Gameplay

Setting

Inspired by ODST’s open hub-world, Out of Shadows would take place entirely in an open environment of its own. Whereas ODST focused solely on the business district of New Mombasa, this game would have Voi in its entirety act as the world—as a small city or town, it’d be much larger than ODST’s version to accommodate the trappings of a full-length game. And, just as ODST’s New Mombasa capitalized on and expanded what was shown to us at the time of Halo 2’s version during the back-to-back missions “Outskirts” and “Metropolis,” this version of Voi will require a similar makeover to flesh out what little we saw of the town during “The Storm” and “Floodgate” missions. In fact, we hardly saw any of the town because both missions were relegated to a single Traxus-owned factory, Complex 09. Indeed, while Voi has become a futuristic factory town where industry is king, other explorable locations will make it feel like a real—albeit now-abandoned—place, such as:

Voi Greater Outlands Police Bureau HQ
Hotels, apartments, restaurants, bars, etc.
Offices and branches
A municipal airport
Port Authority
MagLev terminal
Global Water Campaign (GWC) pipelines and underground reservoirs (great for sidestepping the Flood)
A beached cargo ship, or downed Albatross, the Alby Damned.
Town outskirts
Traxus Factory Complex 71 (the setting for the multiplayer map, Foundry)

As such, Complex 09 will be “walled off” from the player or hidden behind the debris of Indulgence of Conviction. The purpose of making it inaccessible is to not rehash what was already seen in Halo 3 and to accentuate other, larger parts of the town. Part of the mystique of the first game is that we play just as Master Chief leaves, and this game seeks to make his actions feel impactful but just of out reach as well—a factor in making the complex off-limits.

Akin to New Mombasa’s subdivision into sectors from ODST, Voi will be divided into at least four sections which are based on several of the town’s present-day electoral wards: Marungu, Sagalla, Ngolia, and Kasigau. Progress and completion within this sections won’t be measured on how well Dare “contains” the Flood outbreak, but rather how many story and side missions she finishes and how many collectibles she acquires.

Futuristic Voi’s map size could very well be 50 square kilometers in-game. Though a natural boundary perimeter may appears in parts, Covenant shield barriers, an electrified fence at Tsavo East National Park, and a wall of fire created by the Fleet of Retribution’s glassing efforts would set the perimeter in the place; to keep Dare stranded for game purposes, air vehicles would be almost nonexistent. The Portal would dominate the evening sky at most points, and Kilimanjaro might be visible to the west, but cloud cover, glassing, and Flood-tainted atmosphere would obscure both in certain regions for variety’s sake.

Armor

Most armor options are derived in-universe—what ONI Recon 111 would have at its disposal. Each option has pros and cons and attachments fit any model. In addition to their mainline MJOLNIR work, ONI’s Materials Group created special variants of their existing models for non-augmented personnel, and maintained an exclusive agreement with Section One’s special units. Though Dare utilized a new Mark VI Recon helmet by the Battle of Mombasa, Recon 111 still retains the Mark V models that were originally contracted for them prior to the Fall of Reach, variously outfitted with CNM, CBRN, and UA-HUL attachments:

RECON Helmet
SCOUT Helmet
HAZOP Helmet

VISR

VISR works nearly the same as it did in ODST, featuring NAV, INTEL, and COM tabs, and can only be activated when donning a helmet after the first mission. A new feature is that through VISR the player will able to utilize a spy drone for short periods of time in order to scout and target enemies or locations up ahead.

Stamina and Health

This feature is unchanged from ODST, and the player can replenish their health through Optican health packs found around the map, including several kiosks.

Audio Logs

The equivalent to ODST’s Sadie’s Story will be told via a few dozen collectible audio logs in the form of audio data pads strewn across Voi. These pads are essentially taped notes from war correspondent Petra Janecek, who was present at ground zero in Voi and whose account—from touchdown on the battlefield to her evacuation—would provide the basis for her thoughts in the First Strike adjunct story, Petra, and would be narrated by Cobie Smulders, her voice actor from Hunt the Truth. Working titles for this narrative are Petra’s Papers or The Janecek Records or anything to that effect.

As with ODST, the player can listen to them upon collection or store them in the VISR for later review. Collecting a certain amount within a region will unlock a converted GWC bunker underground containing weapons, ammo, Optican health packs and/or vehicles left behind by police or militia.

Signs

Posted around the town are evacuation notices and personal notes left behind by civilian dockworkers. While not collectible, they help inform the player about the previous battle and clue them in to points of interest, similar to notes left behind by the denizens of Hope County in Far Cry 5.

General Features

At the start of the game, Dare has shed her special S-1/ONI variant of the ODST armor (because it was only intended for a high-risk, special-use mission) from ODST’s Epilogue in favor of Navy/ONI service uniform due to her new non-combat command assignment, so for the intro part of the game, there will be no VISR until she gets armor.
Recon’s hideout acts as a main base, where weapons/supplies can be stocked.
Ally gameplay could be like “Guns for Hire” in Far Cry 5 in that only a few members can be recruited at a time while the rest remain at base.
A small portable spy drone can be used for aerial recon and target identification but has a battery charge (like in Ghost Recon: Wildlands, so as not to be able to realistically leave the area for help).
While Flood are the main enemies and the Covenant is secondary, both are able to engage each other. This gives the player the opportunity to sneak past certain encounters.
With the exception of a few dockworkers and others, most civilians have evacuated the battle zone a while ago, leaving mostly military forces and VGOPB deputies in the area.