To my understanding, for H4/5 one of the big drivers for why the games are quite different is that, following the split from bungie and breakoff to 343, naturally, a lot of new devs had to be brought on. That’s not terribly surprising, but additionally, during that hiring process, it was a goal to bring on devs who were not previously halo fans. Strange choice imo. The goal was to bring in fresh ideas and attract a wider audience (for one of the biggest franchises of the moment). The effect was a bunch of the employees didn’t have much investment in the franchise and often wanted to make changes that would alienate long time series fans.