Today, 343 Industries released a video, showing some of the things they will be bringing to the newest Halo game. They tease about what they will bring to the story, the weapons, and the multiplayer.

With Halo 4, 343Industries is “really delving into Master Chief‘s humanity and exploring what makes him tick as a character.” Previously, most character development has been done outside of the videogame medium, and I’m excited to see what 343 can bring besides “there’s a bunch of aliens, shoot ‘em!”

They tease a bigger story this time, “with something very big at stake” and introduces a threat that “is beyond anything that Master Chief has faced before.”

They also promise to utilize the power of your “super suit” and that you should “feel like a super hero.” You’ll be given a set of tools to “use anyway you want,” one that they actually show being the return of the Battle Rifle.

343 touts that they are creating multiplayer spaces from scratch, and not reusing environment from the campaign (not that the Halo franchise has been known for doing that). But what intrigues me is that they say that the multiplayer will be getting more of a story element to it. You will be playing as Spartan IVs and 343 has “created a fairly compelling and fairly convincing reason why Red Spartans can fight Blue Spartans.”

They are rebuilding the game from the ground up, creating a more cinematic story, recreating all of the music sound effects from scratch, and just putting everything they can to deliver a Halo game that is both faithful to the franchise and brings it’s own voice.

Do you think 343 can innovate and reinvigorate the franchise? For now, I’ll remain cautiously optimistic as we get closer to the game’s release this winter.