Halo Infinite‘s story may rely on nostalgia at times, but the game’s mysterious ending will almost certainly leave you wondering what is next for this franchise. While recent rumors strongly suggest that Halo Infinite will utilize a live service model (meaning that future Halo Infinite chapters will come in the form of DLC updates rather than entirely new games), pretty much everyone agrees that Microsoft and developer 343 Industries are very interested in continuing Infinite‘s story in one way or another. So while we don’t know what form the next chapter of Halo‘s story will take (DLC, sequel, or something else entirely), we do have a few theories about where Infinite‘s story will go next. The big question is “How will The Endless be used?” While there’s an argument to be made that The Endless could be treated as the enemy of Master Chief’s enemies (we’ve seen Master Chief make strange friends in the past), the smarter money is on The Endless joining the ever-growing roster of things that are trying to kill Master Chief. They seem to have struck an early alliance with The Banished, and Halo Infinite‘s ending reminds us that The Banished are still very upset about that whole “Cortana destroyed their homeworld” thing. If nothing else, this series could use some new things for Master Chief to shoot at.
Time Travel?
There’s a fascinating scene towards the end of Halo Infinite in which Master Chief and The Weapon jump into a portal to escape the crumbling Silent Auditorium. They’re transported back to Zeta Halo’s surface, but The Weapon tells Master Chief that things aren’t quite the same. In fact, she tells him that the portal seems to have transported them three days into the future (relative to when they left, of course). While that brief time skip could just prove to be a one-off piece of storytelling, it’s worth noting that the concept of time is referenced during Halo Infinite‘s post-credits scene in a way that suggests it is something that can be controlled, manipulated, and perhaps even weaponized. In fact, one theory suggests that Halo Infinite‘s post-credits sequence features Atriox taking a trip through time. Time travel is always a strange and complicated idea to introduce to any long-running franchise, but it really does seem likely that The Endless somehow possesses the ability to manipulate time (which could obviously help explain their name). If that is the case, then the next Halo Infinite chapter could take us on a trip through Zeta Halo’s history (which would presumably include some face-to-face time with The Forerunners). However, the time travel theory we mentioned above really opens up the possibility that the Spartans who died on Zeta Halo could “return” in some capacity. Not only would their return be a hell of an emotional gut-punch for Chief, but that could open up some fascinating “squad-based” gameplay possibilities. I know that 343 has said that they really want Infinite to be a Master Chief-focused story, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the other Spartans on Zeta Halo return in some capacity.
Offensive Bias
As I mentioned in our rundown of Halo Infinite‘s post-credits sequence, it really seems like 343 Industries is trying to find a way to revive Offensive Bias: an extremely powerful Forerunner A.I. that essentially commanded the Forerunner troops in the final battles against The Flood. The idea of this incredibly powerful A.I. being reactivated to combat The Endless is certainly fascinating. Not only would that set up a “Forerunner” vs. “Banished and The Endless” war scenario (which Chief will naturally be caught in the middle of), but Offensive Bias is treated like this almost mythological character in Halo‘s supplementary material. The A.I.’s mere presence would almost certainly upend the balance of power in this franchise’s universe.
The Flood Return
It’s hard to talk about time travel, The Forerunners, and Offensive Bias without also eventually getting around to the possibility that Halo Infinite‘s future chapters could feature The Flood in some capacity Even if The Flood’s appearance in future Halo games doesn’t amount to much more than a cameo, it feels likely that they will return in some capacity.
