Locke is better than Cortana when it comes to new view point

Mar 2, 2015 13:42 GMT  ·  By

343 Industries, the developer of the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians game for the Xbox One, confirms that the new character, Locke, will help flesh out not just franchise protagonist Master Chief, but also the overall story in a way that past characters, like Cortana, couldn't.

The Halo series has been around for quite some time and most titles have focused on a single protagonist, in the form of Master Chief, who's gone through all sorts of adventures, often with just a single ally, in the form of the AI program Cortana.

For this year's Halo 5: Guardians, however, a new protagonist joins the fray, in the form of Locke, a rather mysterious character that will go through different adventures than Master Chief.

Locke will enrich the story and Master Chief's character

According to 343 Industries boss Frank O'Connor, who talks with GamesRadar, the new character serves a key role in the story especially when related to Master Chief. According to the developer, Locke provides valuable context for the actions of Master Chief in a way that other characters, like Cortana, couldn't because of their already established relation to the main protagonist.

"The Chief is the core hero in the story, without a doubt. It’s really about contextualizing the Chief. As much as Locke’s an important character in the universe himself, he’s also going to be a useful cipher for you to explore Master Chief’s character from an outside perspective. Locke is going to help contextualize the universe in a way that Cortana necessarily couldn’t."

The new character also provides a different perspective on the main conflict, portraying what O'Connor calls the boots on the ground, without requiring different narrative tricks to be pulled with Master Chief in the main story.

You can bet that more details about both Locke and the story of Halo 5: Guardians will appear in the following months, as we get closer to the game's debut this fall on the Xbox One.