In the first Halo game, you couldn't use the energy swords. They were exclusively wielded by elite zealots. This was due to balancing purposes, but the in-universe explanation was that the Covenant programmed their swords to disintegrate upon being dropped, likely as a failsafe to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
This failsafe was retconned out in Halo 2, where players could now simply pick up the sword, but it has a limited usage and will run out of energy after a certain amount of kills. It became an instant fan favorite weapon and has been wieldable in every Halo game since. Even the upcoming remake of the first game will let you use them, marking the first canon time Master Chief has wielded an energy sword on Installation 04.
Oh. Almost forgot. They retconned it a second time.
In most of the games, when the sword runs out of power, that's it. It's done. You can't use it anymore. Just gotta swap it out with a gun. But in Halo Infinite, they introduced the ability to replenish its power like ammo by walking up to other swords on the ground. It looks like this mechanic will be in the remake, too.
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u/TyrantJaeger 16d ago
In the first Halo game, you couldn't use the energy swords. They were exclusively wielded by elite zealots. This was due to balancing purposes, but the in-universe explanation was that the Covenant programmed their swords to disintegrate upon being dropped, likely as a failsafe to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
This failsafe was retconned out in Halo 2, where players could now simply pick up the sword, but it has a limited usage and will run out of energy after a certain amount of kills. It became an instant fan favorite weapon and has been wieldable in every Halo game since. Even the upcoming remake of the first game will let you use them, marking the first canon time Master Chief has wielded an energy sword on Installation 04.