Halo
Series of first person shooter games with cinematic co-op campaigns.
First trilogy was developed by Bungie, known nowadays for Destiny 2.
The story of Master Chief and Cortana is spread across 6 campaigns:
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Halo 2
- Halo 3
- Halo 4
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Halo Infinite
As of 2025, only the last two are separate products, earlier campaigns are now offered as a Master Chief Collection bundle, that also includes extra content set in Halo universe, following stories of secondary characters:
- Halo 3: ODST
- Halo: Reach
Reach is a very enjoyable cinematic campaign, story is easy to follow after finishing 6 main campaigns. It also has among the best endings in the series, which you probably already been spoiled in memes.
ODST is respected by longtime Halo fans, but i found gameplay and level design worst of all mainline games, and story insignificant. I was told by a fan i'm wrong because i didn't read the books. Bruh, i'm not doing homework to play a side quest.
Master Chief Collection
Halo MCC is a bundle of 6 campaigns, including remastered versions of older content, playable on PC, Xbox Series and Xbox One. It's included in Game Pass, but can also be purchased, often discounted to 10€, which is excellent value for ~60 hours of co-op content.
MCC can also be purchased on Steam. Cross-play between Steam and Game Pass version is implemented via Microsoft/Xbox Account.
Split-screen co-op is not available on PC, it's a feature exclusive to console version.
Halo 5: Guardians
This is the only game in mainline Halo series that is Console exclusive, playable on Xbox Series and Xbox One. It also has no keyboard and mouse input support, and no split-screen co-op.
It's a tough sell since it requires two consoles, two displays and two copies of the game (or two Game Pass subs) to play co-op. Lots of longime fans of the series consider this game skippable, but i enjoyed the story and bossfights, passing the controller between me and a friend every other mission.
Available on Game Pass, as well as physical media.
Halo Infinite
Playable for PC, Xbox Series and Xbox One.
The game is listed as "Free" on Windows Store and Steam, but cinematic campaign is a paid DLC. Campaign DLC is included in Game Pass subscription.
Split-screen co-op is not available in this game on any platform. You will need two machines and two displays to play co-op.
PC version will not work on potato PCs, so i suggest downloading the free version and testing in tutorial mode before purchasing.