Halo 5: Guardians released nearly five years ago in October 2015, and it was the last mainline entry in the Halo franchise. This fall, Halo Infinite is set to release and continue the story that was left on a cliffhanger in Halo 5 that also left many of the series' biggest characters in limbo. Developer 343 Industries has confirmed that despite the non-numbered name, Halo Infinite is indeed Halo 6 in the sense that it continues the story from Halo 5.
So, after almost five years from the last major entry in Master Chief's story and ahead of the release of Halo Infinite, now is a good time to look back at where exactly the characters and story were left in Halo 5.
Master Chief
In Halo 5: Guardians, Master Chief chases down Cortana, his AI companion whom he has bonded with over the course of the first four games and who appeared to die in Halo 4. But after hearing her voice during an early mission in Halo 5, Chief goes AWOL with his Blue Team to find Cortana. By the end of the game, Chief pleads with Cortana to abandon her plans of galactic domination, but his words fall on deaf ears. Cortana traps John-117 and his fellow Spartan II's in stasis with the intent to keep them frozen in time for thousands of years for her to carry out her plans, but they are rescued by Locke and his Fireteam Osiris. At the conclusion of the game, Master Chief is reunited with not only Fireteam Osiris but also the Arbiter and Catherine Halsey, the scientist who created both Cortana and the Spartan program that made him.
Cortana
Despite appearing to die in Halo 4, Cortana returns in Halo 5. After defeating the Didact in Halo 4, Cortana survived upon the wreckage of the Didact's ship and ended up on a Forerunner planet, which houses the Domain, a galactic library of knowledge. Cortana, who was experiencing rampancy in Halo 4, a state of AI in the Halo universe that makes them unstable and dangerous, was apparently cured when she was connected to the Domain. From there, she came up with the ultimate goal of becoming the Reclaimer, a position according to the Forerunners, who could possess the Mantle of responsibility for all life in the galaxy.
Cortana uses the Guardians to attack the galaxy, disabling technology across systems with EMPs and recruiting other AIs to her cause, whom she calls the Created. She believes the Created, her fellow AI, are the Reclaimer species, not humans. And her plan is to be the dictator of the galaxy in order to bring it to peace. At the conclusion of Halo 5, Cortana and her Guardians are sweeping through the galaxy taking it over.
Halo
While there is no Halo installation in Halo 5: Guardians, the Legendary ending of the game lets players know that there is a Halo ring still out there. This very well could be the location of Halo Infinite, placing the action of the upcoming game on this Halo.
UNSC Infinity
The UNSC Infinity is a ship that is captained by Thomas Lasky and, with the events at the end of Halo 5, appears to be one of the sole bastions of the UNSC and the forces that can combat Cortana. At Halo 5's conclusion, Cortana locates the Infinity, but the Infinity makes a number of random slipspace jumps to escape from Cortana. It is likely that the UNSC Infinity and its forces will play a major role in the events of Halo Infinite.
Not a lot of information is yet known about Halo Infinite, but Xbox should be revealing much more about the game at E3 this June, which is planned to have a big showing for Halo Infinite. The initial trailer for the game was more tech demo than anything else and the last trailer released at E3 2019 appears to be more of a journey of getting to Halo Infinite rather than something descriptive of what players will be experiencing in the game itself.
Halo Infinite launches this holiday season for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.