This is not the way forward for Halo. 343 Seriously needs to understand that they are not making good choices, and not making good games.

Things need to change. 343 needs to change. Halo is nothing near what it once was, and its such a shame.

It's baffling to me that 343 has decided this was a good idea. Its very clear that Halo Campaign Evolved was essentially meant as a tech demo and an easy way to grab money.

The additions to this game, the bonus missions, the new HORRIBLE re-recordings of old dialogue. Its all awful. 343 has continued to prove how they do not understand the themes and tone of these games. The continue to not listen to what players want, they do not learn from their mistakes and continue to flounder around committing to an idea. Changing engines for two games in a row now is destabilizing the feeling of halo game play, changing, removing and replacing weapons over the last 3 games has shrunk the sandbox quite significantly and all around I believe Halo is losing its identity.

There are some absolutely BAFFLING choices in the story that I'm sure we can all remember:

• Cortana became the villain

• The Didact disappeared (Yes, they dealt with him in a book)

• Jul 'Mdama died in the opening

• Blue Team was barely explored

• Locke never reached the potential people expected

• Created were mostly written out.

• Cortana died off-screen.

They've killed off characters in books, resolved plots from the games off screen, dropped and ignored so many important plot points. Created stuff out of thin air without proper integration into the universe (Looking at you banished, like am i really supposed to believe that they were there this whole time?)

The games ignore build up, try and over correct the previous ones and generally feel entirely disconnected.

-Games now launch without forge, firefight, and yes, now even multiplayer.
-Couch Co-op, one of the main defining parts of Halo, was removed for TWO ENTIRE GAMES.

And the worst part about all of this is: When they drip feed us the things we have been asking for, people in the community celebrate and thank them.

I want to highlight how absurd this is.

We are THANKING them for giving us something that THEY KNOW WE WANT after they have REMOVED IT THEMSELVES.

The post launch support for these games is abysmal and short-lived. They promised us a 10 year game, and quit well before half of that, leaving us with a bare-bones sandbox.

We as a community need to hold 343 to a higher standard than this. They have been making absolutely mediocre games and story decisions since they took over. We need to stop allowing this, we need to let them know that BATTLEPASS cosmetics in a series that has been known for allowing you to unlock customization from game play experience is predatory and unacceptable for an example.

For everyone getting ready to defend 343. Why?

Why would you want to defend the blatant incompetency and disrespect that they have for Halo, and for us? Do you want them to make mediocre games forever?

its clear that they have almost no creativity left when it comes to the ideas of this series. They botch the feeling of the gameplay, the art style changes, the tone of the games. H5 had lootboxes embedded into the multiplayer, Infinite has a battlepass. And for those who want to defend this, wouldn't you rather be able to unlock something without paying? Its sad that I need to defend that point so often.

There has also been so many issues with the leadership.

Former employees and reporting have described:

• changing creative visions

• management issues

• reliance on contractors

• projects restarting internally

• engine/tooling difficulties

Its obvious that they do not have control over their own studio. Many former employees agree with my sentiment that they are not in a healthy place as a studio to be able to put their all into halo.

And one of the worst issues I believe is the communication barrier.

343 knows what we want. They know the issues we have, Halo fans are extremely vocal when they need to call out lazy game and story design.

But they do not listen. They do not listen to us when we tell them what we want. They seem unable to listen to criticism without completely 180ing the direction of the entire series. They have proven that they cannot handle the series with care, they do not have the foresight to think "Does this fit in with established lore? What about the tone and characters of the world? Is this thematically faithful to what has been established? Or is this an understandable evolution to the series? Do people want this? Will people ENJOY this?"

I do not post this because I "Hate halo and just need to rant about it" I adore Halo, and always have for basically my entire life. I post this BECAUSE I care. I want halo to be what it once was. It felt unbeatable back in the Bungie days, and it want it to be headed by people who truly care about halo, who respect it, and who respect us.

Without spoilers: Seeing what I have seen of the new Campaign Evolved has proven to me that none of those three things are true. I cannot believe what they did to Halo 1.

Halo has been a disaster for a very long time. Its time that we all talk about this. We need to let them KNOW that we are unhappy with the way things are. We are unhappy with the direction things are going. We want passionate developers that actually understand and respect Halo to be able to take halo into greater heights.

What are some things that 343 needs to know? What are things we like and don't like? What should we ask of the developers as they move forward? I look forward to seeing what you all have to say.

P.S. For the mods who have any thought of removing this post. Do you really want Halo to stay how it is? Do you want to remove people's voice? This is not a call to action, this is a discussion post with the hopes that 343 can hear us. This is posted with the utmost respect for Halo, its devs, and the community.