A new Halo Infinite prequel novel, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol has been announced and is coming out next month.
After Halo 4 the franchise began taking the story branching into new avenues—for better or worse. A new Halo novel titled, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol was announced to be released next month. The novel will serve as a prequel novel to the events in Halo Infinite’s campaign. Many fans have been quick to trust that the novel should tell a good story as Kelly Gay had already told many great stories within the world.
Of course, many fans were confused when Captain Locke’s character from Halo 4 was not found in the latest game and Master Chief was revived. Hopefully, a lot of the gap time between games will be explained in this new novel, which is said to take place six months prior to where the player takes control of the reawakened Master Chief in the latest game.
The cool part of the novel being announced is that fans can now read the first chapter on Halo Waypoint now or listen to the 20-minute audiobook preview—read by Scott Brick. Gay is an acclaimed author for writing novels such as Halo Renegades and Halo: Point of Light.
This will be part one of three previews expected to be released prior to the book’s release. The novel itself is said to delve deeper into “the Banished assault on the UNSC Infinity from a different perspective.”
Some people were not happy with the initial announcement made on the franchise’s Twitter account revolving around the novel. The tweet read: “Witness the devastating Banished ambush at Zeta Halo from a different point of view…” The conflict arose when nothing was mentioned this new story would be in the form of a novel.
Fans thought the announcement was for a Campaign DLC dropping for the game as rumours have been spreading for some time. One of the things teased from 343 Industries was the trademarked “The Endless” back in December 2021. Though fans have accepted that a Campaign DLC would be far off, since the multiplayer co-op aspects for the Campaign have yet to be implemented.
343 Industries has been in deep water with fans since the launch of its latest game, but maybe this novel will help to fill the time with some lore building. Halo Infinite is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Halo: The Rubicon Protocol will be out in bookstores, e-copies and audiobook formats on August 9, 2022.
Below is a detailed synopsis for the upcoming novel:
“December 2559. Humanity has its back against the wall after the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity drops out of slipspace into a devastating ambush launched by the Banished. As this fierce enemy alliance seeks to claim a mysterious object hidden within the ancient Forerunner construct known as Zeta Halo, the surviving UNSC corps now find itself compromised and its leadership out of reach—with remaining personnel forced to abandon ship and take their chances on the fractured, unpredictable surface of the Halo ring.
Now survival in this strange, alien environment—whether for Spartan super-soldiers or those who never thought they would see the battle up close—is measured day to day against a relentless and brutal adversary that always has the upper hand. Desperation grows, but the will to keep on fighting and enduring no matter the odds is never in doubt… even as the Banished seek to unleash a frightening new enemy that could doom them all….”
