Halo: Empty Throne teaser has fans hyped for brand-new prequel

A new Halo prequel is on the way and fans of John-117 are understandably hyped to jump into more of its rich lore.

To say that the Halo franchise is important to the video game industry would be an understatement. When Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox arrived in 2001, it was a pioneer for the FPS genre on console.

Check out the Halo: The Master Chief Collection trailer below!

Before Halo, FPS games were primarily associated with PC with console games feeling clunky using the control pad, compared to the smoothness of the keyboard and mouse. However, original series developers Bungie quite literally changed the genre and in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved set a new standard.

Outside of the video game series, fans are always eager to delve deep into the rich Halo lore and with that in mind, a new novel has been announced called Halo: Empty Throne.

Written by author Jeremy Patenaude, Halo: Empty Throne is set in the year 2559 between the events of Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite.

I am about to go into major spoilers from Halo 4 regarding Master Chief’s loyal AI companion Cortana, so consider this to be your final spoiler warning.

After Cortana went rogue and seized control of the Domain, she became the most powerful entity in the galaxy with the devastating Forerunner weaponry at her disposal. Conflicted, the Master Chief and the UNSC must do whatever they can to prevent Cortana from unleashing her vision of what she considers to be peace in the galaxy.

“As a new generation of heroes rise to meet this challenge, and Cortana's pursuit of control reaches a desperate and sudden crescendo, a cunning, ruthless warrior emerges from the shadows of the Banished, who has vowed to fill the new power vacuum by any means necessary,” reads the synopsis of Halo: Empty Throne.

On Reddit, fans are excited to jump into the upcoming Halo prequel novel after sampling its first two chapters.

“Oh baby, SURGEON is finally part of the story and he's an ex-ORION operator. It sounds like he's high up the chain of command, either a section chief or higher,” said Cueballing. “I'm loving how the recent books are pulling deep cuts from the lore and genuinely incorporating them into the stories.”

“Yes! We finally get to see the status of Earth after Halo 5!” exclaimed Olsin147.

“‘A fleet admiral, Spartan and CINCONI get stranded on a planet’. We definitely need a punchline for that,” suggests Ghost-Gamerz.

Halo: Empty Throne will be available as a physical novel as well as via Kindle and Audible next week on 18 February 2025.