Microsoft releases Halo 5: Guardians action-packed opening cinematic

Microsoft and 343 Industries have released the opening cinematic for Halo 5: Guardians.

Halo 5 is Microsoft’s biggest effort yet to lure gamers to the Xbox One video game console, which still trails behind Sony’s PlayStation 4 in worldwide sales. Since 2001, the Halo series has sold more than 60 million units, generating billions of dollars in revenue. And it isn’t running out of steam yet.

Tonight, Microsoft released the opening cinematic, which starts out with Spartan Jameson Locke and his Fireteam Osiris. They’re called upon by the UNSC to recover a high-value target, Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, the creator of the Spartan warrior program. She’s in custody and claims to have information on some recent atrocities. The team descends skydiving-style on a planet with a hot landing zone full of Covenant and Promethean enemies. Microsoft describes the scene as the start “to the most ambitious, robust, and epic Halo campaign experience yet.”

Feast your eyes on this action. Halo 5 comes out on the Xbox One video game console on October 27.

The cinematic was directed by 343 Industries and created in collaboration with some of the video game industry’s leading creative talent, such as Axis Animation, Profile Studios, and Warner Bros.