to keep experienced RTS fans engaged. Some people were let down by minor problems with the keyboard and mouse controls, but improvements made to the controller scheme from Halo Wars were well-received. After its release, the game received even more exciting updates and new features.

The UNSC military forces launch an attack on a Banished Scarab. The green glow surrounding UNSC soldiers is like a special power that makes them healthier and more protected.
Halo Wars 2 is a game where you get to be in charge of armies from high above, looking down at the battlefield. You can play this game using a controller or a mouse and keyboard on your computer. Just like its predecessor Halo Wars, there are two teams: humans who fight for their country and aliens who try to stop them. In most games, you have to pick a place where you want to set up a base. Then, you can build things like barracks and vehicle yards to send soldiers and cars out to fight. You get supplies from pads or when you’re on the battlefield, and then you use those supplies to make more units or build new buildings. Some of these things need another kind of resource called power, which comes from special machines that generate it. Buildings can be made stronger with extra resources and unlock even better units.

The battlefield starts off hidden by uncertainty, which is revealed when players move units to different parts of the map. Players can choose specific units and give orders for them to fight or interact with buildings on the battlefield. The fighting has its own set of rules – like a game of rock-paper-scissors – where tanks are good at fighting against soldiers, soldiers are good at fighting against planes, and planes are good at fighting against tanks. Each unit has a special power that it can use in addition to regular attacks. For instance, some super-strong soldiers called Spartans have the ability to take control of vehicles and do a powerful smash attack after jumping into the air. When players collect enough resources and gain control over certain areas of the map, they can build new bases to grow their army.

A special mode called Campaign Mode allows players to take charge of UNSC soldiers in battles against the Banished on an old, mysterious structure from space. The main part of the campaign has 12 missions that can be played either by yourself or with friends. Each mission comes with its own goals, like taking control of important spots, defending bases, or making it through waves of enemies, and often you have to guide Spartan soldiers around the map. In addition to the main goal, some missions also offer extra tasks, such as keeping a certain unit alive throughout the whole mission or destroying extra bases before a timer runs out. Before starting each mission, there are special animated scenes with talking characters that explain what’s happening and connect with the game’s story. A second part of the campaign lets players control Banished soldiers in a fight against parasitic alien creatures known as the Flood.

Outside the main campaign, both the UNSC and Banished factions can be played, each with their own unique set of units. When choosing a leader, players pick one that’s based on a famous character and follows a specific play style. Leaders have special powers that can be upgraded and used during battles; using them needs supplies, which means they’re not available right away again until the time is up. For example, leaders can heal a group of units, drop bombs on an area, or send in special troops to help them. The game’s multiplayer mode lets players team up with friends online for matches that can have up to six players. Game modes include Skirmish, where you work together as a team against computer-controlled opponents; Deathmatch is all about knocking out the other player’s army. Stronghold and Domination are games where you try to control parts of the map, and Blitz combines elements from card games with real-time strategy by replacing building bases with using special cards to send units onto the field. Cards are made from packs earned during the campaign or through daily challenges, and each one shows a specific unit that can be sent out and has an energy cost; sending out stronger units uses more energy. Energy keeps flowing on its own throughout matches, and you can also collect it by picking up pods that fall onto the map at random times. Blitz Firefight is a single-player or co-op game where players fight against waves of AI enemies.

Synopsis, Setting, and Characters Halo Wars 2 takes place in the science fiction universe of the popular video game series Halo. The game occurs in the year 2559, 28 years after the events of Halo Wars and shortly before the events of Halo 5: Guardians. After the events of Halo Wars ended with the crew of a UNSC warship drifting off into space, the war between humans and aliens called the Covenant came to an end. The ship’s artificial intelligence was declared lost with all hands on board. Meanwhile, the AI Serina decided to stop herself from going crazy before she eventually became insane. The main characters woke up from cryosleep at a place called the Ark, which is a special kind of structure that can build huge rings in space. One of these main characters is Isabel, an AI who works on the Ark and helps with research. But trouble arrived when some aliens called the Banished invaded. They were led by a strong warlord named Atriox who took over after the Covenant was defeated. He had many soldiers at his disposal, including a general named Decimus and an Elite leader named Let ‘Volir.

The crew of Spirit of Fire arrives at the Ark and receives a signal from the UNSC on its surface. The mission team, made up of supersoldiers Alice, Jerome, and Douglas, is sent to investigate the signal. They pick up Isabel from a nearby UNSC base but are ambushed by the Banished while trying to leave. When they return to Spirit of Fire, Isabel tells Captain Cutter about how Atriox and the Banished attacked the Ark. Even though Isabel thought giving up was hopeless, Cutter decides to take action against the Banished. A team of fighters sets up a base in front of the Banished’s headquarters and manages to defeat Decimus’ army. While exploring the wreckage of Decimus’ base, Isabel finds important information about the Cartographer – a map that shows key systems and powerful weapons on the Ark.

A team of soldiers takes control of the Cartographer, but they soon face an attack from self-operating Forerunner machines called Sentinels. Anders finds out that Atriox has taken over the teleportation system on the Ark, allowing him to transport troops anywhere in the structure. The soldiers from the UNSC defeat Decimus and shut down the portal network. Meanwhile, the Spirit of Fire is attacked by a carrier ship from the Banished called Enduring Conviction. However, Isabel and Jerome manage to take over the ship’s weapons system, which prompts the Sentinels on the Ark to break it into two pieces.

Anders proposes building a Halo ring using the Ark’s foundry to transport the crew to safety and return them to UNSC-controlled space. The new Halo is deployed but UNSC forces face challenges from the Banished. On the Ark, Alice and Douglas stop enemy reinforcements, including Atriox, from reaching the Halo. Anders is escorted to the control room where the ring’s firing system is disabled and a signal beacon is activated. By controlling the ring’s gravity systems, Anders sends part of the landmass containing the Banished forces into space, killing them. After defeating the Banished on the ring, ground forces return to the Spirit of Fire but Anders and the Halo jump into slipspace before they can stop it. Before the Halo disappears, Anders assures that he will get help from the UNSC as soon as possible. Cutter and Atriox prepare for their next battle. In a post-credits scene, Anders’ Halo suddenly drops out of slipspace and encounters a Forerunner Guardian.

Campaign expansions The Operation SPEARBREAKER missions take place a month after the Halo Ring’s launch. The Spirit of Fire and the Banished are still battling for control of the Ark. Meanwhile, a UNSC team called Sunray 1-1 accidentally stumbles upon a secret Banished operation to fix a Forerunner ship that could harm the Spirit of Fire. Despite being vastly outnumbered by the Banished forces and Sentinels, the team is able to stop the ship from launching just in time.

The Awakening the Nightmare campaign occurs five months after Operation SPEARBREAKER, where the war between the UNSC and the Banished has reached an impasse. The Banished leader, Atriox, sends his brothers Voridus and Pavium on a mission to search for supplies in the vicinity of High Charity, the former Covenant holy city that was destroyed by the Flood. Atriox advises them not to enter the city because it’s said to be infested with the parasitic Flood creature. However, Voridus ignores his brother’s warning and decides to go inside without a shield. As a result, the Banished are assimilated into the Flood’s ranks, allowing many Banished warriors to join the enemy forces.

Instead of calling Atriox for help and risking his anger, Voridus came up with a plan to reactivate the Sentinel defenses from a different place. The two of them activated a drill that helped spread natural disasters and temporarily held back the Flood. Meanwhile, Voridus led a small group of soldiers into a Sentinel base to turn on their defense system. He was successful in reactivating it, but his brothers soon found out that Atriox had discovered what they were doing and was coming to get them. Atriox warned them that if they didn’t clean up the mess by the time he arrived, he would kill them. To push the Flood back into the area around High Charity, the brothers realized that the Flood was getting smarter and more organized, kind of like a super-powerful leader called a Proto-Gravemind. If this happened, the Flood on the Ark would be nearly impossible to stop. Luckily for the Banished, they were able to destroy the Proto-Gravemind just before Atriox arrived. He scolded the two brothers and told them to fix their mistake, but he decided not to hurt them. Soon after, Sentinels joined forces with the Banished to deal with the Flood threat, keeping it from spreading in High Charity once again.

In 2009, Microsoft Studios brought out Halo Wars, a real-time strategy game that was connected to the popular first-person shooter series Halo. This new game was made by a team at Microsoft called Ensemble Studios. Even though Halo Wars became successful in sales, Ensemble Studios eventually stopped working together as a group after developing it. Before the studio closed down, its members had started thinking about writing a story for a sequel. According to Graeme Devine, who helped lead the creation of Halo Wars, this script was all about exploring the history of a mysterious group called the Forerunners and featured the Spirit of Fire arriving at one of their space stations that Anders had been tracking. In 2007, Microsoft created a new team called 343 Industries to focus on making Halo games, and this team looked for another developer to work with them on creating a sequel to Halo Wars. They believed that by working together with other developers and using the experience they gained from outside projects, they could make their games really good.

In 2014, 343 Industries started building Halo Wars 2 after talking to UK-based developer Creative Assembly, which is owned by Sega. Creative Assembly was chosen because they were experts at making real-time strategy games like Total War. The studio had been thinking about creating a game like that for consoles and computers for a long time, so working on Halo Wars 2 was a great opportunity. The team building Halo Wars 2 at Creative Assembly included people who worked on Alien: Isolation in 2014, the Total War series, and new employees brought in for the project. Although Creative Assembly is usually focused on making games for computers, the staff from the Alien: Isolation team had experience working with consoles and were able to help. On January 18, 2017, the development team said that the game was ready to be released.

The director of Design Creative Assembly’s studio, Tim Heaton, stated that Halo Wars 2 would not be similar to their Total War series. Instead, they focused on building upon the foundation established with Halo Wars by introducing new players to strategy games and catering to experienced gamers through various multiplayer options. The development team aimed to give leader units more distinct roles in different playstyles, much like how they’re portrayed in real life. Design Creative Assembly wanted more artillery units for long-range attacks but realized there were no suitable vehicles in the Halo universe. So, they created two new vehicles that fit the bill and made sure they wouldn’t feel out of place by referencing material from 343 Industries. Alistair Hope, the creative director, believed staying true to the source material was crucial for Creative Assembly’s games, but noted that the team had more freedom to expand on the Halo universe than anticipated. He praised the control scheme in Halo Wars and aimed to enhance it for Halo Wars 2, making sure it would be easy to play on consoles. One common feature that many PC RTS games have but is missing from Halo Wars is the ability to group units together using a key. Since Halo Wars 2 was developed for both console and PC, the designers made sure this feature was included in both versions. Initially, 343 Industries had planned to support cross-platform play between Windows and Xbox One devices, but ultimately left it out of the game’s launch version.

The Blitz game mode was created by experimenting with different ideas for a fast-paced and easy-to-play variation of real-time strategy (RTS) gameplay. The development team aimed to simplify mechanics like base building and resource gathering, which players often found challenging and overwhelming. Initially, Blitz was designed like tabletop war games, where players had an army roster. However, after playtesting this version, the team discovered that battles would become less exciting as the match progressed due to the shrinking scale of clashes. They revised Blitz by introducing a card-and-deck system for unit deployment and randomly spawned resources on the maps. The design of Blitz was influenced by other games like Halo 5: Guardians’ Warzone mode and Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone, which is a collectible card game. Dan Ayoub, the head of strategy games at 343 Industries, mentioned that multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games had an impact on Blitz’s design, replacing resource management with individual unit combat.

The person in charge of making new content for the Halo franchise, Frank O’Connor, said that Halo Wars 2 would be more connected to other stories within the universe than its first part. The story of the first Halo Wars happens 20 years before another popular game called Halo: Combat Evolved and is mostly separate from other games with the same name in the series. This was done so it wouldn’t interfere with other projects that were being developed at the same time, like Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. As a result, Halo Wars 2 takes place in the same fictional world as the others, right after what happened in Halo 5: Guardians, and has a “big picture” feeling that the first game didn’t have. This choice also introduced a new storyline for Halo Wars 2, where characters from before are placed in an unfamiliar place with old technology. The person in charge of the story, Kevin Grace, said they mostly got their inspiration for how the game should feel like it was from another popular game called Halo: Combat Evolved.

The team working on the narrative wanted to create a new villain who was both incredibly strong and clever, which led them to introduce Atriox, a powerful warlord from the Brutes. Grace said that the Arbiter was an excellent example of a character in his own right, unlike other members of his species; she noted that this trait was applied to the Brutes with Atriox’s creation. To challenge the idea that Brutes are just muscle for the Covenant, they wanted to show him as a smart leader who took advantage of the alliance breaking down. The team drew inspiration from ancient legends like Excalibur and stories about someone rising to power against all odds. Halo Wars 2 was a big deal because it marked the Banished’s first time as the main enemies in the series. Real-life events, historical mercenary groups, and other sources helped shape their design. From the start, Isabel was created to have flaws that set her apart from other AI characters in the game. Ellen Ripley from the 1986 movie Aliens had a big influence on her character development.

Game art director Jeremy Cook put readability and visual clarity at the top of his list for the game’s artistic direction. He aimed to keep the style consistent with the Halo universe by maintaining recognizable features of the units and buildings. The Banished faction was designed to have a distinct look that stood out from the UNSC, drawing inspiration from the Covenant but with an added focus on the Brute species’ appearance. Cook drew ideas from existing Brute vehicles and weapons when creating new technology for the Banished’s arsenal.

The movie-style scenes in Halo Wars 2 were made by a company called Blur Studio. They did similar work on previous Halo games, including the first Halo Wars game. The people who directed those scenes were Dave Wilson and his team, which also worked on the visual effects for Halo Wars. A big reason why the characters looked different was because of new technology that allowed for better performance capture and acting.

Wilson said that advances in technology let them record all parts of a scene at the same time – like how someone’s body moves, their face looks, and what audio sounds like. In contrast, when making Halo Wars, they had to do each part separately, then put it all together later.

Before Halo Wars 2 was released, two open multiplayer tests took place so that the developers could get feedback from players and make improvements. The first test happened on Xbox One from June 13 to June 23, 2016, and included fun game modes like Deathmatch and Domination. A second test, which featured a new game mode called Blitz, was held from January 20 to January 30, 2017, on both Windows and Xbox One. Players who participated in the tests could earn rewards for Halo 5: Guardians or special cards. After these tests, changes were made to the game, including fixing problems with connecting to others online, adjusting how the gameplay felt, and tweaking the controls and interface to make them easier to use.

Audio director Paul Lipson played a key role in the audio production of Halo Wars 2. The game’s score was created by Gordy Haab, Brian Lee White, and Brian Trifon. White and Trifon had worked with Lipson before on previous Halo projects, including Halo: The Master Chief Collection and a mobile app for the series. To develop their soundtrack, they studied design documents, artwork, and early game versions to understand the story and character motivations. This research helped them decide on the emotional tone and instrumental choices for the music. They aimed to include familiar elements of Halo scores, such as orchestras, choirs, and electronic music, but also try something new. Since Halo Wars 2 was a spin-off from the mainline Halo games, the composers weren’t bound by Martin O’Donnell’s established sound. This gave them more freedom to experiment with the soundtrack and add unique instruments like brass to the music.

The first song from the Halo Wars 2 soundtrack, titled “Recommissioned”, takes inspiration from the original “Spirit of Fire” theme. The composers wanted to put their own twist on this existing melody. They created special melodies for each main character to represent their unique personalities. For instance, the track “Run Little Demons” used tribal drums and electronic beats to capture the fear and tension caused by Atriox and the Banished. To create different emotional feelings, various instruments were used to make versions of the character themes. The goal was to have the music work with the game’s dialogue and action. The composers made music that changed in intensity based on what the player did in the game. For example, calming ambient music played while building bases, while more energetic music played during battles. A system was designed so the score would change based on what happened in the game to avoid getting boring. The composers worked closely with Lipson and Creative Assembly’s audio lead, Sam Cooper, to make sure everything sounded good together. A live orchestra was recorded at a special studio in Los Angeles called the Newman Scoring Stage. The entire Halo Wars 2 soundtrack, which has 21 tracks, came out in stores on February 17, 2017, and digitally on February 21, 2017.

Announcements and Trailers At Gamescom in August 2015, Microsoft Studios revealed Halo Wars 2 for Windows PCs and Xbox One consoles. Before its release, the game got some exciting trailers that showed cool cinematics from the game. The first trailer at Gamescom 2015 introduced a soldier who was hurt being taken away while Atriox taunted him. Later, in June 2016, another trailer was shown, which featured the leaders of both sides – Cutter and Atriox – fighting each other during a battle. At RTX 2016, 343 Industries gave us a quick peek at some of the game’s cinematics, where we saw the arrival of Spirit of Fire and Spartan supersoldiers facing off against the Banished. The Game Awards in December 2016 brought another trailer that focused on Atriox’s past and his motives. In February 2017, Microsoft released two funny trailers that showed Cutter and Atriox having hilarious real-life encounters. Some game modes from Halo Wars 2 were available to play at big video gaming events like E3, RTX, Gamescom, and Paris Games Week. To celebrate the game’s release, 343 Industries teamed up with toy maker Mattel to create a new line of Halo toys based on the game. Later in August 2017, Dark Horse Comics released the first issue of a five-chapter comic book series called “Halo: Rise of Atriox”, which tells the story of the main villain from the game.

Halo Wars 2 was first planned to be released in 2016, but it got postponed until February 21, 2017. It holds an important distinction as the first Halo game that came out at the same time on both console and computer. When it arrived, it was part of a special program called Xbox Play Anywhere, which means you could buy it digitally and play it on either Windows or your Xbox One console. The company in charge of selling it in Europe, THQ Nordic, took care of that task. A special Ultimate Edition was also available, which included a season pass for extra content, the chance to play four days before everyone else, and a copy of Halo Wars: Definitive Edition—a new version of the original game. In the UK, Halo Wars 2 came in second place on the list of top-selling games at the week’s end.

After launching Halo Wars 2, a free demo that included the game’s opening mission and the Blitz Firefight mode became available on both Xbox One and Windows. The developers, 343 Industries and Creative Assembly, continued to add new content and updates after its release. To ensure a balanced gameplay experience, the multiplayer ranking system was not introduced at launch, instead being released later. The DLC included new units, leaders, special cards called Blitz cards, and two extra campaign missions. This additional content was released on a monthly basis starting in March 2017. A major campaign expansion called Awakening the Nightmare was revealed on June 12, 2017, and released on September 26, 2017. It also introduced new leaders, maps, and a cooperative mode for players to work together. Later that month, Halo Wars 2 received some exciting visual updates specifically designed for the Xbox One X console. Additionally, players on console and PC could now play together in the same game.

Xbox One Version Feedback The video game Halo Wars 2 received mostly positive comments from professional reviewers, but its computer version got more mixed opinions, according to website Metacritic. Critics generally agreed that Halo Wars 2 made it easy for new players to enjoy strategy games, but they thought either the game didn’t have enough tricky parts or was too safe in its design to please veteran gamers who had other options on their computers. Some writers suggested playing the game to console users because there weren’t many good real-time strategy games available for Xbox One.

The behavior of AI in Halo Wars 2 received some negative feedback from reviewers. Some critics found that the units’ movement was not very good and made it too easy to defeat them on normal difficulty levels. Another reviewer, IGN, didn’t like that players had to build their bases in specific places – they thought this limitation took away their freedom to make decisions about how to build. However, another gaming website, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, initially had the same concerns but ended up enjoying the game after playing it for a while.

Some critics thought that the changes to the gamepad’s control scheme were great ideas like grouping controls together. However, in some cases, they still felt that the gamepad was not ideal for controlling games because its analog sticks were not very precise compared to using a mouse. This caused frustration among several writers who had trouble avoiding enemy attacks because moving units around with a gamepad took too long. On the other hand, those who used the mouse and keyboard thought it was better for doing things quickly and precisely. But some reviewers felt that the control method was not very good and that concessions were made to make the gamepad more user-friendly. They pointed out that the minimap didn’t always respond well, the keybindings could be confusing, and the radial menus just weren’t right for using with a mouse.

The game’s story received different reactions from critics. USgamer thought it was excellent for learning how to play the game and that its levels got progressively harder in a good way. GameSpot felt that the most exciting parts of the campaign missions were the ones that took inspiration from other Halo games. Rock, Paper, Shotgun said that even though the campaign was short, it had a smooth flow and offered various goals and situations to try out. IGN agreed that the campaign missions provided enough variety so they didn’t become boring. However, overall, they were underwhelmed by how the mission designers approached the campaign. They were also surprised to encounter many glitches during their playthrough on Xbox One, which caused problems like crashes and certain events not working as expected.

Some reviewers liked the game’s story but many said that the campaign’s ending felt rushed because it didn’t provide much resolution. GameSpot thought the plot was cool because it explored different parts of the Halo universe, and they also thought the story was well-connected through the cutscenes and pre-fight conversations. However, they pointed out that some characters were not well-developed and didn’t add much to the main storyline. IGN liked a character named Isabel because she made the game’s bad guy even scarier, but they felt another character, Atriox, got less interesting as the story went on. Eurogamer thought Atriox had potential for an interesting backstory, but the motivations of his group were too similar to other enemies in the game, making it feel like familiar ground. Most people loved the campaign cutscenes because they were high-quality and looked amazing, with great animation. While some character conversations felt silly, the facial expressions made the movie-like parts really fun to watch.

PC Gamer praised the range of multiplayer game modes available. Other reviewers shared this view, saying that the multiplayer aspect was much more varied than what you usually find in most real-time strategy games. Many critics considered Blitz to be the best multiplayer mode, but they still had reservations about its weaknesses. GamesRadar described Blitz as a forward-thinking area of Halo Wars 2, unlike other parts of the game which felt formulaic. Other writers agreed that Blitz was an interesting take on the traditional RTS genre and enjoyed playing it. However, critics were disappointed to see that players could buy card packs using real money. Some reviewers thought that winning games in Blitz might be too dependent on luck rather than skill. As a result, they believed that the randomness and card mechanics in the mode weren’t suitable for competitive multiplayer but were perfect for Firefight mode.