Cut Halo 4 customization

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.

Following in the footsteps of Halo: Reach, Halo 4 featured a large variety of player customization options, some of which hit the cutting room floor.

Armor

CIO

Main article: CIO-class Mjolnir

The CIO armor of Halo 4 featured multiple released skins, one of which was "Ruin", released with Series 2 of McFarlane's Halo 4 line of figures. The concept art of "Ruin" shows the armor's skin was originally present on its wrists and legs, but the skin's final release only features the skin on the armor's helmet, chest, and shoulders.

A piece of art for the "Ruin" skin, showing the original wrist and leg patterns.

Gungnir

Main article: GUNGNIR-class Mjolnir

The Gungnir armor set's renders show the armor possessing unique wrist armor that would not be seen in the final release of Halo 4. While it would not appear in Halo 4, the armor's Halo 5: Guardians incarnation would feature it, as would Halo Online, and later, Halo 3's variant of the armor, dubbed COS-class Mjolnir.

A render of the Gungnir set for Halo 4, featuring unique wrists.

Locus

Main article: LOCUS-class Mjolnir

The base Locus helmet was originally accompanied by a variant with an alternate skin. Instead of an X-shaped pattern adorning the helmet's skull-like face, a basic stripe ran down this variant's face. This skin wasn't just exclusive to renders done by Liquid Development, and could be seen in officially released screenshots, although it remains unobtainable in both Halo 4, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

H4 - Locus helmet render (John Turner).jpg

The unreleased Locus skin, seen in a render done by Liquid Development's John Turner.
The unreleased Locus skin, being used on Ragnarok.

Soldier

Main article: SOLDIER-class Mjolnir

Renders seen for the Soldier armor set in Halo 4 show the set featuring unique wrist and leg armor. These unique permutations would be seen in Spartan Ops, with Paul DeMarco wearing them, but remain unobtainable to players in-game. While the armor would not appear in Halo 4, the armor's Halo 5: Guardians incarnation would feature it, as would Halo Online, and later, Halo 3's variant of the armor.

The Soldier armor set, featuring the unobtainable wrist and leg armor.
Paul DeMarco's character model, featuring the same armor.

Weapon skins

Cut skins

In addition to cut armour options, Halo 4 had a large number of weapon skins that went unused in the original launch. Two such skins; Concrete (DMR) and Blast (BR), were present in the files of the original Halo 4 Xbox 360 release, introduced in the 8/19/2013 Title Update though unuseable in-game outside of a glitch in custom games. These two skins were introduced into the Halo 4 component of Halo: The Master Chief Collection with the game's release on PC platforms in Season 4: Reclaimer and Season 7: Elite for Blast and Concrete, respectively.

Concrete (CTE) DMR.
Blast (BLS) Battle Rifle.
Blast BR skin.
The cut BR85HB Blast skin if it was included in Halo 4.
A close-up of the menu render of the Blast skin in Halo 4's menu.
Concrete DMR skin.
The cut M395 DMR Concrete skin if it was included in the game.
A close-up of the menu render of the Concrete skin.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection skins

In addition to the skins above, a number of additional never-before skins were introduced to The Master Chief Collection in Seasons 4 and 7, respectively - presumably additional cutting room floor skin variants that never saw the light of day in the original release.

Pixel (PXL) Assault Rifle.
Edgework (EWK) Battle Rifle.
Pixel (PXL) Battle Rifle.
Maw (MAW) Battle Rifle.
Blood (BLD) DMR.
Pixel (PXL) DMR.
H4 Render DMR-EDGEWORK.png

Edgework (EWK) DMR.
Blood (BLD) Magnum.
Maw (MAW) Magnum.
H4 Render Magnum-EDGEWORK.png

Edgework (EWK) Magnum.
Pixel (PXL) Magnum.
Blood (BLD) Magnum.

Unused skin variants

These skins are unused variants of those which made appearances in the final releases of Halo 4, or The Master Chief Collection.

Unused variant of the Shatter skin.

Sources