Halo Wars 2
Platform: Xbox One
Developer: Creative Assembly, 343 Industries
Publisher: Microsoft
Release date: 2016
Author: S.G.
Does anyone remember Halo Wars? Wait — of course you do, it’s a freakin’ Halo game. Halo Wars was a 2009 Xbox 360 exclusive Real Time Strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios, makers of the Age of Empires and Age of Mythology series. The studio closed after the release of the original Halo Wars, so it’s surprising, but exciting, to hear that a sequel is on its way.
Halo Wars 2 was officially announced back at Gamescom in August and info on the sequel is still scarce. What we do know: it’s being developed by Creative Assembly (makers of the excellent Total War franchise and the recent, pants-shittingly-terrifying Alien Isolation), in association with 343 Industries. The game is of course being published by Microsoft.
This is exciting news for Halo fans, as well as fans of the R.T.S. genre. The Total War franchise boasts some of the best R.T.S. titles out there such as Shogun 2 and Rome 2. It certainly seems that Halo Wars 2 is in good hands.
The sequel was announced at Gamescom 2015 by way of a trailer — just a C.G.I. teaser, no actual gameplay, but still looks very cool. In the trailer, a group of Spartans are retreating from an unseen enemy. Bleeding, firing their guns wildly into the darkness, they drag a fallen comrade towards a presumable Evac site. As the trailer ends, the enemy is revealed to be a Brute Cheifton, a familiar foe for Halo Fans. For now this teaser is all we have to whet our Halo Wars appetite, but more information is soon to come.
While there is no firm release date for Halo Wars 2, Microsoft has stated it will be available for Xbox One and PC in late 2016.
