Reach Will Fall, But Small Victories Will Be Paramount

January 21, 2010 – Halo: Reach‘s characters are doomed from the start. 700 million inhabitants of Reach are going to die. And yet, this is the world that Halo: Reach takes place in. It’s a bold move for Bungie, the developers of the Halo series. The idea of getting players involved in a storyline that’s doomed from the start seems to be a tall order.

Gamers like to have a positive outcome to their stories. They like to be the hero, survive, destroy the aliens and celebrate. We all know that in the Halo universe, humans eventually win the war against the Covenant and get to celebrate and be the hero. Yet, Halo: Reach is set at the very beginning of the war. The Covenant attack Reach, a human outpost world, and the game takes place during that attack. It’s a unique challenge from Bungie, who are asking players to accept that they can’t save the world. It is a game that will see things turn from bad to worse, and in an interview with Edge Magazine, the producers of Reach talk about making the game and changing the Halo world.

“Reach is like Titanic,” says Marcus Lehto, executive producer of Halo: Reach. “Reach is going to fall and 700 million people are going to perish as a result. It’s a very dark story to tell, and our goal is to allow the player to experience Noble Team’s efforts and get satisfaction from them continuing to fight forward and achieve the final acts of what we can’t talk about today. That success is what’s so gratifying at the end.”

Lehto’s comments suggest that perhaps Halo: Reach won’t be a game about sweeping success. Instead, it will be about the small victories that help set into motion the events of Halo 1-3.

Source: Edge Online