Halo is ostensibly a series about using guns to shoot aliens and defeat organized religion. But the coolest weapon in the series isn’t a gun. It’s a sword — specifically, it’s the energy sword.

You may have encountered an energy sword for the first time in 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved. Certain classes of Elites would wield what looked, at the time, like a cyan lightsaber drawn in Microsoft Paint. You’d quickly discover that these iridescent color splotches in fact killed you in one hit, tearing through the Master Chief’s super future space armor like paper. Those feelings of frustration were likely followed by feelings of “Gimme that,” but sadly, developer Bungie did not allow players to use the energy sword in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Bungie came to its senses in 2004’s Halo 2, allowing you to actually use the thing — at which point the energy sword........

© Polygon