Cut Halo: Combat Evolved levels

This page discusses elements of deleted material and cut content. Some information on the page is sourced from game files and may not be verifiable through external sources. Where possible, such information should be clearly-marked and replaced with a proper external source as soon as one is available.

This article is part of a series on
Halo: Combat Evolved cut content

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Cut content

Pre-Xbox Halo
Cut characters
Cut dialogue
Cut enemies and ambient life
Cut levels
Cut medals
Cut vehicles
Cut weapons

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Development

Combat Evolved development
Concept art
Storyboards
PC patches
Beta 1749
Beta 2247
Beta 2276

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To check out cut content for other Halo games, see here!

v • d • e

"[Crunch] happened on Halo 1 as well, of the 25 planned missions for Halo, we shipped 10. Part of the problem is that as team size grows, all the really informal, seat-of-your-pants stuff you've been doing just doesn't work."

— Chris Butcher on Halo's cut levels.

During the development of Halo: Combat Evolved, the game took many forms including real-time strategy, third-person shooter and eventually, first-person shooter. As the game transitioned into an FPS and a release for the Xbox platform, work on the game's campaign still hadn't begun by September 2000. Mission brainstorming later began in earnest in December with the rest completed over the course of 2001. This page documents the levels known to be cut from release, predominantly those planned out for the game's final FPS release.

Overview

"I vividly remember building, literally on 3x5 index cards, a number and letter system. A10, A20, A30 and so on for each one of the missions. B30 was “The Silent Cartographer”. I pinned them to a board and I just stared at it for hours. There must’ve been 40 of those cards of there, and I’m like: “There’s no way in hell we’re going to build all of this.”"

— Marcus Lehto on Halo's cut levels.

When planning out Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign, Marcus Lehto originally planned things out on 3x5 index cards, with a number and letter system assigned. These names can be found in the final game map files, and are listed as such below;

• A10 - The Pillar of Autumn
• A30 - Halo
• A50 - The Truth and Reconciliation
• B30 - The Silent Cartographer
• B40 - Assault on the Control Room
• C10 - 343 Guilty Spark
• C20 - The Library
• C40 - Two Betrayals
• D20 - Keyes
• D40 - The Maw

As can be seen in the numbering, there are several missing gaps indicating where levels were to be included, before being cut. At some point in development, the 40 missions Lehto planned out were eventually reduced to a more manageable 25, though another 15 were later cut for final release.

Campaign levels

A20

A20 was a level that existed in a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001. It was combined with the level Halo by final release, and is noted to seem to have been the crash-landing area and “natural formation” tunnel entrance.

A40

A40 was a level that existed in a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001. The mission objective was to attack a Covenant excavation site, and would have been the introduction for the original implementation of Engineers before they were cut from the game. The level would have featured a light bridge and Forerunner tunnels, but the specifics are unknown.

The Truth and Reconciliation "Captain Bomb"

Main article: The Truth and Reconciliation, August 2000 version

A slightly different version of the mission The Truth and Reconciliation, known as A50 internally, can be seen in August 2000 design documents for 'Halo: Combat Evolved'. It notably featured the mission ending with the player destroying the Covenant ship using a dummy "Captain Bomb" after departing the vessel.

B10

B10 was a level that existed in a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001. In this version of the level, the Master Chief was to have been tasked with assassinating a Covenant "Prophet". At this stage in Halo, the San'Shyuum species (more commonly known as "Prophets") did not exist yet and were to debut in Halo 2 - instead, the Prophet target of the level was to have been an Elite wearing a "striking hat" - something which likely went on to inspire the Elite Councilors in Halo 2 instead. Similarly, the objective of assassinating a Prophet was realized in Halo 2, with Master Chief's mission to assassinate the Prophet of Regret in the levels Delta Halo/Regret.

As well, during this mission the player would have recovered "keys to the Control Center," likely to have been keys to unlock the doors of the Control Center itself.

B20

In a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001, B20 was going to a level centered around the Covenant accelerating it's military occupation forces against the human resistance after the death of the Prophet. The exterior level geometry would later be incorporated into the mission 343 Guilty Spark.

In what seems to have been an earlier version, B20 was going to be the original Prophet assassination mission. Little is known of it, though its files still exist at 343 Industries. Most of the surviving information about this version B20 comes in the form of missing tag references, as opposed to actual useable files. Much of the level's overall swamp theming was similar to the final game 343 Guilty Spark, or the cut multiplayer map Swampthing. The level would have featured a mysterious monster that lurked in the central portion of the map, forcing the player to take a wide path around that middle section to avoid being killed while they made their way to a tower in the distance. As part of the "Digsite" project, the level was explored for potential use as a Firefight map.

The Silent Cartographer "Alpha Base"

Main article: The Silent Cartographer, Alpha Base

In a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001, the original intro cinematic for the mission B30, known in final game as The Silent Cartographer, was going to include a "rallying speech" by Captain Keyes. This scene is likely the same one which can be found in the scene labeled as "X40" within the original storyboards for Halo. After being cut, the information was ultimately repurposed for the bridge scene seen in The Truth and Reconciliation. The actual objective of the mission changed over time, before eventually settling on a map room of the ringworld.

During the Halo: Combat Evolved developer commentary included in the Halo 3 Legendary Edition, Joseph Staten stated that a level was intended to take place in between The Silent Cartographer and Assault on the Control Room. He recalled the cinematic depicting Echo 419's descent inside the bowels of Installation 04 was included justify the travel to a completely new region in the next level. However, Jason Jones interjected, clarifying that The Silent Cartographer and Assault on the Control Room internal names were B30 and B40 respectively, indicating that no level was cut. They both then agreed that during development they had "painted themselves into a corner" due the two very different locales of the respective missions, and with a lack of things like "big matte painting helped transitions," the team needed to create the cinematic seen in the final game.

Assault on the Control Room "Volcano"

In a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001, the level B40 known in the final game as Assault on the Control Room was originally going to be centered around a Volcano, with the Covenant attempting to break in by using a vehicle referred to as "the 'Mech", a progenitor of the Scarab. This is presumably due to the player having already taken the keys back in B10.

This information lines up with a development update from Matt Soell in December 2000, discussing a level involving "a volcano and something I can only refer to as heavy machinery."

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  A map overview from the December 2000 version of B40.

C30

C30 was a level that existed in a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001. The level was centered around activating the Ring's "orbital defenses" and having the player "call down particle beam strikes."

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  A map overview of C30.

D10

D10 was a level that existed in a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001. The main beat of the level was escaping from sentinels after the level Two Betrayals, and featured a "stunt-filled action extravaganza ending". The Warthog run seen in The Maw was partly repurpose from this level.

D30

D30 was a level that existed in a "Key Plot Points" document from Joseph Staten dated 01-24-2001. The mission featured Cortana calling all surviving Marines to retake UNSC Pillar of Autumn, and was described as "everyone against everyone." 343 Industries would eventually later adapt this for Last Stand, the final mission of Halo: Fireteam Raven.

Multiplayer maps

Indoor

“

Imagine the smell. 4-8 players.

”

Indoor is a map developed by Gearbox Software for the Halo PC port, though never shipped with the game. The map was the most complete of the Gearbox cut Combat Evolved maps, with already near-finished visuals and a close-quarters, small-team layout - unlike the other Halo PC maps which were all designed for Big Team Battle.

In the Digsite restoration project, Indoor was taken by contributor Ludus and taken to a state of completion in a new map called Underground. Underground was created by Ludus with a goal to fix up Indoor's messy spawns and layout using feedback written by Bungie for Gearbox back in Halo PC's development alongside a suite of textures created by Gearbox but never used in-game. The textures (and map theme in general) are human in nature - with Combat Evolved having few human-themed environments, this provided an opportunity to increase some visual variety in the Combat Evolved multiplayer experience. The map's soundscape was updated to include blaring sirens inspired by those of the film Alien.

The tags for both the original Indoor and the Digsite-revamped Underground are available in the Digsite release for the Halo Editing Kit.

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  The original Indoor map.

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  Ludus' recreation of Indoor, named Underground.

Dusk

“

Watch your step. 2-4 players.

”

Dusk was a map created by Gearbox Software for the Halo PC port. Unlike Indoor, Dusk was not close to content-complete, and had a considerably less refined layout, with an inconsistent scale and a muddied centre layout resembling the map Rust from the Call of Duty franchise. As such, Digsite contributor Ludus used that as inspiration for his recreation of Dusk for the game's multiplayer, now-termed Abyss.

Abyss reuses an unused texture originally developed for Indoor, and the skybox from the E3 2000 build of Combat Evolved. The tags for both Dusk and Abyss are available for modders to use as part of the Digsite release in the Halo Editing Kit.

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  The original Dusk map.

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  Ludus' recreation of Dusk, named Abyss.

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  An early work-in-progress version of Abyss, using the original 2000-era skybox.

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  The E3 2000 skybox on Abyss.

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  A cave on Abyss.

Mofocross

"Mofocross" was a map created by Max Hoberman created back at the old Bungie offices in Chicago in c.1999. It consisted of an island with a racetrack running throughout it that would allow players to race Warthogs and Ghosts around the island.

Swampthing

“

Something in the mist...

”

Swampthing was developed by Gearbox Software for Halo PC as a map with a similar theming to the level 343 Guilty Spark or the earlier level B20. The map has a look and layout broadly similar to Halo 2's Backwash, taking place inside the swamps of Installation 04. A map named "swamp" has also been referenced by Digsite, though whether swamp is related to swampthing is unclear.

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  Swampthing, as restored by the Digsite team.

Ruined Pain

A map codenamed "ruinedpain" is referenced inside Combat Evolved's files, with files still existing at 343 Industries. The map was recalled by Hardy LeBel as possibly coinciding with a map that was cut from the game involved a huge human interior space and created by Paul Russel as a test for his human architectural styles. The map was later passed onto LeBel, though ultimately scrapped due to requiring too much time and energy to work into something useable. As of 2015, LeBel could not remember if this space was the fabled ruinedpain, or another map.

The map can be spotted in the 1749 Beta, where the image for the level Damnation features the map in an untextured blockout form, with the description "Colony remains on Reach". As part of the Digside Alpha initiative to uncover and restore cut content, this map is being further developed by Conscars under the name "Purgatory", combining the existing model with a modified layout and new scenery inspired by the Beta 1749 description.

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  The level as it appears in the 1749 Beta.

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  A model of the level.

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  An in-development screenshot of the level "Purgatory", based on the cut Ruined Pain level.

Post-launch maps

A number of maps were created by the developers at Gearbox Software during their production of Halo Custom Edition and the Halo Editing Kit, that were not included in the official release of these levels. Gearbox developer Marc Tardif noted the following in an interview with Gamespy:

"The Halo team at Gearbox has created a few new maps since the game has released, but we're not releasing them at the same time that we release this new software. Our new maps do need a bit more attention before they can be released, and we also want to see how the community responds to all the great, new things that HaloCE and the HEK allow. We know that with the HEK, there will be huge amounts of new content coming from end users and we have an interest in seeing the best of this material join our own maps as official maps. In the future, I expect we'll have more official maps, and I think that not all of these maps will have been created solely by the folks at Gearbox."

Miscellaneous

The following map names are known to remain in the files internally at 343 Industries, though little is currently known of them;

• race day - Raceday is the working title of a map shown to be in a maps folder alongside other cut Halo: Combat Evolved maps and experimented on very early in Halo 2 development. Based around the concept of a "Car Wars" style mode. It was cut very early on, still graphically resembling a Combat Evolved level.
• swamp

Spasm

This section needs expansion. You can help Halopedia by expanding it.

spasm is a map prominently shown throughout much of the development of Halo: Combat Evolved while it was still intended to be a third person game releasing on personal computers. Notably the Macworld 1999 and E3 2000 demos feature different iterations of Spasm. The Macworld 1999 iteration was released by Digsite in 2023 as part of the Halo: Combat Evolved Editing Kit.

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  Original full sized image used as the CGW magazine 1999 cover, depicting Macworld 1999 Spasm.

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  Macworld 1999 Spasm ported to MCC.

Playground

Playground is a developer testing environment used by 343's Digsite project for showcasing and evaluating project content.