Gameplay

CE:Keyes

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

This article is about the campaign level. For other uses, see Keyes (disambiguation).

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Keyes
HCEA Keyes Loadscreen.png

Game:

Halo: Combat Evolved (Anniversary)

File name (?):

d20[1]

Player:

Master Chief

Date:

September 21, 2552[2]

Location:

On the surface of Installation 04 and onboard the Truth and Reconciliation[3][4]

Objective(s):

Find Captain Keyes

Par Time:

00:15:00 (Master Chief Collection-only)

Par Score:

20,000 (Master Chief Collection-only)

Main-Legendary.png

Halopedia has a walkthrough guide for this level; see CE:Keyes/Walkthrough.

 
“ Stage a one-cyborg assault on a Covenant ship and bring back the Captain. ”

Keyes is the ninth campaign level in Halo: Combat Evolved. In this level, the MCPO John-117 returns to the Truth and Reconciliation to rescue the titular Captain Jacob Keyes. The Master Chief fights his way through the ship and on the ground while trying to survive the bloody engagement between the Flood and surviving Covenant forces. At the end of the level, the Master Chief discovers a horrifying truth: Captain Keyes has been completely taken over by the Flood. With no other choice, the Chief physically removes the Captain's implants which contain the access codes to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. He then hijacks a Banshee and escapes.

In 2026 the level was remade entirely for inclusion in Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Transcript[edit]

Under New Management[edit]

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

John-117 falling from the ceiling aboard Truth and Reconciliation after an accident with slipspace translocation, on Keyes.
John-117 suffers a hard landing upon arriving inside the cruiser.

View flies through a canyon filled with pools of reactor coolant under the Truth and Reconciliation. The Ket-pattern battlecruiser is resting on the top of the canyon, heavily damaged. The Flood and Covenant forces are fighting all throughout the region.

  • Cortana: "The Covenant network is in absolute chaos! From what I've been able to piece together, their leadership ordered all ships to abandon Halo when they found the Flood, but they were too late. The Flood overwhelmed this cruiser and disabled it. The Covenant are terrified the Flood will repair the ship and use it to escape from Halo. They've sent in a strike team to neutralize the Flood and repair the ship for immediate departure. I've got a good lock on Captain Keyes' CNI transponder signal! He's alive! And the implants are intact! There's some interference from the cruiser's damaged reactor. I'll bring us in as close as I can."

John-117 teleports into the end of a corridor in the cruiser. The view flips over, upside down, and the Master Chief falls on his head; he was teleported in upside down.

  • Cortana: "Ohh... I see, the coordinate data needs to be— "

The Master Chief whacks the side of his head with his fist as he stands up.

  • Cortana: "Right. Sorry."

{Gameplay}

The Chief begins to walk down the hallway.

  • Captain Jacob Keyes (COM): (weakly) "Chief... Don't be a fool. Leave me..."
  • Cortana: "Captain? Captain?! I've lost him..."

If the player stalls around on the corridors outside the starship's bridge:

  • Cortana: "The damage caused by the crash and the Flood have sealed off all nearby access ways to the control room. We should find another way in."

The Chief encounters a small group of Unggoy fighting the Flood; they are soon overwhelmed. The Chief eliminates the Flood, continues down the hallway, and gets to one of the hangar bays. A large hole in the floor is just past the door, blocking the Chief's progress. Several Sangheili are present in the area beyond, fighting more Flood.

  • Cortana: "Analyzing damage... This hole was caused by some kind of explosive. Very powerful if it tore through a ship's hull. All I detect down there are pools of coolant. We should continue our search somewhere else."

After staying in that corridor for a few moments, Flood begin dropping out of a hole in the ceiling behind the Chief, cutting him off.

  • Cortana: "Warning! Threat level increasing!"

The Chief fights off the increasing horde of Flood for a few more moments.

  • Cortana: "That jump into the coolant is looking better all the time, Chief!"

If the Chief lingers for too long, fighting the Flood:

  • Cortana: "Trust me! It's deep enough to cushion our fall!"

If the Chief still continues to hold his ground:

  • Cortana: "Chief, we need to jump now!"

Overwhelming Flood forces continue to pour down the hallway, forcing the Chief into the hole.

John-117 dropping from Truth and Reconciliation into leaking reactor coolant, on Keyes.
John-117 leaps down into a pool of coolant.

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

The Master Chief falls into a large pool of coolant, which breaks his fall. View begins under-coolant. Covenant and Flood are heavily engaged around the pool.

{Gameplay}

  • Cortana: "Let's get out of here, and find another way back aboard the ship."

The Chief navigates the area, interrupting fights between beleaguered Covenant troops and Flood forms.

  • Cortana: "We should head this way, towards the ship's gravity lift."

A navigation point appears on the Chief's heads-up display. He continues to head toward the gravity lift. Eventually reaching an overhang, the Chief is able to see a pair of Mgalekgolo engaged with masses of Flood carrier forms.

  • Cortana: "The crash did more damage than I suspected. Analyzing. Coolant leakage rate is significant. The ship's reactor should already have gone critical."

The Chief fights his way through more Covenant and Flood forces until he finally reaches the gravity lift. Several Sangheili and Unggoy furiously defend the gravity lift from increasing numbers of Flood, desperately trying to prevent the parasitic creatures from entering the Truth and Reconciliation.

  • Cortana: "Power source detected. There's the gravity lift. It's still operational! That's our way back in!"

Once the area is cleared, the Chief takes the gravity lift back inside the ship:

The Chief re-enters the stricken cruiser.

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

The Chief, standing in the gravity lift, looks up and flies up into the Truth and Reconciliation.

Upstairs, Downstairs[edit]

{Gameplay}

The Chief arrives at the gravity lift bay, which is strewn with dead Covenant troops. Blood is splattered all around. A few Infection Forms wander around.

  • Cortana: "We should be able to get into the ship's control room from here."

The Chief finds an unlocked door and walks through it.

  • Cortana: "The Covenant Battlenet is a mess. I can't access the ship's schematics. My records indicate that a shuttle bay should be... here."

Cortana marks the spot with a navigation point.

Fighting his way through multiple Flood carrier forms, the Spartan eventually reaches the nav point, it turns out to be a cargo bay. Flood forms walk around the area, guarding the corpses of dead Covenant troops in the corners.

  • Cortana: "Look, in the corners. The Flood are gathering bodies here."

After fighting through hordes of Flood, the Chief finds more living Covenant. He continues on, reaching the shuttle bay.

  • Cortana: "Looks like another shuttle b