New Halo Infinite video tells the origins of Master Chief’s energy shield

Halo Infinite’s release is only about a month away now, and while we know a lot about the game’s campaign and multiplayer already, developer 343 Industries still has a few more things to share. A new video takes us back to before the original Halo to tell the story of how Master Chief’s energy shield came to be.

The video, called Unspoken, begins with a text crawl explaining where the shield tech came from. Two marines confiscated alien shields from a freighter trying to escape the planet Harvest. One of the two, Lance Corporal Chris Preston, is featured in the video, talking about David Dominguez, who fell in battle during the operation.

As Preston tells the story in American Sign Language, we learn that the marines were ambushed by Jackals, and although they fought them off, they didn’t escape the battle unscathed. Dominguez died from injuries sustained in the fight, while Preston’s throat was slashed — hence the signing used in the video. It’s an engaging bit of lore that fills out the Halo universe just a bit more, and the choice to tell the story in ASL implies a good amount of accessibility settings in Infinite.

It’s also worth pointing out that the video seems to be part of a series, called UNSC Archives. It opens by highlighting the shield components of Master Chief’s Mjolnir armor, so more videos that examine other parts would make sense. We’ll have to wait and see what else 343 has planned leading up to Halo Infinite’s release — that’s December 8 on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One, although there’s talk of an Early Access bundle coming before that.

Being a first-party game, Infinite will be available on Game Pass at launch. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can get monthly multiplayer bonuses as well.