Anchor Point

Anchor Point was a level created during the development of Halo 2, but cut before release.

Setting
Anchor Point would have been set in and around the gas mines of the gas giant Threshold, encountered by the player during the campaign missions The Arbiter and The Oracle and the multiplayer map Colossus. The level would have been set around a camp set up by Sesa 'Refumee's heretic faction. The three support cables hanging from the structure encountered in the campaign served as a skeleton support structure for the level layout, a temporary construction framework resurrected as an outpost by Sesa's troops and cobbled together with nearby debris. The view above the map would have been the gas mine facility itself, while the view below would be the swirling vortex of Threshold's atmosphere.

Production notes
Anchor Point was developed for Halo 2, cobbled together in about a week. The map only reached one step after the initial block-out, with temporary textures, UV unwraps and lighting but no proper art pass. It was intended as a small map for only four players. This 2v2 map would focus primarily on Banshee dogfighting rather than conventional vehicle and infantry gameplay, though larger scale was tried out. The map was cut before release as it "played like crap", and the developers at Bungie found the level to not be very fun, as the game's Banshee combat was "messy". The map was later revealed by artist Vic DeLeon on Twitter on November 10, 2019 for the 15th anniversary of Halo 2.

The map and its files are still playable, with 343 Industries' Jeff Easterling having played on the level fairly recently (as of November 2019). DeLeon also has at least several test maps including a jungle, Old Mombasa and an abandoned Forerunner city.