The long rumoured Halo 5 has been officially announced, and it will be titled Guardians. A new post on the official Xbox Wire website broke the news, revealing that the newest entry in the Halo journey will arrive some time in the fall of 2015.

Bonnie Ross, general manager over at 343 Industries, stated:

“I’m happy to reveal that “Halo 5: Guardians,” the next installment in the legendary saga of the Master Chief, will launch on Xbox One in fall of 2015.  In the tradition of every “Halo” game since its debut in 2001, it is a massive and exciting project.”

She went on to deliver fairly standard PR babble that amounts to little, but sounds nice:

“Any time you transition to a new platform, there is the opportunity to look at things with a new perspective. For us at 343 Industries, the launch of the Xbox One was an opportunity to think about what stories we wanted to tell, how to tell them, and how best to push the “Halo” franchise to showcase the platform. And, most importantly, combining our passion for “Halo” with the vocal and informative input from our fans.”

Something that’s a little more interesting is the promise of a heavily reworked game engine that will run the next Halo at 60fps, and that will also feature dedicated servers:

“In the past, “Halo” games have pushed the Xbox forward, showcasing the console and its ecosystem in entertaining and innovative ways. Making a “Halo” game that runs at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade, is non-trivial.”

Considering there’s been such an importance placed in frame-rate and resolution this generation, it’s a little surprising that there was no mention of aiming for 1080p as well. Doubtless ravenous fanboys will leap on this information, declaring that the reason they’re not listing that as a goal is because they don’t think they can achieve it.

Bonnie Ross went on to say that Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger game than Halo 4, saying  “That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine.  Certainly there are some core elements carried over from prior games, but we’ve invested a huge effort in retooling our tech to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware and ecosystem to create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen.”

Obviously actual details of the game are thin. Interestingly in Halo unexplainable deaths are attributed to “The Guardians.” Get killed by venturing out of the map’s restrictions, for example, and your demise will be listed as being at the hands of The Guardians. But just who the hell are they? No idea. And in all likelihood the name of Halo 5 is no relation. But still…

What we do know is that is the art shows a new character that appears to be female, with Master Chief reflected under her. I’m going to go out on a limb here, but could the female somehow be Cortana? Perhaps in an effort to further the idea of a romance between the Chief and his beloved A.I., 343 have devised a way to grant her a physical presence.

Either way a second character could allow for a narrative where you play as both, or also allow for co-operative play.

Finally, more Halo news is incoming. Information on the upcoming TV show has been promised. However, Bonnie also teased other stuff:

“Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a “journey,” rather than a destination – and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with agiant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that “Halo” fans will be pretty excited about the special plans we have in store.”

Halo 2 remastered, perhaps?