Prequels can be a bit of a touchy subject in any medium of entertainment, whether it be movies or games. Some are certainly better than others, but this year we’re getting two of the biggest prequels in games: Fallout 76 and Red Dead Redemption 2. In observing that, I thought that it might be interesting to go back and take a look at the games that really nailed the admittedly difficult feat of making a great prequel.
6 Prequel Games That Didn’t Disappoint
Halo: Reach
Halo: Reach, while not the most popular in the series, had a campaign that stuck with me. I grew up playing Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox. Everything about the opening levels of the game was so poignant and made with a high attention to detail. The world Bungie built was just astounding; from the sci-fi environment and the explosion of plasma weapons to the unique designs of the alien antagonists.
Imagine my delight when there were books that expanded upon the universe of this game. That’s where the lore surrounding the fall of Reach and the importance of Master Chief as the last of the Spartan IIs had really become a mainstay of the series. The story of inevitable defeat, and the climate of the situation that led to the desperate environment of Halo: CE were things to behold. Years later, when Bungie announced that they were developing Halo: Reach and that the story wouldn’t be based around Master Chief, it sounded like a breath of fresh air for the series, much like ODST.
From the offset of the campaign, if you know anything about Halo lore, you know that this isn’t going to end well. The game provided a fun and diverse cast of characters among your Spartan unit, and that made watching them drop one by one throughout the game even more difficult to deal with. The fact that they let you customize your own Spartan, and let you commit yourself to the character in your own way, would make the eventual ending more bittersweet than it otherwise would be.
The final battle is among my favorite moments in the Halo franchise; facing waves of the covenant on a planet that’s nearly completely destroyed, in a hopeless bid for survival, as your helmet cracks more and more before you ultimately succumb to them. It is a story of a relentless will to succeed in the face of utter doom, and I adored every second of it.
