The #FictionFriday event has seen an official Halo social media account celebrate Serina, the AI of the UNSC Spirit of Fire in Halo Wars, and thereby present her loyalty and humor as character traits. The post that stirred memories and emotions of the past soon ran into a barrage of comments from the gaming community, who, however, didn’t remain on the subject of Serina for long. Instead, they quickly shifted the topic to the long-expected sequel to Halo Wars and the switching of the entire franchise to PlayStation 5. This is further evidence that the Halo community has not given up hope for more content from the series’ expanded universe and, simultaneously, is voicing its frustration.
The Halo account has, so to speak, just educated us a little on the lore regarding Serina, right? The AI from the Spirit of Fire, to be precise. And the post is awesome! They single her out as utterly loyal with that dry wit and if you have played Halo Wars you will surely agree that this is 100% accurate. No, she did not deliver some of the best lines in that game for sure, but certainly, she was very hilarious. It is a very cool #FictionFriday thing, a surface scratch for the hardcore lore fans.
But as you go down the feed it gets more complicated. Oh boys, you go down the feed and the replies are just… they are not about Serina. Not really. The tweet seems to have been a spark that ignited all the players’ grievances. The first thing that you come across is “Halo Wars 3 please.” The user is N1ckFL1x. Then MisfitT0Y shares a gif of someone praying and captions it “for Halo Wars 3.” It is a choir. A united, hopeless shout into the 343 Industries release schedule’s abyss.
Halo Wars 3 is the focus, though it is the most anticipated one. In addition, gamers are also requesting to have the release of Halo Wars 2 on Steam – “Why is Halo Wars 2 not available on Steam! 😡” yells Yellow 13 Fallout Fan, and after him, another user replies in a blunt tone, “Because it is junk.” Harsh, but, hey, they still want it! Not only that, but there is also the PS5 group demanding their brand. Gaming_hero proclaims, “can’t wait for PS5 remake, it has been years since the last xbox 360″ and Dean280410 just straightforwardly asks “When is the ps5 release?” It is a whole different layer of platform-war angst mixed with the sequel thirst.
It is really funny to see how a post that celebrated a character from a spin-off game became an instant referendum on what the community feels is lacking. Just like when we think about Serina and remember Halo Wars, we also realize that a new one has not been released for a long time, and that the old ones are still limited to specific platforms. I guess the human brain really is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
There are indeed some love words for Serina in the comments, although it is not to say that there are many… Baskin Gamer is the one who says it right with “Serina > Cortana, don’t @ me. Underrated character for sure.” And indeed they are not! They are not! In a world full of Cortana’s drama, Serina was a fresh and sarcastic breath. NoContext RvB simply says “I love Serina. She was iconic.” DamsTrn gives a nice “Serina was the goat, may she rest in peace.” So the love is there, it just happens that it is not that easy to tell because of the huge number of demands that are overshadowing it.
Then there is the whole weird, wonderful chaos of Halo Twitter that you get. The Jega ‘Rdomnai & Chak ‘Lok account come and just drop their own pictures. The Halo x Dead by Daylight account is begging those characters to cross over into Fortnite and DbD. Someone posted a picture of Sergeant Johnson with the caption “Halo, show me the new look for Johnson.” There is also a “wort wort wort” in there because, of course, there is. It is a beautiful, insane riot.
The best thread of the month could be started with Hollowtide tagging the well-known Halo YouTuber HiddenXperia: “She could fix you @HiddenXperia”. HiddenXperia answers, “I don’t think I can be fixed at this point tbh 💀”. It is a whole mood. Then, someone else jumps in: “All you have to do is to show her Clash of Clans.” What the heck does that even mean?? I don’t know, but it is super funny. This is the internet, baby.
