In many ways, Halo Infinite marks a new era for the long-running shooter franchise. It drastically remixes the combat, and the campaign takes its design cues from open-world games. Because of this, many have been wondering whether Halo Infinite is a reboot for the series and if not, just how connected it is to Halo 5 in terms of story continuity. Here's what you need to know.
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Is Halo Infinite a Reboot?
Simply put, Halo Infinite is not a reboot, in that it follows the same story carried forward through Halo 4, 5, Halo Wars 2, and beyond. It's definitely a new direction for the series, featuring an open-world inspired map, but in terms of story, Halo Infinite is very much Halo 6.
Do You Need to Play Halo 5?
To completely understand the story in Halo Infinite you will need to be familiar with the major plot points of Halo 4, 5 and Halo Wars 2. We suggest watching the recap trailer embedded above (from the folks over at Xbox On) at the very least before playing Infinite, unless you really aren't fussed about the story. Halo Wars 2 introduces The Banished, which are the main enemies in Infinite. Halo 4 & 5 cover Cortana's story up to this point, and are important if you want to fully understand Master Chief's motivations in Infinite.
Whether you want to catch up on the Halo saga or not is up to you. Halo's story is notoriously convoluted, and for many isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. Halo Infinite is a great game with awesome shooter combat, and can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of the series. Its story is fairly complicated however, and leverages previous games to further its plot.
That's all you need to know about how much Halo Infinite's story relies on prior games in the series. For more on the game be sure to check out our guide on which difficulty to choose when starting. Elsewhere there's our look at the best weapons to use in multiplayer (tier list).