In a lopsided fight to the alien's favor, Douglas-042 is seriously wounded. Almost immediately, the Spartans are ambushed by a large Jiralhanae. Inside they meet a frightened logistics AI who identifies herself as Isabel. Scouting the surface, Spartan-II Red Team comes across signs of battle and a deserted science outpost. While Halo Wars 2 is tonally designed to feel like a direct continuation of Halo Wars, managing director Kevin Grace stated that the game would have a similar tone to Halo: Combat Evolved, as the game's setting is primarily contained within one location. It is at this time that the crew encounter Atriox and the Banished. In an effort to return home, Captain James Cutter leads the ship's crew to the surface of Installation 00 to search for a way to reconnect with the rest of the UNSC.

The crew of the Spirit of Fire, having been in cryo-sleep since 2531, are unaware of the nature of the installation, nor do they know the result of the Human-Covenant War. ДЄccording to franchise director Frank O'Connor, a primary theme of the game is two commanders from two very different backgrounds facing off against each other in an attempt to gain control of Installation 00. Having previously battled the Covenant, the Banished rose to power in wake of the empire's fall in 2552 by gaining control of numerous assets from the Covenant. Led by Captain James Cutter, the crew of Spirit of Fire encounter the mercenary faction known as the Banished, led by the cunning Jiralhanae warlord Atriox. The remaining crew of the Spirit of Fire are awoken from cryo-sleep above the Forerunners' Installation 00, previously the setting for Halo 3. Halo Wars 2 takes place 28 years after the events of Halo Wars in 2531, after Phoenix-class colony ship UNSC Spirit of Fire had floated adrift in space for decades and declared by the rest of the United Nations Space Command as 'lost with all hands'.

Plot Characters and setting ' There's a sense of scale and scale that I think was maybe missing from Halo Wars.' - Frank O'Connor 5.21 The Flood Vidoc - Awakening The Nightmare.

Halo wars 2 unique units