Defiant Map Pack

A promotional poster for the Defiant Map Pack.

"Defy the Covenant"

— Motto of the Defiant Map Pack

The Defiant Map Pack was the second DLC map pack released for Halo: Reach, officially announced on February 15, 2011. Released on March 15, 2011, the Defiant Map Pack includes three new achievements that add up to a total of 150 Gamerscore and at launch costed 800 Microsoft Points. The map pack includes two new multiplayer maps, Condemned and Highlands, as well as a Firefight map called Unearthed. All three maps in the Defiant Map Pack were developed by Certain Affinity. The pack was released with three achievements worth 150 Gamerscore, and an additional three additional achievements worth 50 Gamerscore were released alongside the Anniversary Map Pack in November 2011.

In July 2017, the Defiant pack - like all other Xbox 360 Halo title DLC - was made available to download for free. All Defiant Map Pack content is included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Maps

Condemned.

Condemned

Main article: Condemned

Condemned is set in the human space station Reach Station Gamma overlooking Reach. Before the Fall of Reach, the space station provided long-range communications for the UNSC and was a vital lifeline between Reach and Earth. At the hands of the Covenant, the station suffered significant damage. Despite this, several fortified sections of the station remain pressurized and intact.

Condemned supports six to twelve players; playlists include Team Slayer, Team Objective, and Rumble Pit.

Highlands.

Highlands

Main article: Highlands

Highlands is a large competitive map set in a SPARTAN-II training facility in the Military Wilderness Training Preserve within Reach's Highland Mountains. Three Covenant Ket-pattern battlecruisers loom over the map, glassing the surrounding landscape.

Highlands can support the CTF and Big Team Battle modes.

Unearthed.

Unearthed

Main article: Unearthed

Unearthed is a large Firefight map set in a BXR Mining open-cast titanium mine and refinery facility in a civilian sector of the Viery Territory on Reach.

Achievements

The unreleased "GRD" armor seen in the pack's official screenshots.

• Candy from a Baby - 75G - Capture two flags from an enemy capture zone in a matchmade Stockpile game.
• Crackin' Skulls - 45G - Kill 3 players with the Oddball in a matchmade Oddball game.
• Return to Sender - 30G - Successfully return two flags in a matchmade CTF game.
• All Alone - 10G - Be the last surviving uninfected player in a matchmade infection game.
• Don't Touch That! - 25G - Prevent the attacking team from touching the flag in a matchmaking 1-Flag CTF game.
• Paper Beats Rock - 15G - Assassinate a player that just exited Armor Lock in a matchmade game.

Promotions and trailers

Trailer

Main article: Defiant Map Pack Trailer

The Defiant Map Pack Trailer was released February 14, 2011.

Defiant to the End

Main article: Defiant to the End

Defiant to the End was a short documentary released on Halo Waypoint in 2011 to help in promoting the map pack. The video focuses on the lore behind each of the three multiplayer maps, and how they fit into the novels Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike.

Trivia

The updated appearance of the Bulletin board featured within Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. The promotional poster for the Defiant map pack can be seen within the top-right corner.

• Promotional material for the Defiant Map Pack marked the first appearance of the AKIS helmet and EXO/TSCS chest piece, both of which were seen worn by a Spartan in pre-release screenshots of the map Condemned. The helmet was nicknamed "GRD" by the community. It later transpired that these sets were intended to be released as part of the Anniversary Map Pack, but had to be cut due to resource constraints. They were eventually completed and released for Halo: Reach in Halo: The Master Chief Collection as part of Series 5: Anvil.
• It is the first Halo: Reach map pack to feature maps created by Certain Affinity instead of Bungie and the first map pack to feature Firefight DLC.
• This marks the first time locations from the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach have been realized as playable spaces in a game. Both the Station Gamma and the Training Preserve are key locations mentioned in the book.
• The song featured in the trailer for the map pack is titled Sacred Icon Suite 2, originally featured on the Halo Legends Original Soundtrack.
• The maps are meant to show the stages of the invasion of Reach: Firstly, Unearthed, with the UNSC having abandoned the planet to the Covenant; secondly, Highlands, with Reach being glassed in the not-so-distant horizon. Finally, Condemned, with Reach visibly glassed.
• Despite their descriptions, the first three Defiant Map Pack achievements (Candy from a Baby, Crackin' Skulls and Return to Sender) do not actually require the player to be playing matchmaking at all to earn them; It is possible to unlock the achievements while playing custom games, as long as the gametype being played is electronically signed by Bungie. (That is, if the gametype is the same one used in matchmaking.) The last three achievements (All Alone, Don't Touch That! and Paper Beats Rock) not only require the player to be in matchmaking, but unlike previously released achievements, also require the player to be playing on a Defiant map.
• The promotional poster for the map pack appears on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's on the mission The Pillar of Autumn on the updated Bulletin board.
• The promotional poster for this map pack appears in the Halo 5: Guardians Map Plaza flying around as garbage.

External links

• Halo Waypoint: Inside the Defiant Map Pack
• Halo Waypoint: Behind-the-scenes look at the Defiant Map Pack
• Halo Waypoint: Defiant to the End - the story behind each of the maps