Bungie is finally making Halo 2's iconic E3 level playable after more than 20 years since it was first teased as a highly scripted demo.
The level in question is known across the community as Earth City and was something that did not come with Halo 2 when it launched in 2004. At the time, developer 343 Industries, now renamed Halo Studios, streamed the level's demo to fans.
Halo 2 E3 Level
People immediately wondered if the level itself would ever be released for the game as an official DLC or even as a mod. The studio said at the time that they were not sure if such a thing was actually possible for them.
However, the developer announced in 2022 that the Earth City demo would become playable via the Master Chief Collection that is available on PC. This is part of a partnership between fan modders and the developers, according to Kotaku.
Halo community director Brian Jarrard said that the community's response to the Earth City E3 demo was electric. He added that it was nearly every single Halo fan remembers that moment and where they were when they first saw the iconic level.
Jarrard added that none of them ever expected that they would be bringing the beloved and unreleased level to Halo 2 more than two decades later. He noted that this is only possible because of the work of a group of passionate community modders.
The E3 demo that showcased Earth City showed Master Chief fighting against the Covenant across a metropolitan area on our planet. When it was revealed, the footage gave fans their first look at human life back home within the franchise's lore, MSN said.
Partnership With Community Modders
The demo also showcased innovative gameplay mechanics for its time, including the ability to drop-kick an enemy to push them out of a moving vehicle. The nine-minute-long video ended with Master Chief using a plasma grenade as he was surrounded by a small army of enemies.
The Master Chief Collection is set to bring a slew of new content to Halo 2 next month, marking a comeback for the decades-old game. Halo Studios is now able to bring the iconic E3 level thanks to Digsite-developed tools that let them analyze and automate up-porting old assets.
Halo senior franchise writer Kenneth Peters added that Steven Garcia, widely known as General_101, was crucial to the efforts of bringing the mod to the public.
He allegedly worked on a big part of the project to develop tools, update scripts, and art the levels in the collection, according to Gematsu.
