Requiem Campaign
A shield world awakens ancient threats; a fragile peace fractures under Promethean fire.
Halo 4's story follows a genetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence construct Cortana, as they encounter unknown threats while exploring an ancient civilization's planet. The game's campaign takes place in the year 2557, four years after the events of Halo 3, aboard the drifting remains of the vessel Forward Unto Dawn as it approaches an unknown Forerunner planet, later revealed to be the shield world Requiem. Cortana wakes Master Chief from cryonic sleep shortly before forces from a newly formed Covenant splinter faction board the vessel, and the remnants of Forward Unto Dawn are caught in Requiem's gravity well and crash-land on its interior.
Quick Facts
- Key location
- Shield World Requiem
Lore & Background
Requiem is a Forerunner shield world that serves as the primary setting for Halo 4's campaign. As Master Chief and Cortana explore Requiem, they fight hostile forces from a new Covenant faction and mechanical warriors called 'Promethean Knights'. Cortana malfunctions and reveals she is experiencing 'rampancy', a declining mental state faced by smart AIs past their usual seven year life-span. Chief promises to get Cortana to Earth, believing that Cortana's creator, Doctor Catherine Halsey, can fix Cortana's condition. Chief and Cortana pick up garbled transmissions from a human ship, UNSC Infinity, who have picked up the Forward Unto Dawn's distress call. Cortana attempts to warn Infinity away from Requiem's gravity well and directs them away from danger.
Reader's Guide
The campaign mode can be played alone or cooperatively with one other player on the same console via split screen, and up to three other players through Xbox Live. Unlike in Halo 3 cooperative campaign where each player takes the role of a different character, in Halo 4 all players assume the role of Master Chief. Players can enable 'skulls' in the campaign menu which act as gameplay modifiers such as increasing enemy health, changing NPC behavior or removing elements of the player's HUD. The campaign also features terminals which provide the player with additional backstory via videos viewed in the Halo Waypoint application on the Xbox 360.
Did You Know?
- Halo 4 was officially announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3) on June 6.
- Halo 4 grossed US$220 million on its launch day and $300 million in its opening week—a record for the franchise.
- More than one million people played Halo 4 on Xbox Live within the first 24 hours of its release.
- Halo 4 is 343 Industries' first original title within the Halo series—previously, development of the main series was undertaken by Bungie, the creator of the franchise.
- The game was re-released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One in 2014, and for Windows in 2020.
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