After a few weeks of bad news and speculation, 343 Industries is steering Halo fans back to Halo Infinite. They have announced the last content they are bringing out right before the start of Halo Infinite Season 3.
Hardcore Halo fans will remember Noble Team, the fireteam of brave men and women who ultimately gave everything they had to ensure humanity’s survival. Some of them even gave up their lives.
However, two members of Noble Team didn’t even make it to the events of Halo Reach. 343 Industries has plucked these two members out of the far reaches of Halo’s obscure lore for Halo Infinite players to play as them today.
Thom-A293 was technically in Halo Reach. By technically, I mean he was the Spartan who died honorably at the start of Halo Reach’s Deliver Hope trailer. Thom-A293 infiltrated a Covenant vessel, and blew it up with a tactical nuke, with him inside it.
Rosenda-A344 has fallen by the wayside as a piece of Halo triviata, but in fact, she was supposed to be a bigger part of Halo Reach. Rosenda was simply a victim to the foibles of game development, as she was ultimately cut from the game. As a result, she is only mentioned in passing in one of Halo Reach’s key plot points.
Rosenda-A344 answered to UNSC Army Colonel Urban Holland, under Special Warfare Command. In the events of Halo Reach, Holland talks about replacing Emile-A239 with Rosenda. Emile is a particularly aggressive soldier, and Holland felt it would be unpalatable if he was seen in action vs the Insurrectionists to civilian media. This ended up never happening because the UNSC would eventually face the full force of a Covenant invasion.
Emile would eventually die in service, so maybe Rosenda was better off never showing up. In all seriousness, Emile’s death may have been a setup for Rosenda eventually joining the story.
As revealed in the official Halo Waypoint blog, Halo Infinite players now have the opportunity to play Rosenda or Thom as part of the Noble Intention event.
Noble Intention also comes with new Halo Reach theme cosmetics and a very palatable free 10-tier Event Pass to mark the end of the Winter Update. There is also a new Community Collection playlist with four Forge maps to play, straight out of the community.
Noble Intentions is live now until February 21. Whichever mode you play, you just need to complete Challenges to progress through the Event Pass.
Halo Infinite is playable via Game Pass, Steam, and the Microsoft Store on Windows, as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.