Halo 3: ODST

The year is 2552. The Covenant control the city of New Mombasa. They are searching for something beneath its darkened streets. You are an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Your orders: Stay alive, meet up with your scattered squad, and escape the embattled city. Stop the Covenant and we just might win this war.


The text above paints a pretty broad stroke of the narrative you’ll begin experiencing on September 22nd, 2009, but of course, it doesn’t come anywhere close to telling the whole story. Playing as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper is more than just an aesthetic change to the Halo series you’ve come to know. It brings with it new twists and turns that will affect the way you experience the Halo story and the gameplay sandbox. Some of these changes will be subtle – refinements to the familiar Halo formula. Others will be pretty significant: new weapons, new technology, and new gameplay modes that will force you to switch up your tactics and tackle encounters with a new approach.

All this week we’re going to be revealing some of the details we’ve kept secret during Halo 3: ODST’s development. You won’t get every last detail – as always, we’re keeping most of the story elements in the shadows – but we’re definitely going to be briefing you about what it means to play as a member of an elite squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, what new features you can expect to find on disc, and even some intelligence information for each of the ODST combat veterans you’ll be fighting alongside when you drop into New Mombasa.


If you tuned into Microsoft’s Electronic Entertainment Expo Keynote this morning, you’ve already seen a small preview of what’s to come. We’ve brought Halo 3: ODST to the show with us so the press can get hands on time with the campaign’s opening moments and the new cooperative mode, Firefight. If you find yourself in the same predicament as most of the general public, unable to score a Golden Ticket to E3 and feeling left out of the festivities, no worries, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got you more than covered.

As of right now, there’s a new Halo 3: ODST project page online, ready to give you the guided tour. Drop in and you’ll find an online hub world that contains all the information and multimedia assets we’ve released covering Halo 3: ODST. Today, you should be able to locate and retrieve a new Halo 3: ODST gameplay trailer, a hefty pile of screenshots (including a few B.net exclusives), and a Field Guide with essential intel to help get you briefed on what it will be like to suit up as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

As the week marches on, we’ll pile on more news about Halo 3: ODST, from extended character bios to details on new features and the new cooperative mode, Firefight. We’re also preparing a Halo 3: ODST-themed podcast with designers Joe Staten, Paul Bertone, Lars Bakken, and Dan Miller that will be ready this Tuesday. Stay Tuned.

Prepared to drop? Check out our Halo 3: ODST Project Page
Halo: Reach


Oh yeah, we also announced what we’ve been up to beyond Halo 3: ODST. While it’s not nearly as robust as the Halo 3: ODST section of B.net, Halo: Reach has a project page all its own. If you’re looking to check out the brand-new teaser trailer or hit the Halo: Reach forum, this is your one stop shop for all things set in the distant future. Yup, there’s an Xbox LIVE multiplayer beta coming. And yup, you’ll get access straight from your Halo 3: ODST disc.

Halo: Reach. Falls 2010.