Xbox Game StudiosWithout Halo, there’s a good chance there’d be no Xbox as we know it today. Bungie’s 2001 shooter was an integral part of the console’s identity, the earliest must-play exclusive that players flocked to. The sci-fi shooter spawned a multimedia juggernaut of books, comics, short films, spinoff games, and a critically acclaimed trilogy that would define gaming in the 2000s.But as is the case with most creatives, Bungie had aspirations beyond the lucrative series it created. As early as 2009, the developer teased its grand idea for an MMO-shooter hybrid, one even bigger and more ambitious than its console-exclusive space-opera. But before Bungie could set its sights on changing the industry again with Destiny, it had some unfinished business. Fifteen years ago today, Bungie delivered Halo: Reach, an epic goodbye to the series that put them on the map, and a beloved swansong that perfectly bookended the decade’s most important franchise.Halo: Reach is the series’ fourth mainline game and a prequel to the first game, based vaguely on the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. While the game makes some changes to the story, they both chronicle the final days of Noble Team, a group of Spartan-III super soldiers who end up sacrificing everything to ensure humanity’s last hope makes it off the fallen colony planet of Reach.If the synopsis didn’t give it away, Halo: Reach has the Star Wars prequel effect; the player knows going in that the adventure won’t end well for its charismatic band of heroes. Humankind is already on the back foot as it tries to fend off the deadly Covenant, and by the time Halo: Reach begins, the alien enemy has begun its assault. It’s a slow descent into the inevitable, and the high stakes of saving a planet with over 700 million inhabitants make it one of Halo’s strongest stories. It all swells to one of gaming’s most memorable epilogues, one that’s still remembered (and memed) to this day. Players assume the role of squad newbie Noble Six. You go from battle to battle, fighting back the Covenant all the while, and for the first time in the series, you’re basically a blank slate. Noble Six, a silent protagonist, is yours to customize as you see fit. It’s the same Spartan you’ll use across the game’s various modes, and there are a whole lot of them.The traditional multiplayer mode is the best in Bungie’s quadrilogy. The new Armor Abilities, which provide unique traits to use in competitive matches, added a fun twist on the standard Halo action, and gave players a bit of flexibility to their playstyle. The maps also represent some of Bungie’s best level design work.Reach also marked the debut of Firefight, a new co-op mode inspired by Gears’ Horde mode. Firefight lets players take on waves of enemies alongside friends, or play a Versus variant that has competing player-controlled Elite teams looking to stop the Spartan team.Things don’t end well for Noble Team. | Xbox Game StudiosAnd then there’s Bungie’s greatest multiplayer achievement. Custom games were a big part of what made the original Halo popular, and Halo 3’s Forge mode upped the ante by letting players customize existing maps and create brand new ones. Halo: Reach introduced the Forge World, a massive, open-world canvas for players to build the maps, modes, and adventures of their wildest dreams. It’s a technical feat that provided endless fun. I spent hours just hanging out with friends in Forge World when it dropped, happily inventing and testing wild ideas. It was the culmination of everything that made Halo multiplayer special, given to the fans before Bungie hung up the Spartan armor for good.Halo: Reach represented the end of an era. Not for the series, which continued just two years later. But it was the final time that Halo felt like the big deal it should be. Halo 4 was a departure from expectations, while Halo 5 took liberties with what people wanted from a campaign set in this universe. Halo Infinite is one of the best games in the series, and one of the few to match Reach’s quality, but there’s no denying that the franchise has become a shadow of what it once was, leaving many people to skip it.In 2010, it was hard to imagine a sci-fi shooter franchise bigger than Halo. And for its final act, Bungie delivered an all-timer shooter with an emotionally poignant story and an ambitious suite of modes before riding off into the sunset. If Microsoft had wanted to hang up the Spartan armor for good, Halo: Reach was as good a send-off as games can get. The genre would be lucky to see this series reach these spectacular heights again.