Halo 5: Guardians ESRB Summary Reveals Tantalizing Plot Details

The ESRB has published its rating for the upcoming Halo 5, revealing some tantalizing new details about the upcoming game and its single-player campaign along with some interesting details about the gameplay and visuals.

Here's how it reads: 

Rating Summary: This is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of a super soldier (Locke) searching for a missing character. Players use pistols, machine guns, grenade launchers, and futuristic weapons to kill alien and human enemies in frenetic combat. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, explosions, and occasional blood-splatter effects. Characters can also use “assassinations” to kill characters by snapping their necks, or by stabbing them with bladed weapons. The word “a*s” appears in the dialogue, as well as occasional taunts/insults (e.g., “I have copulated…with your genetic progenitors!”; 'Your father was a filthy colo and your mother was a hole in the wall!').

Few things to note: 

Locke is mentioned in the synopsis but not the Master Chief. What's up with that?

There are both alien and human enemies. In previous Halo games, you only went up against a variety of aliens, but never humans. This may mark the first time players encounter human enemies outside of multiplayer, unless the summary also means to include that. 

What's interesting to also note is that the summary mentions "occasional blood-spatter effects" instead of Halo 4's "large blood-spatter effects" when humans are shot—meaning that there might be a lesser depiction of violence in the game, not that it'll actually change anything. Here's what it looks like for contrast: 

Halo 5: Guardians will be released for the Xbox One on October 27, 2015.