Cut Halo: Reach 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.

An early "map" of the planned campaign structure for Reach.

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

---

Cut content

Cut dialogue
Cut ambient life
Cut levels
Cut vehicles
Cut weapons
Cut armor

---

Development

Halo: Reach development
Concept art
Design documentation
Storyboards
Title updates
Multiplayer Beta

---

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

v • d • e

During the production of Halo: Reach, many levels were cut or otherwise massively re-worked.

Lehto's original plan

Early in the game's production, game director Marcus Lehto came up with an early draft for the game's campaign, which he later shared on Twitter.

• 

  Lehto's early ideas for the direction of the campaign.

• 

  Another series of notes by Lehto.

• 

  Early notes for the campaign's plan.

• 

  An early exploration for the planet Reach itself.

Mission 0 - Training

According to Lehto's notes, the campaign would have begun with a UNSC Marine recalling back to the events of the Fall of Reach, and hinted towards "some mysterious pivotal thing with which he was involved". This would have then moved into the first mission, which would have consisted of simple training with the player's squad, alongside "communications".

Mission 1 - Infantry battle

The first level of the campaign, in Lehto's notes, was to be an infantry battle, and seemingly close to the final game's first level Winter Contingency. Lehto's planning document has the following notes for this level's first part:

"Frantic opening battle
-seat of your pants terror
-lots of civilians in small coastal city
(more of an experience than combat)"

The notes of a horror-styled intro to build up the Covenant, and a more cinematic "experience"-based approach echo the early parts of Winter Contingency in which NOBLE Team investigate Visegrád, encounter civilians, and uncover the fate of 3 Charlie before engaging the Covenant properly. However, unlike the document, the final game's Visegrád is a mountainous region, rather than a coastal one. The documents then say the following on the level's second part, referencing the more combat-heavy focus of the latter half of Winter Contingency:

"regroup and plan and attack
-infantry + weapon training
-small town"

Mission 2 - Ground vehicle battle

Labelled in Lehto's plan outline as "Ground Vehicle Training", this mission would have served to introduce players to the use of vehicles. The document reads:

"-ground vehicle training
-wide open combat
-victory
-valley between mountains"

The broad concept of this mission seems to line up with both the second half of Winter Contingency, and the mission ONI: Sword Base. The use of a more "training"-styled vehicle in simple battles, alongside the mention of a "valley between mountains" echo Winter Contingency's Spade truck and overall level setting, while the "wide open combat" and "victory" notes seemingly echo more of Sword Base's vehicle setpieces.

Mission 3 - Boat level

Named in the Halo: Reach DLC test builds as 40_boat, this level was planned to employ the UNSC motorboat vehicle. The mission's name coincides with the final game map files numbering m35 (for Tip of the Spear) and m45 (for Long Night of Solace), with an apparent lack of an "m40" to fill the gap.

Outlined in Marcus Lehto's original game plans, this level was to involve the player attacking an "oil rig"-like structure in the ocean, with an approach similar to Navy SEAL operations. The level was to have the target of the attack consist of a large, moving structure - a challenge for the engine and lighting due to a lack of ability to use BSP level geometry. A rough prototype was created based on the concept of boat combat. According to Lee Wilson, the mission was to additionally have a mechanic which would see players able to "ride torpedoes" in the water combat.

Lehto's documentation notes on the level were noted as the following;

"4 - covert training -Seals type approach -boat attack -night -sink ship -off shore"

"3 - large moving platform. -ship at sea - sink it - have it slowly sink and pitch during mission. (challenge - lighting interiors of non-bsp geometry)!!!"

"Covert "Seals" boat attack
-night
-Sink Ship"

Footage of the boat's in-game prototype were later shown at PAX 2010, alongside some of the wave technology developed presumably for the prototype.

• 

  Footage of the boat being driven on the water, later showcased at PAX 2010. Note the presence of the Halo 3-era Master Chief character model - indicating this was still fairly early in development.

• 

  A screenshot of the boat on the water.

• 

  A screenshot of the boat on the water.

• HR BoatLevel Storyboard 1.jpg

  A storyboard depicting the opening to the boat level:

  "Ahh, rope deploying to the boat would have been fun. Alas, the boat mission was cut. Water physics was a real challenge back then."

• HR BoatLevel Storyboard 2.jpg

  A storyboard depicting the opening to the boat level.

Mission 4 - Aircraft level

Named in the DLC tag builds as 45_fightertown, this level was seemingly intended to be the predominant aircraft mission in the game. Interestingly, the mission name shares its 45 numeration with m45 - the final game level Long Night of Solace.

Notes provided by Marcus Lehto indicate this mission was to involve the player using an aircraft of some variety to engage in aerial combat and clear out Covenant forces from a number of small towns to allow friendly forces to deliver supplies. It is unclear whether this would have involved the UAV-like drone aircraft cut from the game, or would have been intended as a Falcon mission. At this time, no other levels in the game were described as having similar air combat segments (and initially, the final game level New Alexandria was intended to involve a player driving a Scarab), indicating this may have been intended to be the game's Falcon mission.

Ultimately, this level was scrapped and the Falcon moved to New Alexandria; the 45 designation was reused for Long Night of Solace. Lehto's documentation notes on the level were noted as the following;

"5 -Air attack
-clear out area from above
-provide route in through for supplies (segment to 5-7 small towns)"

"Air attack
-daylight
-Clear out area from above"

Early tag builds for Halo: Reach contain an early map for 45_fightertown which is closer in nature to Long Night of Solace, with an early blockout for Anchor 9, several Marathon-class heavy cruisers, and no shader work.

• 

  A screenshot of the blockout Fightertown/Long Night of Solace level.

Mission 5 - Sniper level

Labelled in Lehto's plan document as "sniper training", this mission's premise is similar to that of the final game's third level, Nightfall. In the mission, the player would have been deployed to a "high ridge" to work alongside Jun as a sniper, taking out Covenant leadership. The document reads as follows:

"-sniper training
-high ridge
-take out leadership targets
-up in ridge pass"

"Sniper Training
-Evening
-Remove leadership from power"

In the final game's Nightfall level, the objective was changed from assassination to a reconnaissance mission on the Covenant landing zone in the Viery Territory.

Mission 6 - Hold the line

"-hold the line
-brudge to supply station through canyon is under attack
-hold area with a variety of heavy weapons + explosives!"

"Hold the line
-Dusk
-hold bridge for supply line"

Mission 7 - Space level

"-Low orbit aerial platform destruction
-fly ships around massive ship
-dog fight and eventually take down ship"

"Low orbit aerial platform attack
-noon
Dogsight around Cov ship + take it down"

Mission 8 - Supply convoy attack

The "Supply Convoy Attack" mission is noted in Lehto's notes as a large vehicular setpiece mission, with the following notes:

"-massive Covenant hover ships
-low over ground
-race around on small craft
-enter + destroy
-make DAMN sure there's always activity from other operations visible off in the distance"

"Destroy Covenant supply convoy
-Evening
-Take out massive hover platforms"

In the above notes, this mission was to have taken place after the space battle level, with both documents describing a "Covenant hover platforms" - seemingly in reference to cut concepts for the Siege Engine cut vehicle (later canonised as the Draugr). It would have involved players using Warthogs and other light vehicles to attack and board the Siege Engines, destroying them in a manner to the Scarab encounters in Halo 3. Overall, these concepts correspond to several officially-released pieces of concept art depicting a Warthog charge on a Covenant army in the desert, and would seem to indicate that the broad concept behind this level may have later been reused and turned into the Warthog charge on Tip of the Spear.

• 

  Concept art for a Covenant army, depicting what appear to be siege engines.

• 

  Concept art for the level - note the presence of siege engines in the artwork.

• 

  An early blockout of the siege engine model for Halo: Reach.

• 

  An early blockout of the siege engine model.

• 

  An early blockout of the siege engine model, as viewed in first-person.

According to early storyboards uploaded by Lee Wilson, Rosenda-A344 was to have been killed presumably in this mission. The storyboards depict her being sniped by the Elite Field Marshal while riding in a Warthog, resulting in the vehicle stopping to recover her body while Jun provides sniper support. According to Wilson, Rosenda's death was replaced by Kat in the final game, after Rosenda was cut (with Kat originally intended to be the one sent to escort Halsey later on).

• 

  A storyboard depicting Rosenda's death:

  "Rosenda was a Spartan team member who was cut due to budget. Her design proposal was to have her be a little shorter than the others to contrast with Jorge with whom she had a close mentor-mentee bond."

• 

  A storyboard depicting Rosenda's death:

  "I had always planned for the main antagonist to kill a beloved team member in a sudden way. Had we kept Rosenda, Kat would have lived to escort Halsey instead of Jun."

Mission 9 - City level

"Storm the city
-Dawn
-Take back a portion of the city"

"City setting
-lots of rockets blasting out windows
-paper
-office furniture raining down
-play through buildings up to upper levels for sniping
open plan
-lots of destroyed and partially functional vehicles for cover + fun
-lots of glass"

Mission 10 - Last Great Battle

"Last Great Battle
-Afternoon
-Wave after wave of massive battle"

"Covenant Walkers
-blast them to bits with artillery guns
-take them over + drive them"

"Last Great Battle - Wave after wave of difference forces
- We annihilate them, but they give up trying to save the planet (to keep the Forerunner artifact) + glass the entire thing"

Production levels

Driving a Scarab

While the Deutoros-pattern Scarab did ultimately make its way into the final game as a low-poly background entity on the levels Tip of the Spear and The Pillar of Autumn (with the latter level also featuring a more detailed, non-interactive setpiece Scarab at one point in the mission), early ideas for the game's campaign were to have the player character able to drive the Scarab. Early ideas for the level New Alexandria would have seen the player drive the Scarab in the remains of the post-glassing city. Prototypes for the Scarab were made and the physics involved was described by Chris Ophdal as "sweet", though the Scarab was ultimately considered unsustainable - especially with the high engine cost needed to run the level. Ultimately, the drivable Scarab was scrapped and New Alexandria was transformed into an aerial mission focusing on the Falcon instead.

Cut dialogue for the missions Tip of the Spear and Exodus shows that early plans for these levels were for both to feature Scarab encounters similar to those featured in Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, though all were cut.

• 

  The Scarab was ultimately realised in-game, though as a scripted setpiece with no gameplay attached.