That famous Halo 2 demo from E3 2003 will finally be playable later this year.
More than a year before Halo 2 hit stores, publisher Microsoft debuted a full nine-minute demo of the game at E3 2003 that turned the already hyped shooter into an even bigger event. But the entire demo mission and ideas like winding city roads never saw the light of day and were scrapped when Bungie made last-minute changes to the game.
Halo 2 – E3 2003 Gameplay Demo Trailer [HD] – YouTube
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There was never any reason to think that the scrapped 'Earth City' mission would appear again, that is, until 343 Industries and Digsite, a team focused on restoring content from the legendary FPS series, announced that the demo content would make a return. free in Halo: The Master Chief Collection through the Steam Workshop.
At this weekend's Halo World Championship Series 2024, 343i revealed that the demo would be revived for Halo 2's 20th anniversary on November 9, along with a first look at its remade Earth City linked below – a fun little glimpse at what could have been. The updated demo will also come with revised lip-syncing in the demo scenes, waypoint markers added to the map in case you want to go off script, and will obviously use assets from the launch version of Halo 2.
Here's the gameplay from the Halo 2 E3 2003 Demo Remake for MCC. https://t.co/QU7i50OEO9 pic.twitter.com/jjZMv3lgJ8October 6, 2024
That wasn't the only exciting announcement from the Halo-focused event, either. 343i unveiled an upcoming third-person mode for Halo Infinite, fulfilling a decades-old prophecy when Steve Jobs first revealed Halo 1 at MacWorld 1999 in all its third-person glory. A team of forgers also set a date for their Helldivers 2-like mode in Halo Infinite.
Halo: Combat Evolved will reportedly receive “some type” of remastering as Xbox considers bringing the FPS series to PlayStation.