Xbox’s legendary franchise ‘Halo’ is coming out with it’s latest installment next month. To promote the new game, Microsoft has teamed with 343 Industries to produce a five-part live action prequel web series called ‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’.

The first episode has just been released and, thanks to Geek Tyrant, we can watch the 20-minute long video. Check out the video below, followed by synopsis:

Hastati Squad, the newest batch of freshman cadets at the UNSC’s Corbulo Academy of Military Science, pays the price for cadet Thomas Lasky’s tactics.

Thomas Lasky came to Corbulo Academy of Military Science with his mother and brother’s impressive military careers hanging over his head. Haunted by ghosts from his past, he has serious doubts about the war he’s expected to fight. As fellow cadet Chyler Silva tries to help him find his place at the academy, tensions with other squad members approach the breaking point.

The quality of this series in terms of production value is phenomenal and even for someone who doesn’t really play ‘Halo’, like myself, it seems like an interesting thing to watch. But for someone who does play the game, like my colleague Chase Brown, it may be a bit more. According to Chase, “with the addition of books, comics, short films and even anime, the Halo Universe has created a great science fiction world as seen in these web series episodes. This episode is an interesting way to see what is happening else where, while leading up to the full blown war you experienced playing the Halo video games on Xbox. There is a solid foundation already set from the previous Halo games and I am very curious to where 343 Studios will take it with the next episode, and eventually the launch of Halo 4 this year.”

Featuring up-and-comers like Tom Green (“Dance Academy”) as Thomas Lasky, Anna Popplewell (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) as Chyler Silva, and Daniel Cudmore (X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, “The Twilight Saga”) as the Master Chief, new episodes of ‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ will be released weekly until the worldwide release of ‘Halo 4’ on November 6th.