Before starting, please, please, please, please play this game before I absolutely spoil it.
This game is the reason I made this account.
Halo reach was a part of my childhood on the Xbox 360, and it had me in a confused state after beating the game back then.
Today, after beating the game on legendary, I wish I could forget the entire series just to experience it for the first time again.
This game had me experience heartbreak time after time, stage after stage. I knew all the moments of loss were coming too, yet it never softened any of the blows that Reach threw at me.
Losing Jorge barely felt real or important until I made jokes with him in mind and realized he was never going to reappear in front of me again.
I knew where and when Kat was going to die, yet I was still taken aback by her sudden death. I felt angry and sad that we lost the sassy, annoying tech wiz to some ugly alien and yet I could do nothing but watch.
When Jun split with us on Carter's order, I knew not one of the 3 remaining Nobles would see him again.
When I was on the ground escorting Cortana to the extract, Carter protected Emile and I from this giant mechanical spider vehicle. His final sendoff finally making me remember that no one on Reach makes it out.
Emile valiantly protecting me while I cleared the landing zone to hand off Cortana and going out with a fight as a final defiant act against the Covenant.
Noble 6, fighting their last breath for more time to kick more Covenant in the teeth. All the while knowing that they were not going to see the end of the war, they had hoped that the Noble Team was the reason that humanity had a chance at surviving the war.
All of these scenes were stuck in my mind, from both the first time I played the game on my Xbox, the second time I played the game a week after my birthday and now it will be stuck in my mind as one of the greatest games endings I have ever played.

This is the best Halo game. The story is beautiful and very simple to follow. You die for Reach, a warrior's death. It's beautiful. A perfect send off as Bungie would fade off into the Sun. Cough cough we don't talk about the dumpster fire that was Destiny 1 N 2. Back to the topic though, these 10 levels are diverse in location, beautiful to look at, and most importantly they're hella fun to play. Speaking of hella fun to play, I gotta mention Multiplayer in every which way! Firefight is a great mode to turn your brain off to and just rack up points mowing down the Covenant horde. Multiplayer mode made some of my teenage nights during the pandemic. Griffball is hilarious, TDM is still smooth like butter, and Big Team Battle's were on some Lord of the Rings level type-ish. I love this game. Unfortunately, 360 servers went down 2022, but I was on the ship right before it sank. It has a very special place in my heart as during the pandemic, It was one of the only active 360 servers. Amazing nights spent on this game. Still, it must end, as the flame dies and turns into "Ashes" (Soundtrack is kino).