This 'Halo 5' concept art is downright gorgeous

There's a new "Halo" game for the Xbox One — "Halo 5: Guardians" — and it's absolutely gorgeous. Even better, though, is the game's concept art. It's downright beautiful:

Advertisement
"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Concept art is used to guide the art style and flesh out the world of upcoming games. Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier

And that's just the beginning.

Tech Insider was sent two dozen concept art images from "Halo 5: Guardians," care of 343 Industries lead concept artist Darren Bacon; 343 Industries is the internal Microsoft studio in charge of the "Halo" franchise. Half of the images are Bacon's creation, and the other half are from Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier, 343 Industries' art director. The images are presented below for your enjoyment — please enjoy!

Advertisement

Some of the concept art ended up directly informing the game, while some didn't. The city seen below, for instance, isn't a major setting in "Halo 5: Guardians.'

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier
Advertisement

But this piece looks very similar to one the multiplayer maps in the game's "Warzone" mode.

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier
Advertisement

And this looks almost exactly like one of the game's story mission levels.

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Concept art is used to guide the art style and flesh out the world of upcoming games. Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier
Advertisement

These black and white outline drawings show just how much detail goes into the concept art for "Halo 5: Guardians" before the game's actual in-game art is created.

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Unlike some of the previous work, this scene plays out almost identically to what happens in game. Like we said, it's a very pretty game.

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Darren Bacon

This ugly fellow is one of the many aliens to shoot at in "Halo 5: Guardians."

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Darren Bacon
Advertisement

This scene also directly plays in to the story of "Halo 5: Guardians." It's arguably the most exciting moment of the game, actually!

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Darren Bacon
Advertisement

Believe it or not, a scene very similar to this plays out in "Halo 5: Guardians," only you're flying around a massive walking enemy vehicle.

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Darren Bacon
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Love this concept art as much as we do? There's a whole book of it!

"Halo 5: Guardians" concept art
Amazon / Microsoft

"The Art of Halo 5: Guardians" is out now in hardcover on Amazon, and many (if not all) of these images can be found in glorious high-resolution, on nice paper stock, within its pages.

A huge thank you to Darren Bacon for helping put together these images — you can check out more of his work right here on DarrenBacon.com — and to Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier for allowing use of his work. You can check out more of his work right here (and you really should — it's quite pretty!).

Gaming Microsoft Xbox One
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.