Ever since Bungie parted ways with the Halo franchise, it has been on a rocky road. Reach was a pretty well-received swansong, but post this, both fans of the initial trilogy and newcomers alike haven’t exactly been enamored by what 343 Industries cooked up.
Now we’re in a new era with Halo Studios taking up the mantle, and while you might still be skeptical, we could be on the cusp of a return to form, especially if the community is listened to.
What we are sure of though is that the next Halo will incorporate some of the newer gaming trends instead of only the classic arena shooter trope, and we could see a full on extraction experience if new rumors are true.
There has been speculation for years that Halo Infinite was either going to have a battle royale mode baked in (despite devs saying otherwise), or have a completely separate experience for those wanting to drop in, loot, and survive as a Spartan.
This was supposedly going to be Project Tatanka, which has since been canned, but its successor, Project Ekur, is potentially looking to draw in extraction shooter fanatics instead.
According to the pretty reliable Rebs Gaming, any battle royale plans that were previously in motion have now fully shifted to an extraction experience.
This shouldn’t really surprise many of you out there since extraction shooters are all the rage these days, and with how much of a hit Arc Raiders has been, we could see quite a few more games of this ilk moving forward.
Rebs stated that his sources within the development team told him that Ekur is “an extraction shooter” and is also “Halo’s next multiplayer project.” However, since a lot of the staff working on the next iteration of the game(s) either left or were laid off in 2023, it has been hard to get any confirmation as to what stage the project is in now.
What we can say for sure is that Rebs is almost certain Ekur exists today and could simply be “absorbed into the multiplayer portion of the next game as a new mode.” Whether it’s a standalone experience or part of the main game, let’s hope we get at least a tidbit of info at Halo Fest this year.
For me, I’m fully on board with Ekur as I’m a big fan of the extraction genre. If it is just a mode within the multiplayer portion of the game, the seamless switching between classic multiplayer and whatever Ekur ends up being, that’s even better, and something that would hopefully have a big impact on concurrent players later in the lifecycle.
Jacob has been gaming since the original Game Boy was placed in his hands. Due to his passion for the field, writing talent, and a keen eye for SEO, he made his games journalism debut in 2019. When he isn’t playing the latest titles, he is tinkering with retro tech to bring it into the modern era.
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