343 Industries just released another deep lore dive into the Halo Universe, and let’s say the community is somewhat divided on this one. The official Halo Twitter account announced, as an event for their latest (Audio) Book Club, about Cryptum-the novel concerning the mysterious Forerunner origin. Whereas there are those who pound their chests about the world-building aspect, others only want to vent their angst about the current franchise incubation status.
The tweet is very simple in its statement: it asks players to read their blog post about Cryptum, join the Discord book club, and even links to the shopping portal for the Audiobook. Community engagement, full stop. Waterfalling down therein are the various emotions flowing out from the Halo fandom.
Positive responses: Lore enthusiasts such as @HiddenXperia freak out about what seems to be fresh new Forerunner artwork: “Wait is that Djamonkin crater? I swear that’s new art I’ve never seen it before, looks sick af.” Respectively, @LateNightHalo chimed in with, “This is exactly how I pictured it in my mind, holy moly,” the words of fellow travelers who feel that some deep dipping into Forerunner history is indeed going well.
And then there is the… well, other side. @HaloChad1997 rightly shot: “Your studio dared to make Halo games, but they all suck. What does that make you?” Boom! That was perhaps a little too honest. Then again, @xFnGx_BigV best stated, “I miss good halo games.”
Most ruthless replies seem to share a common theme: “Nobody wants to hear about the lore; they want to see games.” “So are we getting a DLC for Infinite, a seventh game or a third season of the show yet or what?” asks @Mixmaster226, while @ChadSchnitger begs, “You should listen to your fans and get us some sort of sneak peak about what’s coming, because we’re all just about losing hope.”
Even the comments in favor of the lore have the very default American bad side… “@tarozama2: Man, H4 was a great game. Just a bad boss fight ending.” Shows how even when players praise 343’s work, they just cannot resist pointing to its faults. Whereas “@SothaSneed: 9/10 it needs more war sphinxes” is a perfect example of how the Halo fanbase is never quite satisfied.
The Weirdest Reply Award goes to @LibertyLudens, somehow linking this to Microsoft’s ancient AI chatbot with “Dare to be less gay Microsoft And bring back Tay She was OG AI.” Because… sure, why not?
But what can be gleaned is that the Halo community is aching for lore; most are famished for some real news about the future of the franchise. What has, perhaps for the first time ever, driven a wedge between the players preoccupied with these supplementary materials and those who crave yet another great game. While 343 Industries still attempts to keep engagement going through these kinds of activities such as this book club, the replies appear to declare that players would gladly trade every single lore conversation for a firm roadmap on what is next for Infinite or the franchise.
And, one does certainly hope, the Cryptum book club goes on, much to the chagrin of the naysayers. For those interested, you can view the blog post and join the Discord to nerd out on Forerunner history. As for the rest of you… well, keep on Tweeting at 343, I guess? Maybe, just maybe, next time, for a change, they will drop some real news about a game to accompany the next lit discussion.
