Musings on aesthetic departures and "wet metal triangle" discourse following the October 2025 reveal:
We are sadly left with what some Halo fans hilariously call "wet metal triangles." These uncannily pristine surfaces do not harken to ancient, misplaced destinies, but certain high-rise complexes built by sheiks on the Upper East Side.
Don't get me wrong—it's not just that they're ugly. The repugnance of the post-Halo 4 Forerunner aesthetic is philosophical, not merely stylistic. Whether it's "pretty" or not doesn't really factor into the discussion, inasmuch as these structures represent such a holistic upset in scenic narrative design that fans like myself wouldn't even be satisfied by a replacement so beautiful it made us weep if it were not, in some way, more faithful.
Now that the Forerunner structures no longer blend into nature, we as players no longer feel subtly invited to a curated exploration of our *inner nature* via humble contemplations of the natural world (which was so precious to the once-human Forerunners that it required preserving). Instead of wandering the well-trod road of Destiny, we're hauling ass to some kind of Dubai hotel for a breakfast sammie.
The Silent Cartographer's outlying buildings are no longer etched in semi-Mayan, spinal effusions of stone-like metal that seamlessly meld with nature, but rise like vaseline-coated knives thrust through the bodice of Halo. The buildings are too commercial, too "prefab," and too errantly placed. It's nice to hang out at the mall every now and again, but you don't do much thinking about God at the Orange Julius.
The buildings shown off in the gameplay reveal lack vivacity; they remind one more of the latest spy-crawler annuel from Ubisoft than the enchanted cathedrals of Halo. The scenery looks stunning, and the landscaping and foliage neat and purposeful, but the overall sum fails to evoke the quintessential mystery that defined the original Halo trilogy because of this immediately glaring departure.
I do not make the mistake of thinking this game is for me, but I sorely hope that this new generation will get to experience a Halo that looks as inviting as the original, so they'll stay with it for a good, long time.
(October 2025, excerpted from the preface to #HaloJudgment, p. 10–11)
@PaulLivo I think I feel similarly but at the same time this seems like possibly only a slightly bigger deal than sprint in halo, which I never had an issue with. I think how much pvp encounters "feel like gears" so to speak, comes down to the map design and weapons ig idk, I'm no hardcore
@_Myranium_ Leaving one of the player homes has a short driveway cutscene that puts a camera near the rear tires and the rims are always invisible. I feel your pain.
@Nezzzooo 3 ruined it imho, 4 was better and tried confronting some of the decisions that sucked in 3 like Gats death and Shaundis entire character change. Tho it still sucked by taking everything else away, it had solid moments, soundtrack, and superhero gameplay. 2,1,4,3 is my rank.
@thecathguy I always say VR could have been the resurrection of Rail shooters as a Genre
Imagine a new house of the dead of time crisis with their usual gameplay, but entirely in VR
Many devs tried too hard to make existing popular methods of games/things work in VR but ignored the obscure