Cover art by AphonicWanderer.

We’re back with another chapter of Your Halo Story, featuring fond memories from fellow Halo fans looking back on 25 years in the Halo community. Keep up with past entries below:

• Your Halo Story: Chapter 1
• Your Halo Story: Chapter 2

This time around, you regaled us with legends of midnight outings with old friends, personal tributes to classic campaigns, songs for fallen allies, and touching treatises on Halo's lifelong impact.

Check out the next batch of fan submissions from our #Halo25Together haul below, and look for even more to come in next month's mail bag!

Art by AphonicWanderer. (Source)

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boinksi

Halo was the first game I played on the OG Xbox as a kid, and it has stuck with me all the way through the Xbox One and to my third gaming PC. Halo Infinite was released a few days before my wedding, and you know that it was the game my best man and I were playing up until we had to walk out the door.

ScooteR1337#2205

I met my husband while playing Halo Infinite! In 2022, while playing late at night, I was bored of playing with randoms with no mic and no real goals, so I decided to check out the LFG board. One post stood out to me… in retrospect, I am not sure why, but it did. I reached out to the person and continued searching the board. Within minutes they responded by inviting me to their party. What happened next was nothing short of a beautiful intersection of two souls in space and time. We played our first match together while talking about life… then another… then another…!

By the time we finished for the night we had already spent three hours talking and playing! From then on… we just magnetically spent every day talking and playing together. We became an inseparable duo! He always drove the Warthog and I was always the gunner. As our conversations continued and our first feelings were finally confessed and shared… we had some of our first "dates" together across the various maps. Often taking quick moments in matches to enjoy rainbows, waterfalls, and other breathtaking beauty in the art.

We learned we were in two different countries and worked hard to meet each other. In the meantime, we did things like complete our battle pass to earn the Tanker jacket together… so we could wear it and match whenever we met in person. When we finally did meet, the digital connection continued. And in the end of it all, we got married in 2024 and I just had our little baby in 2025. She is literally the product of Halo!

We love playing Halo Infinite to this day, while we may play a lot less since the baby, it is still a special game in our hearts.

Lunalierose

Valhalla, perched atop the plains. The transporter from the enemy base lets out three exhausted roars, and as quick as their feet hit the ground so do their heads. That sniper was quick enough to earn a title only legends can mention. My name is Quickhands McGee and there ain’t no problem here, see?

LBiscuTMonkeYL

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Captain Waffles

It was early 2011, and after watching my son and his buddies play Halo for years, I decided to give it a try with Halo: Reach. The last time I played a video game was Atari Space Invaders 30 years earlier, so I thought, "Let's give it a try."

Now remember, at the time I was a 40-year-old dad with three kids, housework, and a crazy job. I started with Campaign and it blew me away. I felt as if I was the lone wolf, and then the surprise ending of not surviving? I actually shed a tear, it was that moving!

Anyway, on to multiplayer, and I was smoked every time I tried. Playing Rumble Pit, I went a few games not even getting a kill, and then slowly it happened: 0-12, 1-13, 2-15, 6-11, and then an amazing 8-8 game. I broke even! I kept plugging away for months and then it happened. All my shots were landing, and I seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and I got 25 kills for the win! I did it!

I have kept playing Halo, getting the occasional solo win, and I reached 152 in Halo 5: Guardians and max rank in Halo Infinite. I reached gold in Ranked Arena for Infinite!

Halo is the only game I play, and on my 65th birthday coming up in May, you can find me on again. I found you later in life, Halo, but I found you, and I thank you for that.

CinemaShow61

This is a full display of my Halo desk and just a little bit of my collection. I have ordered some more Halo merchandise, so I will need to buy yet another glass cabinet so I can display those too!

x S3LL1HCA x

In 2001, I was a second-year college student. I didn’t game much except arcade fighting games. My friend had bought an Xbox and let me borrow it for a week. I went ahead and bought Halo (back then we didn’t use the "CE"). I started playing the campaign and was captivated by the graphics and the great storyline. The campaign level "343 Guilty Spark" change was such a majestic and memorable time, as we all got introduced to the Flood, yet another enemy. I couldn’t put the controller down.

In my dorm, I invited other students to play multiplayer, and during the summer, I went back home and shared this with all my high school friends. We played 4-5 times a week, carrying TVs, hubs, and Xboxes to different houses just to play and see who was the better player that night (Madwild, of course, most of the time). We traveled down south to San Diego, up north to other colleges to play versus other teams. It was the time of my life!! So much fun.

Now I am 44 years old with two boys, a ten- and a twelve-year-old. We all have played and beaten all the campaigns, from Halo: CE to Infinite. I play with my kids on weekends on MCC Halo: CE, and we make a pretty good team. It’s full circle for me. Halo is not just a game for me; it has been a huge part of the last 25 years through thick and thin. I will continue to play it for the rest of my life.

Madwild

Halo: Reach came with my first Xbox for Christmas 2011. It was the first game I ever played that actually got me interested in the storyline and even realize that video games could tell compelling stories. Me and my friends spent endless hours playing Reach together in both Campaign and Forge.

After completing Reach’s campaign, I got Halo: CE Anniversary and continued the storyline and have played every Halo game since. I have enjoyed Halo in every format from games to books to comics. The storyline is great and the world they are set in is so cool! I was 10 when I first played Halo: Reach, I’m now 24 and eagerly awaiting the next game. Here’s to 25 years and hopefully many, many more.

Jack Quigley

[A memorial submission for Harlan, a Halo fan, a dear friend, and a longtime Discord ally.]

A huge fan of "Desert Bus," Harlan created several excellent Forge maps that are used by others all the time. His Discord server (now run by one of us) is populated with a bunch of players who regularly played Desert Bus with him. His leadership, infectious laugh, and attitude made it incredibly fun, and he also helped teach us how to be better at it. At some point we will probably load up one of his Desert Bus maps and all meet at mid with mics on to honor Harlan.

Altabear

Halo is basically my origin story. Not in the “radioactive spider” way—more in the “powered up an OG Xbox, loaded up Halo: CE, and accidentally set my life on fire (in a good way)” way. I’m not exaggerating when I say Halo is the reason I have a career…

When the Halo 5 API launched, Microsoft ran the Halo Hackathon. I entered, and placed 4th with my entry: HaloPal. It was an iOS app that showed your game stats and let users replay games visually using the game-events API. By today’s standards? Fairly standard.

Here’s the key bit: I was unemployed. So I did what any sensible person would do—I spent basically every waking minute building it. Not because it was strategic, or because I was chasing some trendy app idea… but because it was Halo. And when you care about something that much, you don’t work on it—you hyperfocus on it like nothing else matters.

The best moment was when the results got posted on Halo Waypoint and the judge said that HaloPal was “a beautiful and slick app." Which, considering I lost sleep over every aspect of it, absolutely made my day. After the results came out, I linked that Halo Waypoint post in every job application I made. Shameless? Maybe. Effective? Completely. Because from that point onwards, my career as a software engineer just… flourished.

Fast forward to 2023: I singlehandedly made the 3rd most downloaded paid app of the year on iOS, and I also worked on the single biggest user base on iOS—Night Sky. Which is wild, because there’s a very straight line from “me obsessing over the Halo Hackathon” to “shipping apps that lots of people actually download and use.

And the Halo obsession goes way back. First powering up my OG Xbox to play Halo: CE. Going to Gamestation to get Halo 2 on launch day. Managing to buy Halo 3 a week early from Argos. Forty-eight-hour stints of Halo: Reach MP…

I love Halo. Always have. And apparently, it loved me back—because my love for Halo genuinely helped get me to where I am today. Congrats on 25 years, and here’s to another 25.

Tom Bastable

I was in 4th grade and I remember I stayed up all night with my friends finishing Vidmasters.

Jchasser

Growing up in the 90's and early 00's, your parents always warned you not to meet people in the real world that you met online. Standing in front of the imposing Master-Chief-sized Claude Errera/Louis Wu, you begin to wonder if your parents were right and this is how your life ends, but the gentle giant that started the biggest Halo fan site is one of the most pleasant and fun folks to be around, especially when discussing Halo!

I finally met Claude at E3 2011 after nearly a decade of knowing him through HBO, and as we discussed the 10-year anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved, classic trick videos, and the recent transition of Halo from its founding studio. The world of Halo grew bigger for me then. The Gamertags and forum handles of my online community became faces and folks with real history, fun personalities, and preferences on fast food options! I would meet many folks at HBO LANs, in-person hangouts when they drive through my city, and various other times in my experience of posting and even moderating the HBO forums and non-existent front page.

It continues to remind me to this day there are real humans behind the handles when gaming online. And while social media that feels like national chain restaurants has replaced the hole-in-the-wall bar feel of specific website forums (where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came), HBO and Claude Errera gave me an excitement for the gaming community that came together for a silly little FPS that only let you carry two guns at a time, but I'll continue to defend my enjoyment of that game like an octagonal base in a remote box canyon.

MacGyver10

I first discovered Halo: Combat Evolved when I was only 5 years old, as it came bundled with my original Xbox. To be honest, the very first time I played, the camera movement made me so dizzy that I actually threw up! It’s a funny but cherished anecdote now, and a testament to how intense the experience was for me from the start.

Halo became the bond that united my family. I’ll never forget those endless afternoons playing 4-player split-screen with my cousins; those moments were truly unforgettable. For me, Halo has never been just a game, and the Master Chief is a character that transcends the screen. His words in Halo Infinite— "We all fail, we all make mistakes. It’s what makes us human"—is one of the most profound quotes I’ve ever heard, and I apply it to my daily life.

I am a true old-school player, from marathons on the original Xbox to Custom Edition on PC. Experiencing Halo 2 in Latin Spanish was incredible, finally hearing my hero in my own language. Then came the golden age of Halo 3, where I met friends I still play with today. While Reach set a 'before and after' for customization, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and Infinite gave the Chief a more personal perspective. You’re no longer just a 'green soldier'—you deeply empathize with his humanity.

Halo is the saga that inspired me to dive into online gaming and give my all competitively. Today, I am on my way to the Hero rank. Thank you for everything. Spartan Vroc Gt 001 will remain in service.

vroc gt

It’s been about 25 straight years of multiplayer for me and the neighborhood friends I grew up with. From hauling big screen TVs and consoles while learning to set up switches and LAN cables to hauling PCs and monitors to then mostly playing online.

And this has helped us stay in touch and warm with each other, and it shows how important it is as those of us who don’t play Halo anymore keep from straying further and further into solitude and quietness. Halo is community and mental health.

GBAWarrior

Back in 2015, I got an Xbox One for Christmas. It was my first ever Xbox console, so the whole platform was completely new to me. I was playing around with it and looking at what game series I could really get into. One day, I was looking around a game store, checking out the Xbox One titles they had on the shelves. I picked up three games, and then I noticed Halo: The Master Chief Collection sitting there for £10.

I picked up the case, read the back, and looked at the front cover. I wasn’t sure if Halo was something I’d enjoy. All my friends were playing Halo at the time, and they kept recommending it to me, constantly asking if I was going to get it after I told them I’d got an Xbox One. So, I thought, “You don’t know until you try it," and so I gave it a go.

Starting with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary pulled me straight into the universe being stranded after the Covenant attack on the Pillar of Autumn and landing on this mysterious ringworld known as Halo. You play as this big, green armoured soldier called Master Chief who is a SPARTAN-II soldier. I liked him. He was awesome. I enjoyed it for sure.

So I continued to play through the series, I fell in love with the storylines and the characters, especially Master Chief, Cortana, Johnson, and Arbiter. I always loved Master Chief’s Mark VI armour in Halo 2 and Halo 3; it looked iconic, powerful, and instantly recognisable. The campaigns were incredible too, with unique weapons and the thrill of fighting against the alien empire known as the Covenant.

One moment that really stayed with me was seeing Master Chief and the Arbiter become allies in Halo 3 after everything that happened in Halo 2. Watching two former enemies fight side by side made the story feel even more powerful, and Halo 3 quickly became my favourite game in the series. The music made the experience unforgettable. Every time the Halo theme plays, I feel a rush of excitement. It’s epic, emotional, and something I still listen to every day.

Halo also gave me some of my best memories with friends. We spent hours playing Slayer, Capture the Flag, Infection—pretty much every game mode across all the Halo titles laughing, shouting, and having the kind of fun only Halo multiplayer can create. Those matches brought us closer and gave us moments I’ll never forget.

After finishing The Master Chief Collection all the way through Halo 4, I kept going: Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Infinite, Halo: Reach, Halo Wars, and Halo Wars 2. By then, Halo felt like more than just a game to me. I got so deeply into it that I started reading the books and comics, learning the lore behind the universe. I genuinely think Halo is one of the best‑written sci‑fi series out there full of “what ifs,” fan theories, and alternative ideas that make the universe feel alive and endless.

I didn’t stop at the games either. I watched Halo Legends, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: Nightfall, the Halo TV series, and my favourite of them all, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. What I loved most was how all these stories still connected to the games. They expand the universe, fill in the gaps, and make everything feel even more meaningful when you return to play.

I even started researching Halo’s impact on gaming history how it changed the way video games were played and helped shape modern gaming. When I learned just how influential it was, I was honestly shocked. It made me appreciate the series even more.

Halo became part of my everyday life too. I’ve bought merch like a Master Chief plush from Halo Infinite, a Master Chief controller stand, a Halo Infinite mug, and loads more. It’s a series I’m proud to display and surround myself with.

I’ve been playing Halo for 11 years now, and somehow it’s still my favourite game series. I didn’t expect myself to love this series so much, it’s honestly the best thing in the world for me. I hope Halo will still be around for another 25 years, because it’s become a part of my life in a way I never expected. Thank you for reading my memory.

Spartan447

About 21 years ago, I met my wife at a Halo LAN party (yes, we really are that old!). She hadn’t played it yet, so I showed her the game. Within a few months, she surpassed me and completely kicked ass in multiplayer SWAT. Thanks, Halo, for this amazing life.

Snufpluis & kimberley2912

I was barely eleven years old — an age where everything feels intense and formative. I had been playing Halo since I was four, on my older brother’s Xbox. So when Cortana disappeared, I cried. It wasn’t just a character I was losing, but a part of my childhood. Halo had grown up with me, and saying goodbye to her felt like saying goodbye to an entire era.

Sentinel117#9944

I remember not having my own console when I was a kid and having the opportunity to borrow my cousin's Xbox with one game, Halo 2. I didn't even know the name of it at the time, but I was immediately invested. The music, visuals, and characters were all so well done, everything felt so surreal. My brother and I would take turns playing the campaign, and then when we bought our own controllers, we started having regular split-screen tournaments (having the mandatory screen-peeking callouts) with our friends and family. I would go to school and talk to all my friends about it. I couldn't wait to get home and play the game more. To this day no shooter has even come close to the magic that Halo has.

BusterWolf27

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Above: Me and Jeff enjoying a nice, peaceful, un-eventful ride around the Halo ring.

So, when I first got Halo, I had never played it before, and I was like, "Let's see what all the hype is about." After playing the campaign for about three hours one night, I fell in love with the series. The day after I read the entire Wikipedia on Master Chief and Halo, I started to collect Halo MEGA BLOKS sets. (Much to my dismay, I also learned that they don't make them anymore…) But these are my favorite moments!

AlaskanKraken

The year is 2010, and it’s a cold fall day in L.A. Kind of rare around here, but it’s also midnight. A not insignificant number of people watch with envy as I hand my little brother the customized Halo: Reach Xbox 360 I’d preordered (one of only a handful our local GameStop had in stock). We can’t stop smiling as we hurry home to immerse ourselves once again in the franchise that our favorite uncle first introduced us to almost a decade prior.

Sure, we both have school in a matter of hours, but we figure that might be just enough time to whoop the Covenant’s butts once again. And we’re right; it’s just enough time to play through the campaign on Legendary before any school bells ring, but we’re not ready.

We’re not ready for the cracks in our helmets at the end of the game; we’re not ready to join our fallen brothers and sisters in the graveyard that is Reach; we’re not ready to die side-by-side facing an endless wave of sword-wielding Elites…but that’s a lie, because we are ready; the tears in our eyes tell us that we are ready, because we have each other.

That was about 15 years ago, and we’ve grown older and our lives have taken us in different directions, but we’ll always have Reach.

Remember Reach.

Daniel Flores

April 24, 2024. I don't know how to say it, but everything changed in one day. A random video on YouTube (I typed "Halo playthrough"), clicked, and I already loved that game. My first Halo was Halo Infinite, and I'm still not regretting my choice to join to this universe. Then I learned about other Halo titles, like The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5: Guardians. And I glad that one video on YouTube changed my life, and still, after almost two years, I love this game, hoping to see a continuation of Master Chief's story after Edge of Dawn!

WadeWeinhman

Ten years ago (2016), I discovered the game known as Halo. A sci-fi shooter franchise where soldiers fight aliens on different planets. When I first loaded the disc into my old Xbox 360 and played for the first time, my neurons were fried! Granted, I had my brother to play with, and we had a blast together, even though we couldn’t get past the first mission.

Fast forward to mid-2024, I discovered the association known as the 405th, a cosplay group that builds unique suits from Halo. The way I discovered this however was I just felt like I wanted to talk to a community who were like me (that being Halo players and all that stuff). While this isn’t the only Halo cosplay group out there, it's the biggest one overall with over 31,000 members!! We mostly communicate through a Discord server since many members are spread out around the world.

I will admit, I was nervous when I first joined due to my difficulty talking to people. As I saw how people were socializing inside the server, I eventually built up the courage to start talking to people inside of the server and they gave me a very warm welcome! I met new people, saw the progress of others' armor building, and they gave me tips on how to build my own armor (I still have yet to build one, but that's a topic for another time)!

As I started to settle into this newfound group, I realized that talking with them actually helped me branch out more outside of my comfort zone when it came to social interaction, regardless of it being digital or in person. The first time I had met them in person was at a pride festival in Portland, Oregon.

That1Gaymer6951

I remember doing Halo 3 on Legendary with my friends for the first time. It was the summer after I graduated high school. We were at the designated friend's house we all gathered at. We went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner, went to the store for snacks, and after that we locked in. Our setup: one nice, 42-inch TV (big for the time), two small, 20-inch TVs, three Xboxes, and a lack of appropriate seating. We were up all night.

We finally got to the final level around 10:00 a.m. the next day (we took a short movie break around 2:00 a.m. when two of the four of us got a nap in). Everyone was sluggish. We got to the final Warthog run, and then we all came alive again. It was glorious. I don't talk to any of those friends anymore, but I'll always remember this night fondly.

Ninthmetaphor

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AnAngryOwl

I've loved playing all of the Halo games over the years and I've managed to unlock more Achievements in the game than anyone else in the world (with an overall Halo Gamerscore of 31,585). It's always been a great game to play with friends and I'm enjoying reading through all of the books these days.

ChickenPossible

Thank you for the creation of Halo: Reach. I only got to see my two brothers every other weekend as I was growing up. We used to play Reach CONSTANTLY. Thank you for the lifetime of laughter and memories I made with them on Forge and random funny custom games we could find. I truly believe our strong connection today is a result of our bonding over the video game.

MykeyIsMissin

I used to play Halo: Combat Evolved a lot in middle school and I met these two guys on a public server for Hang ‘Em High snipers. Due to my competitive spirit, naturally I went to duel the kill leader who was one of those two guys. As the game was nearing its end, it was just the three of us fighting it out. I can’t for the life of me remember what we talked about or their profile names, but I do remember we agreed to just chat in an empty Blood Gulch match and that warm memory has stuck with me for a while.

New001

Way back, when I first started with Halo, I was like six years old. My dad brought home an original Xbox that his friend let him take home. There I got to play my first ever Halo game, which was Halo 2. I used to play that for hours on end, even when I'd already beaten the campaign. The music, the gameplay was so amazing for its time.

Then, some years later, I came home from school one day and saw my dad playing Halo 3 on the 360. From there we spent the night playing through the campaign. I still remember most of it like it was yesterday.

Then, as time went on, we'd end up playing all the Halo games that came out from then on, and for the first time I had Xbox Live and got to play Halo: Reach online with friends. There I met some amazing people, some of whom I still know to this day, 14 years later. I remember the first midnight drop I went to, which was for Halo 4, and the community there just felt so close. Like even if we didn't know each other we all still felt like friends.

I miss the old days, the midnight drops, the game nights. Some things don't feel the same anymore, but I still have those memories and every Halo I made memories on.

xUNDEAD117x

Since I played Halo 3, I discovered this saga. I hope this year they give us a new adventure.

Elianprime

As cultural experiences go, Halo has been the most impactful to me. For more than half my life, that unexplainable Halo magic has been there. There are so many fond memories which go beyond a screen. It has been cultural, magical, with classical stories which I carry on to my own next generation.

First memory. In the hazy late-night midst of late 90s LAN parties, I remember the Macworld trailer. The first time the magic appeared. Unquantifiable. All you knew is… you wanted to experience it.

So, shortly after, as young person starting his life with little to work with, I knew this was how I wanted to entertain myself. So, Halo. Xbox it was. Such an amazing first experience. I still sometimes fire up the original hardware today to feel it again.

Halo 2. A good friend. Two-player LAN. CRT. Crisps and drinks. The time would just melt. The simple rivalry and seeking the edge on a vast map. 1v1 Snipers Only.

Halo 3. In the first house I could call my own, my own space. I may have red-ringed in the past but…who cares! I took the day off work on launch day and threw myself into Halo 3. It couldn’t get more epic, could it? Yes. The multiplayer and the social element expanded everything you thought could be possible.

Halo 4. My life has changed dramatically. So has the art style. Could a 360 really do this? The Chief and Cortana story ends with the most touching moment. Halo 3 was the climax to the story, but this ending. This was true grief.

Many years later. Somehow Halo Infinite has consumed more time than I thought a professional family man could spare. Amazing memories grinding doubles with the most random and interesting person only the internet could bring you.

Halo 3: ODST. Finally! 100% of the Achievements.

So here we are, 2026 and I am (in the Halo-themed game cave) taking another friend through co-op in his first ever Halo experience. The game? Halo: Combat Evolved. Watching him experience the magic through fresh eyes. The plot, the glorious music. He can’t explain why either, but he feels the magic. Such a wonder to share. Thank you for creating something that still holds the magic to pass on 25 years later, and one that I can experience again, through sharing with others.

Erik Los Lobos

After many years without playing video games, I discovered what, for me, is the best FPS in history. I encountered it in Halo 3 and I could no longer resist diving into the story from Halo CE and all its subsequent games. Achievements, campaigns with friends, lone wolf, shootouts, etc... Many hours and many moments lived with my favorite video game. Thank you very much for existing, Master Chief.

Caxoperroo

I was seven years old when my dad brought home our first ever Xbox. I was so excited to play it. When I loaded up Halo: Combat Evolved, the menu froze me. The music filled me with a sense of wonder. Then taking my first steps upon the ring and taking in the sheer grandeur and awe of the ring environment.

Fast forward to 2007, standing outside with my dad once again to get a midnight release of Halo 3, getting so excited to finish the fight, even using Halo 3 Forge to make a machinima for an English class assignment! (I got a D. The teacher didn’t like games.) With Halo 4, I had my first job and my very first paycheck went to preordering the Halo 4 limited-edition Xbox!

Now I’m 32 years old with a full collection of Halo books and even the encyclopedia signed by Steve Downes. All of my baby names for my firstborn child are all from Spartans across Halo lore (don’t tell the wife!). Halo has had such a massive impact on my life. From bonding time with my father, to playing Forge and split-screen with my brothers. Twenty-five years later, I'm still so in love like that seven-year-old who took his first steps out of the life raft and gazed up at Halo.

Montana

Ever since I have had my friends from high school. we’ve always have played a game of Halo Wars every week since it was released. We later changed it to Halo Wars 2 when it finally released, but recently we’ve stopped because one of my friends that played with us had died, and on his death bed he wished us that we could play "Halo Wars 3" someday.

ObiWan6451

My two coworkers, one of their cousins, and I all preordered our copies of Halo 3 and decided to all head to a midnight launch together. While waiting, we noticed a Denny's in the same parking lot and decided to eat since the line was huge. We all ate, excitedly talking about the game, while keeping an eye on the line. As we finished, we popped over, got our copies and all drove to our homes and signed on. I’ll never forget booting it up for the first time. It was amazing. We ended up playing until the sun came up. It is one of my favorite gaming memories.

My friend and I played Halo 3 so much. It was a great game, especially multiplayer. One time I got a great double kill. My friend was reloading and two enemies popped up. I had a sniper rifle and blind-fired, killing both. We were both surprised and were talking about it when he checked the match on Theater mode to check it out again. He is quiet for a bit and then BURSTS out laughing. Apparently, I MISSED the shot, but the bullet ricocheted for a while then went back on a similar trajectory, hitting them both in the back, killing them. It was so funny to see it in a replay and laugh about it together for like five minutes.

Cabayero

Many things make Halo special. Its worldbuilding and characters enchanted me to the point where it's all I think about. This franchise has been accompanying me through some of my worst and best moments, whether it was on a stretcher in a crowded hospital looking at a picture of Arby out of desperation, or in a Discord call lore-dumping my friends, the same friends I now share our own Halo characters with. Halo's potential is immense. Just like the love I feel for this series. It's no coincidence that I recently found a Master Chief drawing I made when I was little, which I remembered nothing about! It was like finding a historical relic, biggest foreshadowing ever. Maybe it was meant to be: perfectly suited, perfectly matched, perfectly… perfect.

Nehne

It’s the year 2009 and I’m playing Halo 3 with my friends for the very first time. I still remember specifically playing the mission "The Ark" on Halo 3. It was so fun because we were also listening to music.

I was nine years old then, I’m 26 now. Today is my birthday (Jan 24th), I’m still playing Halo. I love Halo so much that I’m finally going to Halo Fest this year in December. It’ll be my first time in the US as well all the way from Ireland! I’m excited I can finally share all my memories.

I made a video a few years ago to share some of my core memories playing Halo 3 on the final day of the Xbox 360 servers shutting down. We can still play today in the MCC collection and it’s super good!

No doubt I’ll still be playing when I’m even 70 years old lol! Even playing Duck Hunt in custom games, racing games, playing around Forge, etc., were the pinnacle moments of my Halo journey. I’m reading the books, staying up to date, watching the shows, movies, etc.!

Merto7

My first Halo story was the moment I logged onto Halo 2 and ended up in a lobby with people from Australia. I realized that I was talking to people from the other side of the planet. It was a magical moment, and none of us were fighting or shooting each other. We were practicing jumps, teaching each other, and learning from each other. Halo has been a part of my gaming life since then and will always hold a special place in my gaming memories.

Dj tha Og

Twenty-five years ago, my dad took me to Video Den where we rented Halo: Combat Evolved for two days. We played till four in the morning and then beat the game the next night. Halo will always hold a special place in my heart for creating that special memory with him.

C Sencindiver

It was December 5th of 2010, my eighth birthday. My parents had gotten me the Xbox 360. Out of the handful of games they bought me, one of them was Halo 3: ODST. The game even came with a second disc, Halo 3 multiplayer. I remember my eyes were immediately glued to the ominous cover art of ODST. I remember after eating dinner with my family, I raced over to my Xbox and threw the ODST disc in. Loading up the game for the first time gave me goosebumps.

Having never played a Halo game before, I found myself completely invested in this conflict that I knew nothing about. Everything around me seemed to disappear as I sat on the couch in absolute awe, watching the intro scene and reading the text. Bursting out of the drop pod for the first time and roaming the mysterious streets of New Mombasa was nothing shy of a life-altering experience to me.

I was in a trance. The ambient sounds, the breathtaking and lonely soundtrack, the threat of the enemy foretold in the intro scene—I was absolutely hooked. That moment had cemented my love and passion for the series. I've made countless memories with great friends playing Halo games throughout the years and I don't know where I'd be without them today. I hope that one day my kids will get to experience the exciting universe of Halo, as I once did.

Will. B (SniffinSand)

When I was a kid, we only had TV and a DVD player. It was Christmas of 2001. We had begged my dad for some sort of gaming console, but Santa didn't bring one this year. Then after all the presents were unwrapped, trash gone, my dad says, “Oh, I think you missed one.”

He reaches into the back of the back of the tree and pulls out a box. Me and my two brothers open it together and see a brand-new Xbox with Halo: Combat Evolved. We then watched my dad beat the entire campaign that day.

I remember vividly, talking when my dad was in the parts with sleeping Grunts and with my childlike imagination, thinking the Grunts could hear us through the Xbox. So we stayed silent for every stealth part, and sat terrified when the Flood were first introduced. And after he had finished the campaign, he plugged in three more controllers and we played split-screen.

My mom didn’t have peace in that house for the next week. Twenty years later, I bought the anniversary Xbox, and to this day, still play The Master Chief Collection, Halo Infinite, and Halo Wars with my friends. Halo has been my favorite series, and my first series I ever had.

Bagmannn

My best friend and I stood in a midnight line to get our first Xboxes to get Halo and stayed up all night to play the campaign. Then we always played Legendary from then on. Now it’s immortalized as a tattoo on my leg!!!

Movietaz

Halo was the first game that really made me feel connected to the game. It made me see that there really is more out there to be explored. It’s only a matter of putting in the effort to find it. It’s the first and only game that made me feel true triumph and joy, but also extreme sadness. This may have been due to the age I was when I first started playing it, but regardless, even now those memories are real.

Not only was the story an experience that will last a lifetime but also it was a game that created memories in my childhood. So many nights I remember staying up playing with my friend and cousin. For the few sleepovers that my parents allowed me to have, we often weren’t even sleeping because that’s how captivated we were. We would stay up exploring new worlds and completing new missions.

Growing up this also became the best, most looked-forward-to bros' night where we would connect multiple Xboxes to have a Halo party. This continued on from high school through college because you could never have too many. Halo is the reason why I fell in love with Xbox and never bought a PlayStation. I will never go back. A tribute to Halo.

Colby McWhorter

From the early days of playing Halo: Combat Evolved, I discovered people in my life that were happy to play it in multiplayer. I met someone on the Microsoft News pages that existed in Outlook back then, and I invited him around for my first LAN with friends.

That guy (NemaLive) then went on to be a lifelong friend, and we ran close to 100 LAN events together under our clan, Tenchu Chaos, and eventually our own LAN group, WAXLAN (West Australian Xbox LAN), where we hired halls and invited everyone.

With change to games no longer supporting offline LAN play, and the internet options in our city limiting us, we had to give up on WAXLAN, but we still have a small group of us playing together after all this time.

Farreg

So many memories of Halo. Here are a few, as I couldn’t just pick one…

I have two sons and a nephew, and 25 years ago when they were around the age of ten and eleven we played Halo multiplayer. One of us had the brilliant idea to play four-player split-screen on a small map and only using infinite sticky plasma grenades. The chaos, sheer panic, and fun that ensued had us all laughing constantly. All you could see running around was glowing blue grenades flying through the air and then you could hear someone shouting, "Oh no! BOOM!” Followed by one of us belly laughing. I also recommend playing with rocket launchers only with infinite ammo on a bigger map. Such good fun.

Finally, the single player campaign was amazing. The variety of weapons and use of vehicles was brilliant. No game since has ever had a moment like the Flood being revealed, either (spoilers). The dynamic of the game completely changed with a fear no gamer had gotten before with the Flood. Whenever we talk about the past. Halo is regularly brought up. The fond memories the four of us have of Halo will never be forgotten. Awesome game!

MOL5Ki

My name is James Richard Conley. I'm a disabled veteran now, just as my father, and his before, and his before. My story comes after a short debrief of events that transpired. So, to start, I'd love to say welcome everyone to Halo in 2026 and for the foreseeable future. And now a short tale: I was medically discharged for a gunshot injury that blew apart my left arm, and while I sat there, bleeding out, and the curtains turned to black, and I felt my time had come, memories of life started swirling around, replaying like a VHS tape. (I'm 28, but, yes, they were fuzzy a bit.)

The one memory that stayed playing was a happy one when I was about four or five. It was one of my dad and I sitting on the floor, the original Xbox powering up, him putting in the Halo: Combat Evolved disc and playing me 1v1 on Blood Gulch. He was wiping the floor with me, and occasionally I'd get lucky, but this time the memory focused on a single event. We were by the blue base, just past the teleporter by the rocks, and we both stuck each other with a plasma grenade. He got it right on my visor, and, as he turned to get away before the inevitable bang, I threw one as well that landed right on his Mk. V backside. We both went boom, and he was laughing, smiling, cracking jokes about how the hell I managed to do it.

He talked about that match with some military buddies of his after that, but in that moment I could feel a sense of pride from him following my display of generally okay gameplay in killing him in game. We went on to campaign, and then every time a new Halo came out, he and I would spend days and nights playing campaigns killing Covenant, Flood, and sometimes our own marines. Those days, life was simple life was fun.

Nowadays, after getting out, playing has become a challenge so we don't play a lot anymore but with the new Campaign Evolved I'm hoping for a semblance of those times with him again. Looking forward to Halo Studios' new projects, and I apologize that I won't be able to make it out to Seattle to be there in person, but I hope all of you that attend remember this: Halo isn't just a game to many of us; this universe was a stamp of childhood memories we may never get back the feeling of. But it was the source of laughs, smiles, and good times. Before life got difficult, before we experienced the real PvP world overseas and some of us brought Halo with us there for downtime and a sense of normalcy. Thank you, Microsoft, for all the memories.

James Conley (WhatdFoxtrot)

My dad bought me Xbox 360 in 2009 with Halo 3 and Halo Wars. Back in the day, I used to play Halo Trial on PC and never got to experience full game since we were poor and from Europe. I still can't express the happiness I had… I loved playing multiplayer, but I had only a 1-month free subscription and never played multiplayer again.

Kuba2009

The pursuit of Recon Armour and those VIDMASTER Achievements was something I can't seem to ever top years later in the franchise. Beating Halo on Legendary with the Iron Skull on and everyone in Ghosts was the greatest experience of my gaming life. I've never screamed (or heard my friends scream) for joy so damn loud before—after that achievement popped on our TVs! It was truly a special moment in gaming for us. Nothing could ever top that feeling of achievement and satisfaction when we all rocked our Recon!

But why is Halo so special to me personally? No, it wasn't that greatest memory of an epic achievement with friends… It's much deeper than that. Growing up with barely any joy in life, the hardships, lack of friends, family, extreme stress, etc., Halo was there for me. Whether I was being immersed in the story, spending hours in campaign missions doing silly things, battling it out competitively online, playing and creating mods in MCC—after school, after uni, after work. I've lost so many things in life, but I still have Halo. I hope I still have Halo up until it's time for me to begin my Great Journey, "into the divine beyond…"

CHRISB0X360

I'm a relatively new Halo fan. I didn't have a console growing up so I only discovered Halo about six years ago and fell in love the game. I'm 29 now and have played and completed every game on Legendary, watched every clip, trailer, show, and movie I can find, read every book, comic, and short story there is, and collected figures and replicas. I even managed to find one of the TriForce Halo 2 Brute Plasma Rifles along with some very rare collectibles.

My favorite memory is travelling across the country to meet Steve Downes and Jen Taylor in London, where I was lucky enough to have them sign my Legendary Edition Halo 3 helmet with my favourite quote.

Halo has got me through some bad times especially when my dad, stepdad, and uncle all passed away in a short period of time.

I love the Halo community and can't wait to see what's next.

BlazingRanger24

My memories of Halo come from the original titles for original Xbox and Xbox 360. The campaigns for Halo 1 through 3 were amazing. But my favorite was Halo infinite, where the campaign was open space and it was for Xbox Series X|S. Being able to do main- and side quests, including searching for Skulls, unlocking campaign-equipment skins, and character skins for Halo multiplayer including calling cards. My best favorite memory was a legendary Halo purchase for $50 and came with a green skin and flaming helmet and body armor.

Osoosodabear

For Bungie Day 2011, in Halo: Reach, if your team managed to match against a Bungie team in a special casual playlist and beat them by 20 kills or more in a race to 50, every member of your squad would receive two 5-oz. Omaha Steaks completely free of charge.

It was such a spectacular day. I remember searching match after match, all day long, just hoping to match them. Eventually, I did. I played my heart out and ended up beating them by the largest margin any team had that day.

Shout out to Bungie. They really made my childhood. I bought the original Xbox just to play Halo: Combat Evolved and stuck with the series through Halo 4. I haven't played Halo in over 10 years, but these photos still bring a smile to my face. It really was a special time.

Self_Motivated

Where do you even start? Uncovering the mysteries of Halo: Combat Evolved for the first time, hearing "A Walk in the Woods" in Halo's grand vista, or getting lost in corridors scared for your life while bodies of the Flood are piling up all around you in the Library? Could it be all those medals in your feed? Could it be all those social moments where you met lifelong friends online that have now created something bigger and larger than you ever imagined? Let me tell you about the story of Spartan War Games; a perspective from the owner of the community!

Hello! My name is James (otherwise known as another alias online which a few of you know!) and this is my story of "How one video game changed everything." I must've been seven or eight years old at the time (perfect age for a conscripted Spartan!) and had been in hospital with a terrible case of tonsillitis in which I had to be operated on. Just a day before I went in for the procedure I had noticed there was a children's play room, in which they had two games; one of those was a game called Halo: Combat Evolved. The day had come, I went away to my procedure, woke up with loads of ice cream and imagination of what this game named Halo: Combat Evolved would be like.

Later that evening I had gone into the play room with the TV and Xbox, turned it on and asked my Dad if it was okay to play Halo. He loaded it up for me and we were amazed by the sound of the main menu alone. He watched me play the opening mission and constantly being beaten by one of the Elites in the Canteen at the start of the mission. It wasn't until he told me to walk up to him from behind and back smack him. I was so happy that I managed to take out this foe, but while being excited I was still feeling a little under the weather from the operation, so I will spare the details.

The next day I asked him if he could bring the Xbox and TV into the ward I was in to continue where we left off. Later that day I was being discharged and I had just finished the mission Halo which introduced me to what Halo was really about and the grand scale of it. A week or two had passed, my Dad had taken me into town to get a few bits and bobs. Next thing I know, I am in a video games shop holding a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved while he was carrying the Xbox.

He started my journey into what would then later become me leading one of the largest UK Halo Online communities known as Spartan War Games.

Who is Spartan War Games and where did it all start?

Back in 2013/2014, Halo: The Master Chief Collection had just come out. I was trying to look for other Halo players; I had previously played Halo with other friends but ended up moving on. I kept one close friend with me and we both found a LFG Facebook group that were searching for players to play Grifball with. I start to build friendships online with this group and before you know it, we turned it into an online group where we would meet up every week to play Halo custom games.

As the years went on, I started to look after the group more and become known in the community as one of the more recognized figures within this online group. With the blessings of my peers, I announced that I was to be taking charge and leading the group to success. We started to introduce our community to more like-minded communities through partnerships to the point now that we're a massive network. We have our own content creators that create content all over social media.

Charity events? Done it! We've hosted out own charity LAN events over the years to help raise money for various charities. Spartan War Games met Steve Downes and Jen Taylor, which was a dream come true! There are 100's of amazing stories to share. We have so many amazing personalities in this franchise and there is still room to meet more. Come and join one of our events once in a while! Until that time comes, wake me when you need me.

Spartan War Games

All year long, we’ll be inviting Halo fans to share their favorite Halo memories, celebrate Halo's iconic legacy, and vote on community polls to help us tell the whole Halo story.

Whether you’re a battle-hardened Spartan or a Halo rookie, we hope you’ll join the fun by sharing your Halo story through our official submission form, on social media using hashtag #Halo25Together, in our official Discord server, or on r/Halo with the #Halo25Together tag.