14 DAY TRIAL // The major video game-related event of the week, apart from the avalanche of April Fools fake news, was the delivery of the two live-action trailers for Halo 5: Guardians by the development team at 343 Industries and publisher Microsoft.
They represent the first official look at the story that the title will deliver when it launches on the Xbox One on October 27 of this year.
The two relatively short pieces of footage both feature Master Chief and a Spartan version of Agent Locke and take place in the same location.
Each of them shows one of the characters in a position of power and the other relatively helpless, and features a few lines of different dialog.
The two companies that are currently guiding the future of Halo seem to be suggesting that the new game will either introduce a parallel reality concept or employ time travel to allow the two characters to interact in new ways.
At the moment, 343 Industries and Microsoft have not offered a clear look at the story they are planning to tell in Guardians and have not confirmed what other characters will be involved with it.
A Hunt the Truth site is currently offering weekly installments that also suggest that Master Chief is a traitor and that gamers should re-evaluate how they see the protagonist of the series.
The feature might be used to create a bigger ARG linked to the game after E3 2015, when more details are incoming.
Halo 5: Guardians could opt for a simple, character-driven story
The two trailers and the Hunt the Truth site do suggest that the development team at 343 Industries is aiming to make simplicity and characters the two driving forces of the single-player campaign.
Some gamers might be disappointed with the prominent role given to Agent Locke and might negatively remember the way Halo 2 split player attention.
But I believe that it would be interesting to get a title which approaches the same events from two entirely different perspectives, offering separate versions based on previous experiences and knowledge.
343 Industries and Microsoft might deal with issues like the uncertainty of perception or the unreliable nature of all narrators, especially when major events are involved.
I enjoyed playing the first Halo game and most of the second, and my pleasure was linked to the narrative, which seemed clean and heroic at the same time.
The other installments in the series have added characters and plot threads without managing to enhance the emotional impact.
Halo 5: Guardians, the first title on the Xbox One, has a chance to eliminate much of this history and deliver a simpler narrative with bigger significance for the fan base.
Novels are also coming this year for Halo
If 343 Industries and Microsoft deliver on this simpler and more coherent vision of Halo 5: Guardians, they have other ways to make sure that the complexity of the universe is preserved.
There are more novels coming during the year, and there's no information yet on the narratives they will deal with.
The books have long been a part of the Halo cannon, and they offer the company a good vehicle to deliver deeper narratives that are targeted directly at the hardcore fan community.
Microsoft and 343 Industries can also use comic books to tell other stories, and more video content for the series is also a possibility.
The two companies should try to make sure that Halo 5: Guardians is more focused on the shooter experience, even in single player, while keeping the story appealing to both loyal fans and newcomers.