The Halo series' timeline can be hard to follow, so we've put together a complete list of every Halo game in order, both by release date and chronologically.
![Halo games in order: Chronological and release (1) Halo games in order: Chronological and release (1)](https://i0.wp.com/www.trueachievements.com/imgs/r/144550/halo-games-in-order-main-image.jpg)
Tom West
Published
Take a look below to see the Halo games in order of their release date, followed by a more detailed chronological timeline. All but one of the Halo games are playable on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass, with the vast majority of them (Halo 1, 2, 3, 4, Reach, and ODST) being playable in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Spartan Strike is only playable on PC, but it is still in Game Pass.
Halo games in release order
Chronologically, most Halo games happen over the course of a decade, with each game taking place in a specific year (though many of them happen in the same year, 2552, as that's when the majority of the Human-Covenant war takes place. This can make keeping track of the proper timeline order tricky. Not worry though, we've got you covered.
Of course, a franchise as large as Halo has a plethora of books, comics, and TV shows thrown into the mix, but for the purpose of this list, we're only including the 12 games.
- Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
- Halo 2 (2004)
- Halo 3 (2007)
- Halo Wars (2009)
- Halo 3: ODST (2009)
- Halo: Reach (2010)
- Halo 4 (2012)
- Halo Spartan Assault (2013)
- Halo: Spartan Strike (2015)
- Halo 5: Guardians (2015)
- Halo Wars 2 (2017)
- Halo Infinite (2021)
Halo games in chronological order
Unlike the century-jumping Assassin's Creed timeline, Halo tends to stick with a single decade for its games, the 2550s, with only two games stepping out of that timeframe. Whether humankind is battling it out with the Covenant, Banished, or Flood, each game is linked closely with the timelines of the other games in the series, which makes a run through all 12 games a fairly smooth and tight-nit experience... once you know where to start.
- Halo Wars (2531)
- Halo Reach (2552)
- Halo: Combat Evolved (2552)
- Halo 2 (2552)
- Halo 3: ODST (2552)
- Halo 3 (2552 - 2553)
- Halo Spartan Assault (2554)
- Halo 4 (2557)
- Halo: Spartan Strike (2552 - 2557)
- Halo 5: Guardians (2558)
- Halo Wars 2 (2559)
- Halo Infinite (2560)
How to play through the Halo games in timeline order:
1. Halo Wars (2531)
- Release Date: February 27, 2009
- Developer: Ensemble Studios
- Platforms: Xbox 360 (Definitive Edition: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
This spin-off is set in the early part of the Human-Covenant War and sees the United Nations Space Command's (UNSC) Red Team of elite Spartan-II soldiers take on the Covenant, an alien collective threatening to destroy humankind, on the planets of Harvest and Arcadia in 2531. Operating off of the UNSC warship, Spirit of Fire, Red Team soon discovers that the Covenant is after an installation built by an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners and swiftly attempts to stop the mounting threat.
Alongside the original release, there was a definitive edition launched in 2017 alongside its sequel, Halo Wars 2.
2. Halo: Reach (2552)
- Release Date: September 14, 2010
- Developer: Bungie
- Platforms: Xbox 360
Halo: Reach is set in 2552, 21 years after the events of Halo Wars and sees us playing as Noble Six, a member of the UNSC's Noble Team Spartans, who become locked in a bloody battle with the Covenant on the Earth-like planet called Reach. Acting as a UNSC's primary military hub, a Covenant invasion of Reach threatens the future of humanity, but Noble Team's actions in the campaign are the reason the UNSC warship The Pillar of Autumn is able to escape the planet and make it to a Halo ringworld. This takes us right into the original Halo, our first adventure with Master Chief and his AI companion Cortana, as the pair attempt to turn the war in humanity's favor.
3. Halo: Combat Evolved (2552)
- Release Date: November 15, 2001
- Developer: Bungie
- Platforms: Xbox
Set immediately after the events of Reach, Combat Evolved keeps us in the year 2552 but puts us in the very big shoes of John-117 aka Master Chief, who wakes up on The Pillar of Autumn following a Covenant attack. After the ship crash lands on the Halo ring, Chief soon learns that the ring is an old Forerunner weapon designed to destroy a parasitic entity known as the Flood, but can be used by the Covenant to obliterate all sentient life. The ensuing fight sees Chief and Cortana come face-to-face with the Flood when attempting to take control of the ring, before they are forced to destroy the installation and hightail it to Earth with a warning about an impending Covenant invasion.
4. Halo 2 (2552)
- Release Date: November 9, 2004
- Developer: Bungie
- Platforms: Xbox and PC
Halo 2 sees Master Chief and The Arbiter meet in the depths of another Halo ring, Installation 05, after quelling the Covenant invasion of Earth. Deep within the ring, the pair meet the Gravemind, a Flood creature that convinces The Arbiter that the Covenant's teachings are a lie and sends the unlikely pair on a mission to stop the Halo's activation.
The best way to play Halo 2 (and to be honest, every game that's in it) these days is via Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
5. Halo 3: ODST (2552)
- Release Date: September 22, 2009
- Developer: Bungie
- Platforms: Xbox 360
As another spin-off game, we don't play as Master Chief here and instead embody an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) during the Covenant's invasion of Earth. Controlling a soldier known as Rookie, we're tasked with scouring the city of New Mombasa for our missing squadmates after the Covenant ship High Charity jumps into slipspace, annihilating the city in its wake. After learning about a biological supercomputer used by the Covenant, Rookie and his squadmates attempt to steal it away from the enemy for the UNSC.
6. Halo 3 (2552 - 2553)
- Release Date: September 27, 2007
- Developer: Bungie
- Platforms: Xbox 360
Halo 3 brings the original Halo trilogy to a close, showcasing the final battle of the Human-Covenant War. The beginning of this installment sees Master Chief running solo without Cortana for a while, but once again humanity's existence is hanging in the balance. Not only is the Halo ring activated in Halo 2 threatening to wipe out all sentient life from a large corner of the universe, but the parasitic Flood descends on Earth. While humanity wins the day, Chief and Cortana are left stranded in deep space aboard the Forward Unto Dawn. The trilogy comes to a close with Chief saying, "Wake me when you need me."
7. Halo: Spartan Assault (2554)
- Release Date: July 18, 2013
- Developer: Vanguard Games / 343 Industries
- Platforms: Windows Phone 8 and PC
We play as Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis on the planet Draetheus V after humanity and the Covenant have signed a ceasefire. When a Covenant splinter group learns that Draetheus V is actually a Forerunner weapon, the faction led by the Sangheili Merg Vol attacks and activates the weapon, triggering a planet-wide evacuation. Our role as the two protagonists sees us holding back the Covenant threat to save the human populace, while also attempting to sabotage the weapon.
8. Halo 4 (2557)
- Release Date: November 6, 2012
- Developer: 343 Industries
- Platforms: Xbox 360
Picking up four years after the events of Halo 3, Halo 4 takes us to the year 2557 as Master Chief is woken from cryosleep aboard the Forward Unto Dawn by Cortana. This installment sees Master Chief fight off a rogue faction of Covenant aliens before learning that Cortana is beginning to become unstable due to an AI sickness known as Rampancy. With the odds stacked against them, the pair travel across an unknown planet, visit another Halo ring, and learn of a brand-new threat to humanity: the Forerunners have returned.
9. Halo: Spartan Strike (2552 - 2557)
- Release Date: April 16, 2015
- Developer: Vanguard Games / 343 Industries
- Platforms: iOS, PC, and Windows Phone
Spartan Strike opens with the Covenant invasion of New Mombasa and follows a group of UNSC soldiers who secure a Forerunner artifact called the Conduit. After the Covenant ship High Charity devastated the city when entering slipspace, the Conduit was lost. Its signal is picked up years later on the Halo ringworld of Gamma Halo. The UNSC then races the new Covenant faction to secure the Conduit and stop their enemies from gaining control of Forerunner portals.
10. Halo 5: Guardians (2558)
- Release Date: October 27, 2015
- Developer: 343 Industries
- Platforms: Xbox One
With Cortana's Rampancy gaining traction, the AI has gone AWOL, and Master Chief, along with Blue Team, is in pursuit of his missing companion. Fireteam Osiris, however, has been tasked with tracking down the Chief for UNSC's command after his loyalty is called into question. Things take a turn for the worse in this installment when Cortana gains command of all AI and computer systems in an attempt to "save humanity."
11. Halo Wars 2 (2559)
- Release Date: February 21, 2017
- Developer: Creative Assembly / 343 Industries
- Platforms: Xbox One
After resting in cryosleep and missing the remainder of the Human-Covenant War, Red Team arrives at the Ark unaware of its power to control the Halo rings. As they investigate the strange installation, the team comes into contact with The Banished, led by the fearsome brute Atriox. Believing that they're the last stand between The Banished and humanity, Red Team digs in for a fight.
12. Halo Infinite (2560)
- Release Date: December 8, 2021
- Developer:343 Industries
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC
After Red Team's encounter with The Banished in Halo Wars 2, Atriox and his band of brutes return as a threat to humanity in Halo Infinite, along with a new entity known as the Endless. With an AI replica of Cortana and a UNSC pilot by his side, Master Chief travels to Zeta Halo in his hunt for the now very-rampant Cortana, waging war on The Banished as he goes.
Xbox Series X|SXbox OneWindows
Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.
View discussion...