343 Industries, the developers of Halo Infinite, want to make unfinished levels from the Halo history playable for the first time. They are getting help from modders. This includes a level from Halo 2, which was shown in the trailer 20 years ago but never appeared in the game itself.
Since Bungie is no longer working on the Halo franchise and is instead responsible for Destiny, 343 Industries is the developer behind Microsoft’s shooter titan.
And although Halo Infinite has been struggling with a content drought since release, the developers managed to score points with fans. They want to revive the iconic “Halo 2” demo from E3 2003 as part of a larger modding project – as well as other cut content that players were never allowed to play.
This trailer shows you how Halo Infinite has been trying to tackle the content drought so far:
Developers and modders make unfinished content playable
This is what the developers have in mind: In a long blog post, 343 Industries introduced their so-called “Digsite” project. Here’s what it’s about:
- The developers are gathering content from the Halo history that was never officially playable and was never completed.
- They also want to repair unfinished assets so they can make these findings playable in the Halo: Master Chief Collection.
- Together with well-known modders from the scene, 343 Industries has split “Digsite” into two teams: Digsite Alpha restores content from before the release of Halo: Combat Evolved, while Digsite Delta is responsible for development leftovers from Halo 2.
For the first Halo, Combat Evolved, they want to restore a version of the game that was originally a real-time strategy game, among other things.
However, the “Digsite” project for Halo 2 is getting a lot of attention in the community. When the first gameplay trailer for the game was shown at E3 2003, it became legendary and created immense hype around Halo 2.
It showcases diverse battles in a sci-fi city called “Earth City,” which left fans salivating back then. Earth City served as the basis for levels 2 and 3 in the game but was never playable in this form. 343 Industries aims to change that now, after almost 20 years.
You can watch this ancient trailer here:
“Fan service can be good and this is an example of that.”
What do the fans say? The otherwise critical Halo fans are thrilled after these announcements. On reddit, users are writing:
- “Fan service can be good and this is an example of that.” – john7071
- “This is pretty much everything I’ve ever wanted.” – Metatermin8r
- “Are you telling me that after 20 years I can finally experience Earth City for myself? I destroyed a DVD player back then while watching the demo over and over again.” – TemptedTemplar
- “I’m so excited. I can’t believe this is actually happening.” – dj88masterchief
What do you think about these announcements? Do you remember the trailer from E3 2003? Or would you prefer more content for the latest Halo rather than repaired content from the oldest games in the franchise? Let us know in the comments.
By the way: After several years of drought, E3 is finally set to take place in person again in 2023.
