This article contains spoilers for Halo Infinite.
YouTuber Gamecheat13 has uploaded a supposedly cut mid-credits scene for Halo Infinite that may tease the next chapter of Halo Infinite‘s story.
Before we dive deeper into that scene and what it could mean, I should mention that you should take all of this information with a grain of salt. While the scene itself appears to be legitimate, it’s currently not clear why it may have been cut from the game. Some fans are already speculating that the scene could be related to Infinite‘s currently missing co-op mode (which we’ll get into in a bit), but it’s also possible that it was cut from the launch version of the game because the Infinite writers simply decided not to use it. As such, there’s still a good chance that nothing will come from all of this.
With that out of the way, here’s the scene in question:
For those who are not able to view it, the very brief scene above shows Fernando Esparza receiving what sounds like a mysterious Morse code message. He calls Chief in and tells him that he’s “not going to believe this.” The ship’s computer then informs the pair that a “UNSC tag” with the designation of “friend” has been detected. For what it’s worth, fans have seemingly discovered that the original Morse code message Esparza received translates to “UNSC TAG DETD.”
Unless you’re willing to buy into the idea that the signal has somehow been hijacked by the Banished and is actually being sent by enemy forces in order to lure our protagonists into a trap, we can safely work off the assumption that Chief and Esparza have just encountered a friendly UNSC vessel. Based on Esparaza’s reaction, it seems like he’s surprised by the source of the signal, which implies that it’s not a signal anyone expected to see this close to Zeta Halo.
So far as that goes, one of the most popular theories at the moment suggests that the signal may actually be coming from the Spirit of Fire: a UNSC ship that harbored the Spartan “Red Team” seen in the Halo Wars series. There are a few plot holes that need to be filled in before we’re able to fully support that idea, but 343 certainly seems interested in folding the events of the Halo Wars games into the “main” Halo saga, and a vocal group of fans has certainly made it clear that they want to see Red Team and Spirit of Fire’ Captain James Cutter interact with Master Chief at some point.
Some fans are also arguing that this signal could be coming from the Arbiter and the Swords of Sangheilios, which could help explain why the computer identifies the signal’s designation as “friend.” After all, if the signal was coming from a “standard” UNSC ship, it would be somewhat odd for them to be assigned such a specific and seemingly redundant designation.
Of course, it’s also possible that this scene is indeed related to Infinite‘s currently missing co-op mode and could be related to the “second player character” who will assist Chief in that mode whenever it is eventually released. That would certainly help explain why this scene was cut from the launch version of the game.
Ultimately, though, nobody is entirely sure what to make of all of this. While we certainly have some theories about where Halo Infinite goes from here, the truth of the matter is that the future of this franchise is more open than ever. As such, be sure to share whatever theories you have about this seemingly cut credits sequence in the comments below.