Halo Infinite Gets a Prequel Novel

The lore of Halo is deep and complex. If most of the story comes from the various games in the series, some additional information comes from other media. A new novel will hit the shelves on August 9 to explain the events between the beginning of Halo Infinite and Master Chief’s return six months later.

At the beginning of Halo Infinite, the Banished ambushed the UNSC Infinity at Zeta Halo. Master Chief loses the battle against their leader, Atriox, and ends up drifting in space. The UNSC recovers Master Chief six months later, as he was still drifting away. But what happened between John 117’s defeat and his call back into action? This question will soon have an answer with Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, a Halo Infinite prequel novel.

Halo: The Rubicon Protocol retells the events of the Banished ambush at Zeta Halo that we see at the beginning of Halo Infinite. This prequel novel goes over these events from a different perspective and sheds some light on what happened between the UNSC Infinity’s attack and Master Chief’s awakening.

Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is the latest novel from Kelly Gay, the two-time RITA Award finalist who already signed Halo: Smoke and Shadow, Halo: Renegades, and Halo: Point of Light.

An audiobook version of this Halo Infinite prequel novel will also be available. Scott Brick is the narrator of Halo: The Rubicon Protocol. His voice may sound familiar if you already listened to Halo audiobooks, as Scoot Brick narrated 13 other Halo novels.

The Halo Infinite prequel is not a DLC

If Halo: The Rubicon Protocol explains the events leading to Halo Infinite, some fans are not happy about it. The Halo Infinite campaign only explains the story through audio files, leaving chunks of lore unexplained. The campaign co-op of Halo Infinite is coming out soon, but no additional story DLC has been announced. Players who want to understand the whole story of the UNSC’s attack will need to read the novel instead of having the entire story of Halo Infinite explained in the game.

Halo: The Rubicon Protocol releases on August 9 and is available in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats. Halo shared a preview of Halo: The Rubicon Protocol Chapter 1 on their official website.