In addition to continuing to make minor adjustments to 2021’s Halo Infinite, like the most recent FLEETCOM Operation, 343 Industries is anticipated to be developing the next core entry in the Halo franchise. The game will presumably build upon the multiplayer ideas and storylines from Halo Infinite, but a recent article in the Halo Waypoint Chronicle may have hinted at the reintroduction of playable Elites, a beloved cosmetic multiplayer option for players in upcoming Halo games.
Bungie enabled players to take on the role of Elites in every multiplayer mode in Halo 2 after introducing Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam as the game’s secondary playable protagonist. The addition of a completely new level of player customisation to Halo multiplayer, in addition to secondary colors and emblems showing up on player characters, was a significant but welcome change. It also let players to make their own fan-made machinima stories with the Elites or recreate campaign sequences, such when Red vs. Blue Season 4 introduced the alien that appeared to be called Honk Honk.
As players two through four in Halo 3’s campaign, the Arbiter and Elites N’tho ‘Sraom and Usze ‘Taham ensured that playable Elites returned to multiplayer, albeit in an enhanced version. With the addition of alternative armor in Halo 3, players could now personalize the helmet, arm, and body armor of their Spartans. Options included the highly sought-after Recon gear and the Ninja Gaiden-inspired Hayabusa. Elite players can now choose to wear the Combat, Assault, Flight, Ascetic, or Commando combat harnesses thanks to this new customisation feature. This increased the opportunities available to players for roleplaying in both online and fan-made games. Some fans created enormous battle scenarios involving armies made up of different ranks of Elites and Spartans.
Halo games: Elites’ Decline
In 2010’s Halo: Reach, elites made a cameo but were unplayable in 2009’s Halo 3: ODST. Here, players could still choose to use the Spartan or Elite species as their main avatar, but they could only use Elites in a limited multiplayer modes, including Elite Slayer or Invasion, as opposed to playing them in any game mode in Halo 2 and 3. Elites were limited to eight static armor sets: Minor, Officer, Spec-Ops, Ultra, Zealot, General, and Field Marshall. In contrast, Spartans may modify their helmet, shoulders, chest, wrist, utility, visor, and knee guards. Although players can no longer mix and match elite armor, they can still personalize it by adding primary and secondary armor colors.
Possibility Elites in Halo 7 That Could Be Playable
Except for 2014’s Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer, playable elites haven’t appeared in Halo multiplayer since Reach. But it’s likely that the reintroduction of playable Elites in Halo 7 or future potential Halo games was hinted at in the recently released Halo Waypoint Chronicle narrative, Halo: Anvil Accord. A number of encounters between Elites and Humans on board Anvil Station are described in Anvil Accord. UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios staff collaborate to create combined Spartan-Sangheili task teams and create new technology. Approximately three months before to Halo Infinite, all of the stories take place in 2560, on the seventh anniversary of the Human-Covenant War’s conclusion. Here, Stationmaster Toda “Murajai and Anvil’s Spartan Commander Vinay Sahil talk about getting ready for three Riftborn squads to go on unidentified missions.
Anvil Station would make the ideal backdrop for Halo 7 and be the means of bringing back Elites in multiplayer, especially with the UNSC Infinity still missing and the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science appearing to have been compromised by the Banished A.I. Iratus’s activities. The multiplayer in Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians took place in War Games simulations on board the Infinity, while the multiplayer in Halo Infinite takes place in simulations at the academy. Anvil has a War Games simulator, thus it’s possible that 343 has a multiplayer setup there as well. Similar to how Spartans Palmer and Agryna did previously, Sahil and ‘Murajai could both act as the multiplayer announcers, supervising Spartans and Elites as they train together.
