Halo Reach: An Existential Dread 

Regarding the original thumbnail: I made a really harmful mistake. I incorrectly assumed (which really shouldn't have gone to an assumption in the first place) that the art was official. Turns out, it wasn't. All I can really say is that I apologize. There are no excuses for it. It was my mistake. You can check out the original artist here: www.artstation.com/artwork/nl2kK

Me: "Cool, a Halo Reach Review." KingK: *"What's the point of life, if we could die tomorrow?"* Me: "Oh."

"He gave his life thinking he'd just saved the planet, we should all be so lucky." - Carter A-259. This is one of the greatest quotes not only in Halo, but in my opinion, most cinema and video games. It still resonates that "This is all pointless" feeling.

"Jorge, the demolition expert, dies in an explosion. Kat, the tech savvy, dies from a headshot. Jun, the stealthy one, disappears without a trace. Carter, the leader, goes down with the ship. Emile, the closer quarter frenzy, dies with a sword through his chest. Noble 6, the lone wolf, dies alone." Saw something like this as a comment on a different Reach video, and it's just so perfect.

here's something to think about: the elites in the Lone Wolf cinematic will remember this tiny spartan fighting until the last possible breath. how this six-man team delayed their overwhelming invasion over and over, fighting against impossible odds. and at the very end of it all, after the Covenant has won, here's Noble Six. fighting tooth and claw and making the Covenant hemorrhage for every inch they gain. A warrior's death. really, the only beings who will remember Noble Team are their enemies. and that's kinda badass.

''your only real impact is to deliver a package and fire a railgun'' That sounds like reproducing.

Halo Reach is easily my favorite. It's scary, sad, and tough. Lone Wolf is a reluctant acceptance that you have to trust other people to do what you couldn't. It's a passing of the flag to another game, another Spartan, and another studio. I love that damn game. RIP Jorge.

“That’s a one way trip.” “We all make it sooner or later.”

The ending of Reach is amazing. One of my favorite moments is shortly after Emile is killed. Being offered a chance to escape the doomed Reach, Noble 6 turns Captain Keyes down, and selflessly stays behind. When Noble 6 tells Keyes "Good luck Sir", and Keyes grimly turns away... It's such a powerful moment. Both men knew that 6 was going to die, but it had to be done. You stay behind, and give up your life so that others may live. It's a beautiful sacrifice. In the final mission, when the end is inevitable, Noble 6 fights on unbroken, against what might as well be an entire Covenant Army. Even when being pinned to the ground, seconds away from death, Noble 6 refuses to give up. It's a great message. Live every second like it's your last, and never stop fighting. No one can choose how they die, but we can all choose how we live.

"Hey..." "Yeah?" "... You ever wonder why we're here?"

"why us?" "because we're here, lad. no one else."

The mission Lone Wolf reminds me of the quote: "Do not go gentle into that goodnight."

It was always kinda ironic to me. You have done things that no human could dream of: - discover the Covenant's existence on Reach, - witness their slow upmarch to become an actual presence on the northern hemisphere and eventually the whole planet, - Fight them every step of the way, including a space mission to blow up a ship the size of a country, - and send Reach's survivors on their way once doom is certain. And then, at the end, there's the simplest objective: survive. It's simple! Just don't die. And yet, through all those trials and tests of strength, the simplest one is the one that is the hardest. You could hide. You could run to the mountains and hide, but NOT fighting isn't an option. You didn't fight tooth and nail to give up now. You didn't see your entire team go down fighting only for you to kneel and let it happen. Giving up *ISN'T* an option. Out of all the missions, out of all the objectives, surviving is the simplest and hardest of them all. 1 word, but no way to achieve it.

There are two interpretations I think about regarding Lone Wolf: The first is that it is the culmination of something told to you at the beginning of the game by Carter: that the "Lone-Wolf stuff stays behind" and that you're now part of a team. In a sense, there is a tragedy in that Noble Six, a former assassin who specialized in dealing with human threats moves on to fight alongside a more protective force (I like your metaphor of the shield), only to survive all team members except Jun and then die as what he no longer was: a lone-wolf. It's probably tragic because Noble Six was very different from the heroic figure of the Chief: Six changed things from the shadows, killed entire militias and was mostly a dark tool of ONI that was given another perspective by being inserted into a team that works together, only to have that snatched away in a brutal manner. This interpretation is a little dark, and in it, you come to value the team greatly for what it was. The other reading is more closely aligned with what you said. In a sense, you are forced into a situation that mirrors that of the whole of Reach's story: the outcome is already decided. There is no difference if you are a new player who plays on easy, a hardened veteran, a solid player, etc. There isn't even a penalty, you can kill yourself instead of fighting and the outcome will be the same, no matter how well you played. Tracing this metaphor with the idea of dead being equal for all is, as you pointed out, kind of disturbing because it is inevitably true. I think this gives you a canvas with which to do what you want with the life you're given. And I think that is close to the central message of Reach, one in which, despite the fact that all is lost and that, in the surface, decisions seem meaningless, you are still given autonomy to act, you are treated as a free agent and given the choice to fight if you want (in this sense, Reach takes full advantage of being a videogame where you control and even customize the character). I think there is also a certain tragedy here too in that, you Noble Team and the dead Spartans you see in the level (which I would see as stand-ins for other players, other people like you) do not get recognition. This unsung quality is not as appealing as the hero story of the Chief, but we know it is at least as important, and that struggle is what matters.

It's funny when you call it just delivering a package when that package saved the galaxy. It was a small part, unwritten, but it was a small part that let that happen. Every Marine Chief ever handed a rocket to, every Elite that helped carve the path to the sacred icon for the Arbiter, every warthog left behind in tip top shape so a get away could be made, where they pointless? I suppose it's a matter of perspective, but I loved that Six delivered Cortana because it was Bungie saying "Thank You, we got to tell thus story because of you the fans so it's only right that you get to be the one who started it all." Then you get closure. You don't get unceremoniously killed offscree like Rookie you get a chance to make a difference. Another small one but it's in your own hands to fight so hard that they have to send generals and Zealots and tanks all just to stop little old you. Kinda like in the Halo "head hunters" short. Those elites could be elsewhere but every second they're trying to kill you they aren't fighting the war. You make THERE death pointless and that has meaning to those they would've killed. Also Lone Wolf and it's infinitely spawning enemies only exists because fans were able to out survive impossible encounters like ones on Keyes that are suppose to force you to jump down the hole.There was only a finite amount of flood that could spawn and they even made it so they didn't come with shotguns and people still managed to kill them all! They had to find something there fans finally couldn't beat. Though I bet they were rooting for us to find a way.

The moment you said "I think about death every day" I felt such a strong connection to you. Every word that you said after that resonated so much with me. I grew up playing these games just like you did and boy oh boy, we are not alone. I am also so afraid of death. I am so afraid of not doing anything important before I am gone. I am as afraid as we all are. This video has touched me on a level no youtube video has and I spend hours and hours here every week. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for speaking to us. This might be a video about Halo Reach but it is just as much a video about what life is all about. and you nailed it

What makes Noble Six's story all the more sad is that while his contributions to the defense of Reach and humanity as a whole were substantial, and should've warranted him being remembered as a hero like the rest of Noble Team, canonically his entire existence was kept completely classified to the utmost degree, even after the end of the war and eventual rebuilding of Reach. He was completely excluded from the statue honoring Noble Team in the rebuilt New Alexandria, and he was all but erased from history, all because ONI higher-ups wanted to keep their "personal Grim Reaper" hidden. Arguably among the greatest heroes of humanity, and he was doomed to a fate where nobody except the top brass or those who served with him and lived to tell the tale would remember anything he did.

Emile: "I'm ready! How about you."

*CURRENT OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE* By the time of Lone Wolf, you have already completed your objective. No matter how few or how small your impact was, to the people you saved your sacrifice meant everything. Saving the galaxy is valuable because the people in it are valuable. Every moment of life is precious, and even though they too will eventually die, everyone you saved will be afforded so many more moments of life that they can use to make their own difference. Noble Six passed on the torch to Master Chief by giving Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn, he delayed the invasion of Reach, he saved many lives and made the savage acts committed by the Covenant cost them. At the end of the game, his purpose is completed. He has nothing left to fight for, he's going to die no matter how many Covenant he kills and it doesn't matter how many he kills because they are all condemned to die by glassing anyway. But Noble Six isn't about to let the last moments of his life get cut short even by a few seconds. He is going to fight for every last breath for the same reason he fought to save civilians in New Alexandria: Life is valuable. The Covenant is going to pay for what they did to Reach, even if it's by making the aliens responsible live a couple seconds less. Noble Six will not go quietly into the howling dark.

I love how you can basically feel Noble 6 sighing everytime he is on screen. From when he dangles Jorge’s dogtags to when he realizes he has to stay behind to die defending Reach to when he sees dead Spartans in the same place he is going to die in. You can feel the pointlessness in our actions as Noble 6. Its so depressing. Which is why this is my favorite Halo game.

When it comes to Halo Reach, the mission "Lone Wolf" was a mission I never thought anyone would discuss in terms of its meaning. Your discussion about Existential Dread was well said and I can't really add anything to it. In fact I say I love this discussion on it. Though I just feel like sharing this line that I heard recently: "Its not the dying that frighten's us. It's leaving this world without having done our best." (Castlevania 2017) It's a line that stuck in a way that I didn't think it would. In a way it's become a motivator to me. Life has shown me in the face of adversity, we somehow find reason to keep going. Got to make the most of our time, and somehow in it's own way, our efforts do matter.

KingK 2019: Mario Party KingK 2020: Death comes to us all

"Mongoose filled hurrah" *Driving a warthog*

Me: “oh kingk made a new video can’t wait to unwind and relax tonight.” Kingk: “I fear death everyday.”

Everyone's talking about the depressing ending, but I got depressed when he said that he had friends to play the game with

*Simmons:* Hey. *Grif:* Yeah? *Simmons:* You ever wonder why we're here?

I remember playing through Reach for the first time last month. I knew that everyone was gonna die and when I got to that final mission In the war-torn desert. I was like is this really how it ends? Great feeling of a terrible feeling if that makes sense!

The one thing I always remember about Reach is, when it first came out, how there was this odd, outspoken faction of the playerbase that hated it because they thought it deviated too much from Halo 3 and drew comparisons to CoD because of the addition of loadouts.... I also always remember Reach being the greatest shooter in the golden age of gaming, bar none.

"The Master Chief was a gun you pointed at the Covenant to win the war, whereas Noble Team are a shield to protect the world from their atrocities."

“You don’t need to save the world to find meaning in life, sometimes all you need is something simple... like someone to take care of” - persona 3 I don’t remember who says it but damn

You're about the age I was when I had my existencial crisis. I remember I lived an entire year where every single waking moment was accompanied by the thoughts of the impending end. and it was weird, I couldn't rest any night, and yet in the morning, every other person I stumbled upon was normal. They didn't look like they had these thoughts, but I bet everyone has. It's something you overcome. Life seems so promising, so full of surprises when you're on your way to your 20's.... and then it stops, the wonder stops, surprises stop... being good. Surprises start to be bad, to be painful.... but you overcome it, you stick to your guns, you carry on, you stick it out, and you overcome it. Now I do not have those scary thoughts.... maybe once every various months, and now my girlfriend is going through her existencial crisis, which it pains me that nothing I say to her can help her make the thoughts go away. The only thing I can tell her is "I know what you feel because I've felt it. And you will overcome it". In time, you will overcome it.

It makes me cry every time I see Noble Six's helmet just sitting there underneath dust and echoes. His plasma ridden corpse probably just off camera. Symbolic for the fact that he died alone. Halo Reach is a masterpiece. And as an atheist myself I never had that fear of death. The point of life for me is just make people happy including yourself and appreciate the days you get to live.

This is why Reach will always be my favorite game, no matter how badass and how many aliens you kill, sometimes you just aren’t the Master Chief who’ll just easily save the day. But I can’t help seeing the ending where YOUR actions are what helps Chief win the day eventually inspiring. Even when everything was hopeless and you’re going to die, your legacy lives on and you still matter in some way.

"Your life could amount to delivering a package it would still matter." Well ... sounds like someone still has a hardon for Fallout: New Vegas.

I’ve always found this to be my favourite Halo campaign because of just how beautiful the tragedy is. Thank you for making this video and articulating what I’ve felt

"Spartans never die, they just go missing in action." 😢

"...not even one person has your back here. It's just you... and the end" Advertisement: ALL PEOPLE ARE TAX PEOPLE A-A-ALL PEOPLE ARE TAX PEOPLE

we out here Feeling, main

Really loved this video man, probably my favourite you've done. Great work dude!

"Because our hearts are still beating, there is still more to be seen" that... That hit me hard

This video was honestly beautiful. I was 12 when Halo reach released, I was already an avid Halo fan at the time deeply embroiled in the fallacy that was console and game patriotism (ie cod sux Halo rules, Xbox over ps3). Now as an avid PC gamer getting to rekindle those memories has been something. I immediately picked up reach and vowed to Speedrun the campaign because of how fast I used to run it back in 2010-2013. Then I realized there was things like parking a falcon on top a covenant drop ship to boost yourself in the first mission. So for now I'm putting that speedrunning plan on hold, I figure there are a lot of new skips to learn. But for your existential crisis. I recommend psychedelics, for me they allowed me to come to terms with myself and also my place in the world. I've found that the only point in life is to leave something to remember you, for me that point has been channeled into creating art and collecting books. For me I have set myself goals, I have ambitions. And part of the sole reasoning for all the ambition was to give me something to cling to when I was down. I have struggled with suicidal depression that started when I was 10. For me it took until I was almost 21 to really even start enjoying life, then I had to go through by far the most tumultuous year of my life. Bouncing between jobs with troughs of unemployment. I am the type that beats myself up for stuff, if I've been slacking on something I will beat myself up over it, but won't actually do it so the cycle continues. So the longer I went unemployed the more I hated myself, it's a cycle I've gone through more times than I care to admit most times not even pertaining to unemployment. It took me just learning sometimes you have to just do it. It's something I knew but didn't want to listen to. But breaking my inactivity was the only thing that would fix the problem, and I found it to be the only thing that brought me happiness. For me the idea of not accomplishing things or creating things is akin to death. It is stagnation. So for me I am not afraid of death, really haven't been for most of my life. Due to wanting to die for so long to me it's just a part of life. So for me my only goal is to leave a lasting impression. I have ambitions of making a massive time capsule of sorts. A library containing all the literature I enjoyed in life and enough practical books (ie medical books, botany books, and lexicons to understand them such as dictionaries) to rebuild the world. Another thing is that I have no desire to be interred in the ground not cremated. From a young age I've also wanted my tomb to be a mausoleum and I've wanted to bring some comfort belongings with me to said tomb when I pass. The list could go on for ages for me my life kinda revolves around going around and chiseling my mark upon the planet. I want the library to be remote similar to the seed bank in Norway (though for me I was thinking the middle of nowhere in Colorado due to land being cheap and rainfall being low). I would love nothing more than for there to be explorers a 100's of years from now that stumbled on my projects. In the grand scheme I'm doing nothing to change society, nothing grandiose, but in my eyes it is the ambition of my life. I think we all have to find that thing to strive for, that goal. For me that was once to simply carry on my family line, now I've realized there really isn't a point in it. If carrying on your line was all you had to do then abusive fathers of 10 would be our role models. No the goal is to enrich the next generation, in my eyes I can't do that in my current living state and fiscal state. So there is no sense putting my self worth in something that won't even be viable for me for another decade. So instead focus on the ambitions you can work on now. Funny thing that, it makes me feel like an RPG character grinding at a skill to level up, and I feel like I'm still in the beginning stages of most of said skills. I know this was very rambly but I've spent my life searching for meaning and reasoning. So it's very multifaceted, I think that's how we all are. We have different definitions on what the point is to life, and that is the beauty of it. We are like a million Petri dishes, people molded by environment and circumstance. Thus we have ever differing conclusions and journeys to said conclusions. One final aside, I came from a similar Christian background but early on convinced myself I wasn't going to the pearly gates or wouldn't want to because of dead family members seeing the person I was. Thus early on the idea of death as the cold end was on my mind, hence why I wanted a mausoleum. A place I wouldn't mind walking if I was damned to walk the earth forever filled with things from my life that I enjoyed. I realize that is an afterlife in a sense but it was only really a precaution you know. Like I'm fully prepared for once I'm dead there's nothing, but just in case I'd rather not wake up in spirit form clawing at a coffin. I honestly don't know the ruling on cremation lol but a scene from scrooged comes to mind for what my fear was. Heck I also figured if somehow they fucked up and interred me when I was alive that I could get out of a mausoleum. That was before I remembered they drain the blood and embalm you. Aight I'm actually done now I could actually ramble forever.

Dropping some quality Existentialist philosophy at the end there. Well done.

I haven't even played any Halo game, but that scene with the helmet laying on the ground in front of that huge mountain gave me goosebumps. I don't think there's a reason we're here. I don't think there HAS to be a reason either. I've struggled with the same thoughts for a while too, and this is the answer I arrived at. I just want to live as long as possible on my own terms, doing what I like doing and what brings me happiness. Sometimes I get sad thinking of all the things I won't experience that'll happen after I'm gone but if you look too far ahead you'll end up missing what's right in front of you.

Gorgeous. That last mission was seared into my mind, even when the rest of the campaign faded. I don't think I've ever fought so hard to stay alive in any game prior or since.

It is kind of crazy how master chief was just a "win button" for war. Even sgt johnson(arguably the most badass character in vidya history) recognizes this multiple times throughout the series.

Wow you really got me in this one. You literally put into words stuff I’ve never really been able to explain before. I share so many of those fears.

Yes, I was hoping one day I would see some Halo related from you. I don't know what it is, but you and Raycevick are great at doing these type of videos.

This game shaped my childhood. It was the second game I ever played. Hell I didn’t even know who the master chief was. But finding myself fight an un winnable war against an endless horde of enemies changed the way I see the world today and what life was really for. Halo Reach is a masterpiece and nothing can change the way I think about it.

I am unequivocally impressed by both your ability to derive meaning from artistic properties and articulate them so well. Furthermore, what's so captivating is your ability to relate the messages of these games to your life and how they affect you. It's a talent, keep on keeping on brother.

"I didn't think it would end this way." "End...No death is but another path one that we all must take. The grey rail curtain of the world rolls back all turns to silver glass... and then you see it" "What Gandalf? See what?" "White shores and beyond a far green country under a swift sunrise." "That isn't so bad." "No. No it isn't."

This was an excellent and beautiful essay. Halo touched many lives in the deepest most profound ways, that it can even help us cope with our fear of death, itself.

Your narration was absolutely incredible. Made me get goosebumps

"You said to me: 'can you not live unless you were born for some purpose?' I'm not living for anyone else. There's no special meaning in living. When I sensed my own death, I wanted to live. I know now. That's all I needed. So...I don't *need you* anymore. It doesn't matter if you accept me or not. Here I am. *Alive.* " Tales of the Abyss changed my life in a lot of ways, but these words carry me to this day. It doesn't matter what the point is: just that you're here. Make of it what *you* will.

I look back into that helmet with a sense of sadness and a sort of "I let you down" feeling. I let noble six down by dying early in the last mission. I still feel bad for doing that.

The whole intro section talking about the original 3 games really hit me in the feels, so many good memories with those games.

You brought tears to my eyes @kingk. Crazy how beautiful and true you made that closing segment. Reach always has been my favorite but it's nice that you've put it into words how I felt about it.

As a person who suffers from existential depression since I was pretty young, Reach was always my favorite Halo story. The story just speaks so amazingly about all that hard work means anything in the end. It's so incredibly brilliant.

Very deep take, but I will leave you with my favorite quote: "The journey beats the destination"

I’ll be honest, KingK. I was trying to avoid this video of yours. This game is... More than a video game.- At least to me. I had two friends when I was little. They were both brothers. And my circle was real small. I was picked on a lot, being on a lot of ADHD medicine was a good result of that. It didn’t help my social abilities much seeing how now at almost 23, I was mostly loopy half my life. But I admit, I was definitely weird still. But those friends I had, those two brothers, introduced me to not just Halo, but into the strongest friendships I had ever known. Now looking back, I wonder, just like you do, if it was all worth it or not. My closest friend died unexpectedly two years ago. The youngest of the two brothers. It happened in such a normal way. He died in a car accident. Now me and his older brother don’t talk anymore, and that loss has utterly changed me to my core as a person. I can’t say if it’s for good or bad, even now. Reach was the last game I played with him. All I know is when I hear anything Halo related, especially Reach.. part of me just shuts down. And another part of me wishes to be back in that room again playing with them. Halo Reach is a reminder to me, that no matter how much you want to try to control what you don’t want happening, sometimes there’s nothing you can do but pull against the chains and watch. Sometimes people die. But none of us expects it will be those closest to us. Especially at 19 years old.

This video hit me somewhere deep; I really appreciate how emotionally open you can be in your videos. My relationship with death in media has also changed drastically for the exact reasons you have. Though it's not as much bc I think about death all the time but the idea of mortality and the ease and swiftness at which it can just stop, and realizing that death isn't glorious but just the end is terrifying. I need to replay Reach bc I'd also probably have this exestential crisis as well during Lone Wolf. Beautiful video man, loved it

14:56 RvB reference? Honestly, I hadn't looked at Reach from such a perspective. As Halsey says in the final cutscene, it is not necessarily our deeds but rather our courage that survives the test of time. You can wait until your inevitable death, which doesn't require any courage or you can make the best of it, which takes courage but is worth it in the end.

The superficial message of reach was obviously self-sacrifice for the good of the collective. The bulwark against existential dread is externalizing meaning; attributing meaning to something that is not you. Something that outlives you like a way of life or idea. The message of reach was the same as the ending of halo 3 - same as many war stories. There are many that go into the howling dark and do not return to experience the fruits of their labor. Dr. Halsey explained this during the final cutscene in reach. The very honest and personal take makes this video much more interesting though. A more nihilistic approach could have been to point out that even after all his achievements chief will die just like every common marine.

Bro, the your thoughts of death at the end of the video are exactly what I struggle with every day. I lost a great friend recently and it’s shaken me to the core. This video brings some kind of solace to me. Thank you.

Those 18:12 were an emotional rollercoaster. The next 30 I spent in reflection afterward were as well. I replayed Reach because of the PC re-release as well and felt all of the same things you did, and I appreciate seeing someone relate to what I was going through. Thank you for the effort you put into this video, you aren't the only one asking and struggling with these questions.

You never forget about 7:15. I still remember the exact feeling I had. It was like getting punched in the gut. You just spent presumably more than an hour grinding this level on legendary, only for Jorge to sacrifice himself, and then a covenant fleet appears in orbit. Heading into New Alexandria, my hopes were pretty low.

This. This is your magnum opus King. This video spoke to me on a personal level. I too think about what was, and now the crippling and debilitating fear of death and the macabre. I have never felt the gambit of thoughts and emotions I had during these past 17 minutes. I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity for self-reflection and reminding me why I get out of bed each day.

This video hit hard for me especially when my grandfather passed of an out of nowhere heart attack and the death of Kobe Bryant goes to show how death can come for us all even in the most unexpected times. No matter who you are No wonder I’ve recently came to the conclusion that Halo Reach is my favorite Halo. Not only I find the multiplayer the most enjoyable despite having some annoying issues, but also the story and how gritty and dark and yet the same time so beautiful. This was a beautiful video and made to 18 minutes go by fast I truly appreciate and yet also concerned about the message you’ve put out in this video

The fact that it's out of our control is what I love about reach. Being a super hero and always winning got old. So having this new perspective of the human convenient war and seeing how it was for everyone other than the master chief was amazing

Excellent stellar video. It was so refreshing to see another creator tackle this subject that doesn't come up often enough. Thank you for this, homie.

"Spes in virtute. Salus in victoria" There is hope in our courage. Salvation in our victory; that is the point. Live on. Persist. Something will come along which will matter to you more than your life or death does to yourself That is the lesson I learned from Noble 6

I shed tears at this. Thank you for making this video and showing how one of my favourite games still has lessons to teach me after all this time. It’s comforting.

Some guy on TikTok told me to watch this

Not sure if this’ll help, but there’s a quote from Bart Campolo: “life is just a vacation from nonexistence”. Like he viewed not being born and death as the same thing. Life is just an opportunity to leave a note saying “I was here”.

I was not emotionally ready for the ending of that video.

I have never watched a single video from you in my life, but this? This was absolutely amazing, I loved everything about it and I was actually just playing Reach, and as someone who also played it a lot on 360 when I was a kid, it never hit me in such a philosophical manner. Thank you for bringing such an interesting and well versed video into the world

You have such an inspiring humanity about you. Thank you so much for the nostalgia and reminding me what this is all about.

"You're eventually going to lose" Challenge accepted, going to hide behind some boxes from the Covy

"Do not go quietly into that good night. Rage. Rage against the dyeing of the light."

The feeling you got from reach, i got from the very beginning in halo CE. You didn't experience it first hand like you do in Reach, but vicariously through the Marines. Through Keyes, through Miranda, through Johnson. Halo has always been about the indomitableness of the human spirit

This video really hit me at a personal level. The sentiments shared were all feelings that I've felt dearly for the past 3 years. Honestly I find it hard to get out of bed sometimes due to my almost overwhelming fear of being forgotten, and not having any real meaning to existing. Hearing your experience made me feel less alone. Thank you for making an amazing video, I'm glad I clicked on it.

I came here expecting a videogame review and what I got was one of the best takes on the meaning of life I have heard so far.

Damn, this video is hitting me hard. I very much understand part of what you're going through though with those questions. I'm 18 and going to college without a job, I get myself anxious when talking to other people, I often make myself feel like I am not being productive and I also ask myself why we as people carry on when the world seems like it can get so bad. How many people are suffering from depression now? Or diseases, or hunger, or drought. Just this past January my last grandparent passed away and the punch of grief still hasn't even hit me yet. I ask what people like him did to keep themselves going for long enough to get there. Obviously there's no satisfying end-all answer, but I genuinely believe that it's some naive hope that we all can find that eventually everything will be better. "Eventually" is as uncertain as it can get, but clinging to hope is all I know to do. I suppose I am terrified of the inevitable end as well. Getting to the deathbed and thinking about how I didn't make the most of the time I had. Some people get diseases and make the last parts of their life some of their happiest moments. Despite having a time bomb over their head telling them "your end is soon." I have no idea how I could even process a feeling like that, much less make that ending chapter a fun one. I have absolutely no connection to Halo whatsoever, but holy shit this video hit me in a spot I didn't think it could. KingK if you are reading this, thank you for making this video, and just know that I think most people don't know the answers to questions like this. Part of life is figuring things out by experience, how do we learn to walk? We try and fall over, but get up and try again. Eventually walking is natural. I think that life can and will improve, and I hope it all gets better for you. Reading this over, it's incredibly corny sounding, but I think life's significant lessons can be corny sounding sometimes... Thanks to anybody who read this... KingK I hope it all gets better for you, and I appreciate what you had to say in the video.

Hey, man, I really appreciate you putting this out. For the first time in my life I’ve been struggling with my own mortality and it’s been causing me a lot of anxiety. Hearing your perspective has helped a lot, and it’s helped hearing that other people have fear like I do, and knowing that you found direction gives me hope that I’ll find mine soon. Thanks for this

I just need to say thank you for this video. This video gives wonderful insight to the artistic choices of the game, and a lot of bonus content regarding life and death. From someone who is also struggling with the idea of my own impending lone wolf level, thank you

I had a really bad anxiety attack in one of my classes in my first semester of uni because I was thinking of death. Before that, I hadn’t been afraid of death and even welcomed it as a part of life. But for some reason I became so incredibly afraid of death because I couldn’t know what comes after.

The way I see death is as an answer. Nobody really know what comes after. They have their best guesses and all that but no one actually knows. Once I die, whenever it come, i'll know, and i'll either continue on to see, to feel more, or I wont and I won't be there to be sad about it.

1st time viewer, made me tear up, really needed to hear what you had to say, your honesty in the video made me feel such a deep emotion. Thank you

As another person with 22 years of life and being so terrified of whatever happens after life is over, this video touched me deeply. We keep going because we can, and we should. You gotta help and you have to hope and you have to just try and put something into it.

Profound stuff. Wasn't expecting that going into this, good work

This put into words some of my deepest anxieties that I couldn't express myself. Really cathartic, I think I needed something like this. Thank you.

I loved the connection you made between the story tone that you go through as Six throughout Reach's campaign and the overall philosophical question of the meaning of life. I was raised a Catholic too, and despite my beliefs at the time, still went through a stage of dread at the thought of death when I was 10 or 11 years old. I'd go on to get over it somewhat so it didn't flood my thoughts every day, but never truly felt satisfied with the whole thing. The idea of an afterlife helped, but it was just a patch to the overall problem that made me dread death, which was the issue of why live at all in the first place. At some point I lost my religious beliefs and the dread of death came back full force. Yet, that wave of fear coupled with no longer having the crutch of an afterlife to ease my fears is what forced me to find a sense of meaning to life of its own over time. To realize that, despite the inevitability of death and how you can think of your existence as pointless, it isn't all about what happens in the future, but also about what comes now, in the present, and how you decide to face that, that can make life satisfying. I like to think the reason Six stayed and fought in Lone Wolf despite knowing it was ultimately pointless wasn't because his actions would necessarily lead to a big impactful change (a couple more or less dead Covenant wasn't going to turn the tide of war), but simply because he knew that going out fighting was going to mean something to him. Because, at that very moment, no matter what had happened in the past or what may happen in the future, it felt better for Six to fight to his last breath than to give up, and so he did. Many people nowadays are caught up in the idea of always making their actions mean something in the future, of their actions needing to have a large impact of some sort. It is nice when that does happen and I understand why people want that (everyone wants that, really), but it should not be a person's sole driving force. It is just as healthy to look to the future as it is to enjoy the present. You need to find the satisfaction in the smaller things too, the things that you do simply for yourself or those immediately around you, and nothing more. The saying of "one day at a time" isn't there just to help you deal with stressful situations. It also holds meaning in helping you find satisfaction in the smaller things you do every day. Because the effort you put into something at that moment matters, and learning to savor it is important. The dread of death goes away precisely because you no longer focus all of your waking thoughts to what comes later only, but to enjoying both the now and the future. Knowing that, even if you and everyone else is fated to die, you enjoyed your life for what it was throughout it, through thick and thin. Which ties perfectly with what you stated towards the end of the video: unlike with the Chief whose actions you know will always lead to a good end, with Six it was more about doing what best you could at that moment and enjoying the small bits of satisfaction it gave you, even if the overall story was headed for disaster and you knew that.

A refreshing and profound take on this game which because of your life experiences and thoughts, only you could provide and/or articulate in such a poignant way. Great job!

God King I really must say. I love your reviews but this took it to another level. You never fail to get to the heart of the games you review, but with this, you made it bigger than the game. You made the game real to yourself and by doing that real to all of us. Amazing work King. Good luck with whatever you may be going through.

This video was surprisingly depressing.

Playing reach again in glorious 4k was like playing it for the first time but more immersive since the visuals were so sharp and clean.

I wanna say thanks for putting this out there. Honestly I have a lot of the same fears as you, and I've been struggling to find meaning as of recent, and idk, it was just nice to hear someone talk about it.

for whatever reason Reach’s story has stuck with me for so long, and I really do see it as such an amazing narrative that left its mark on me when I was younger.

I'm not crying there's just something in my eye

Incredible video, I'm speechless because this was just so on the nose about my own thoughts and feelings towards existentialism. Thank you man, added to my favourites

Damn, well said. I used to be almost petrified by the thought of death as well. As you said, I almost obsessed over it and couldn’t escape how depressed it made me. Eventually I just told myself, “why fear what I can’t control? If it’s gonna happen, I may as well just make the best of my time while I have it.” That mindset has helped me immensely.