Halo‘s Premiere Included a Sneaky Nod toMass Effect

Thefirst episode of Halois full of nods to the legendary Microsoft shooter franchise’svideo plot rootsand its wider lore from generation oftie - in novels and comics . But it also bring off to sneak in a lovely little nod to afellow sci - fi play ikon — one that itself has been languish for an version for almost as long as Halo has .

comparatively deeply into Halo ’s first episode , “ Contact”—as the UNSC decide to go even more mask off about being the Bad Guys while interrogate the young subsister of the episode ’s Covenant attack , Kwan Ha ( Yerin Ha)—there ’s a very abbreviated consequence of background chatter as ONI top dog Admiral Parangosky ( Shabana Azmi ) mulls over what to do with the teen . As she glare , over the intercommunication system a UNSC policeman make a request … askinga Commander Shepardto inflict a blank space shout the Skillian Response Center :

It ’s very brief , and you ’re more probable to pick it up if you ’re watch Halo with legend on — but it is of course a very deliberate nod to Bioware ’s dear sci - fi activeness RPG serial , Mass Effect . That should be in part obvious : Commander Shepard , customizable to be either manful or distaff , is the main character of the serial publication . But the second half of the Easter egg is an even deeper callout to the franchise for true Mass Effect diehards .

Pablo Schreiber’s Master Chief isn’t a fan of BR starts, apparently.

Pablo Schreiber’s Master Chief isn’t a fan of BR starts, apparently.Image: Paramount

The Skyllian Blitz is an event in Mass Effect ’s customizable backstory for Commander Shepard when a actor firstcreates their version of themin the original plot in the series . An expansionary difference between Human military machine and a conglomerate of foreign pirates over a colony name Elysium , Commander Shepard ’s military history admit fighting on the ground during the conflict . If player pick the “ War Hero ” background signal for Shepard , then they singlehandedly held off a falling out of defences on the colony by the pirates , rally the colonist to repulse the attack in turn , earning a military honor . If they choose the “ Ruthless ” setting meanwhile , it ’s established that Shepard participate in a retaliatory strike on pirate bases after the rape on Elysium instead .

But why is there a on the face of it random reference to Mass Effect in an adaptation of Halo ? Well , there was a brief time in which both secret plan serial were really Microsoft - sole claim . Thefirst Mass Effectwas free solely for microcomputer and the Xbox 360 and release by Microsoft Game Studios in 2007 — just a few months after the megahit release of Halo 3 on the console . It was n’t until Bioware was acquired the year after by EA that Mass Effect would become a multi - console franchise , but even then , there ’s always been an Xbox connection between the two serial .

There ’s also the fact that arguably we ’ve been waiting as long for a alive - action take on Halo as we have one of Mass Effect . In the years since the latter ’s first appearance , there have been talk of possible movie take on the context , andlate last yearit was bring out that Amazon is in the works to move around Mass Effect into a pour idiot box series , blood-related to Paramount ’s plans with Halo finally make out to fruition this calendar week . Maybe it was just a nod from one long - awaited adaption toanother yet to come . But hey , it ’s not even Mass Effect ’s first television set nod this class — Shepard catch an even sneakier nod in the final installment of The Expanse as an unseen soldier , ID’don a computer screen!The secure Commander draw around , manifestly .