After 20 years, Halo 2 excavators get the stealth missions Bungie scrapped up and running for modders to revive
Jun. 21, 2024Sneaking in shadows, enemy alert tiers, and alternate routes across the moon were all prototyped
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Master Chief’s 450kg armor wouldn’t be my go-to outfit for tip toeing around aliens, but that didn’t stop developerBungiefrom playing around with stealthy missions and mechanics for Halo 2 anyway, according to cut content that’s now been restored.
What immediately sent sirens blaring in my head were two scrapped single-player levels that planned for Master Chief to sneakily get around enemies, as opposed to how he normally barrels through poor ol' grunts. One such mission, Exploration, “explores stealth mechanics that were concepted and worked on early in Halo 2, but that are not supported in the retail game.” The mission drops Mr 117 onto the moon where players could then “use dark areas” and alternate routes to sneak past or ambush foes. Another mission, Assault, took Chief behind enemy lines where he could then raise enemy alert levels if he wasn’t careful enough.
Some of those ideas kind of made their way into Halo Infinite, which had an open-world that naturally encourages you to grapple toward enemies out of nowhere. The series' camo ability always led to fun, surprise assassinations too, but withrumors of a Halo: Combat Evolved remakein the works, I’m wondering if the more overt stealthiness might get resurrected. Either way, you candownloadthe latest Digsite content now.
Check out where Halo 2 ranks in our list of thebest Halo games.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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