A newly surfaced documentary-style video, created using previously unreleased footage by Halo Infinite Narrative Experience Director Dan Chosich, has begun circulating within the Halo community and on archived uploads online. The video, which was leaked online, as Dan’s video was password-protected, offers fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what could have been with the game, codenamed Project Olympus. Going through the footage, Halo fans were shown what this possible game could have been, showing to some how the undercooked Halo Infinite ended up being, in hindsight.
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The 21-minute video covers a range of plans for the ultimately unmade Project Olympus, providing additional context on decisions regarding the Halo game engine and showcasing ideas for gameplay mechanics, story, and content delivery that were never fully realized. “At the end of the leadership offsite, we asked for a vote of where people stood on the engine,” said Studio Head Chris Lee in the video. “The result of that vote was about 85% roughly to stay in our engine.”
Some fans have attributed Halo Infinite’s development struggles to the team’s decision to use its in-house Slipspace engine over Unreal. While the developers in the video discussed switching to Unreal for Project Olympus, they determined that it would have taken too long to replicate what they had already built. This is now somewhat ironic in the present day, given that Halo Studios, formerly 343 Industries, has chosen to switch to Unreal Engine anyway, a move Xbox described as a “new dawn for Halo” back in October.
The video also revealed a socket system planned for Project Olympus’ multiplayer, which would have allowed players to customize their specialities and core abilities, equivalent to a class in other shooter games. Short clips showcased the possible skills granted by the system, such as active camouflage and rocket pods, as well as specialties like assassin, scout, and hacker. This modular form of customization would have also extended to weapons and vehicles, granting them buffs and additional characteristics.
“What that gives us is great potential to innovate with new types of gameplay. If all you have is a weapon, and you’re better at using a weapon than I am, well, you’re always going to be better than me,” said Lead Sandbox Designer Troy Mashburn in the video. “But if I have the potential to play a support role, that allows me to be a valuable contributing member just by adding new abilities or new features through the sockets.”
Another interesting reveal was scrapped plans to turn Halo into a live-service type of game with a 2019 release that would have made “old modes of distribution” for the franchise “no longer necessary. For Project Olympus, the developers were aiming to do away with the concept of releases, saying that players wouldn’t have to “wait 3 years between experiences arbitrarily anymore.”
Project Olympus would have also offered a radically different Halo story experience than was present in Halo 5, which developers likened to a “spiritual reboot” and “clean state” for the series. Unfortunately, the team was unable to execute much of this vision, as the Halo series underwent a period of development turmoil, struggling to find its identity.
On Dan Chosich’s website, a brief post from August 2017 describes the video’s content and Chosich’s motivation for creating it, which was to reinforce why the Halo franchise was so crucial in the face of a sinking perception.
“The resulting documentary featured 40 interviews, 15 original VFX shots, and introduced the now-iconic image of Master Chief holding his helmet,” said the post. “It was created to remind people why Halo mattered—to fans and to Xbox. Despite the campaign shortcomings of Halo 5, the franchise still had power, and I believed that reconnecting with its roots was key to moving it forward. I shot, edited, and created all the graphics for the piece over the course of about eight weeks.”
What are your thoughts on Project Olympus and the direction of the franchise going forward? Will the switch to Unreal 5 finally fulfill promises of a new dawn for the Halo games?
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
