Audio Series Arrives to Expose the Truth About Halo 5

With just months left to go until the Halo 5: Guardians release day, Microsoft’s 343 Industries is finally sharing more details about the game’s story mode. In the first audio clip of a new series of teasers, 343 Industries doesn’t just hint at Master Chief John 117 being hunted down by those he once protected, he’s declared an outright traitor.

The accusations about John 117 are hinted at in a new audio clip posted to the HuntTheTruth website that first appeared late last week. It was that site that teased a Halo 5: Guardians related reveal with a countdown clock that concluded this past Sunday.

In the first clip we’re introduced to Benjamin Giraud, a journalist and war photographer. He seems fascinated with the Master Chief and his exploits saving humanity. Giraud was in the city of New Mombasa as John 117 was trying to save it during the events of Halo 2. If the recording is to believed, humans the world over now know it was John 117 who repeatedly stood between them and destruction at the hands of the Covenant. Giraud’s audio files begin with what you think will be an on-high look at what made John 117 the hero that he is, but it doesn’t end there. The audio clip takes a darker tone, and later he hints at “something big happening in deep space” too.

By the conclusion of the clip, Giraud teases a deep dive into the real history of John 117, including mass cover-ups and more. John 117 being a traitor would be big news as the last time we saw him in Halo 4 he’d just saved Earth again from a being known as the Didact. What happened after that encounter remains unclear, but in theory we should find that out as 343 Industries adds more audio clips of Giraud to the HuntTheTruth website.

A text post on the site indicates that 343 Industries will have another audio clip from Giraud available on the site on March 29th, a week from when the first audio clip appeared. We don’t yet know how many of these clips there will be nor how long the rest of them will last.

https://soundcloud.com/huntthetruth/episode-00-primer

What we do know is that this is the first time we’ve gotten a peek into Halo 5: Guardians’ actual single-player story. Typically, the Halo games are separated into two parts. One is movie-like campaign that users can play by themselves or with a friend in cooperation. The other where you team up with your friends to defeat opposing teams. This past winter Microsoft gave us our first look at that multiplayer experience.

In Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer all Spartans have some serious upgrades. Past games forced users to choose a special ability to assist them as they ran around different maps killing anything that stood in their way. You could choose an ability that let you jump high into the air or run faster, but you couldn’t do both. Halo 5: Guardians treats sprinting like a basic feature that’s available for everyone at anytime. The result is a much faster, high-pressure experience. Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer lets players jump high into the air and use their bodies as a weapon to take out enemies near where they land. Integrated scopes for weapons and the ability to climb ledges complete the experience.

Read: Halo 5 Guardians – What to Expect Based on the Beta

With this weekend’s reveal, it seems that Microsoft does indeed still plan to release Halo 5: Guardians this holiday as an exclusive for its Xbox One gaming console. That’s important because Microsoft will need all the Xbox One exclusives it can muster if it hopes to keep Xbox 360 users upgrading and newcomers buying. The Xbox One is on store shelves now for $349.99.