: If the story had developed organically, it would have built on the existing
: conflicts by having the UNSC rebuild from the ashes, and showing the
: schisms in the Covenant as they dealt with the revelations from the last
: months of the war. We never got that, but I think the Banished are a step
: in the right direction.

Well, we sort of did. The novels covered a decent amount of those details you listed specifically. The mistake was leaning hard on those details and trying their best to fill them in while leaning on them. The period of time between Halo 3 and Halo 4 was long and eventful enough that the games barely ever stood a chance at trying to incorporate it coherently for anyone who only plays the games. That's not even mentioning the Didact and mess that I felt that was.

I agree about The Banished. They're an interesting foil to the Insurrection in some ways, another issue Humanity needed to manage in the aftermath of Halo 3 (and is discussed to some extent in the books).

What I like about this story is that while it definitely dabbled in the mysteries of Zeta Halo, it wasn't particularly overt, but the data pads had some interesting teases to mull over. Having the character focused story allows the audience to actually have a chance to connect more clearly to the protagonists. I think the plot could've been a bit denser and maybe it was before they realized they were unrealistically scoped. I don't mind the plot taking a backseat for a character focus this time around. That also allowed them to pull back on the density of details necessary to progress the plot, lowering the audience slowly into the setting.

I actually see quite a bit of God of War (2018) influence here. Having a new character naive (Atreus/The Weapon) to the history of their caretaker (Kratos/Chief) allows newer players a perspective where they can learn along with the naive character. Both of the caretakers are withholding key information about their past. Both stories center around learning to trust one another. I think God of War did a better job, but GoW was also a much longer game...so it has an unfair advantage. XD

What I think they've done well enough is establish a new character arc for the Chief that, while rooted in the past arcs, may no longer need to rely as heavily on the specific details of those arcs.

I've not been this invigorated in my interest in Halo's story in a long while. It feels good to feel sort of..."back," if you know what I mean.