Why Are Old Halo Games So Creepy? - Halo Retrospective 

As a kid I always thought the reason there were no animals is because all the noise the fighting made scared them off

man i'll never forget how caught off guard i was as a kid when the alien game turned into a zombie horror game.

The first encounter with The Flood will always stay with me. The build up to the horrifying reveal will never be outdone. It’s just that great and terrifying.

Any of the levels where Cortana wasn't in your head were really creepy to me, I looked forward to her commentary keeping me going. Without her it really drives home that you're all alone and surrounded by deadly creatures and vast alien spaces. While she was there, I never felt so lonely and enjoyed screwing around even empty places, because at least "someone else" was with me.

I always imagine purgatory to be similar to wandering an early 2000's multiplayer map alone.

I didn’t feel alone in Halo 2 when I was a kid compared to CE. To this day CE still has that lonely feeling to it that I can’t describe

17:45 I actually really liked the Library when I was a kid. I remember finding the marine corpse with a rocket launcher and thinking "damn, this marine was a bad ass to make it this deep". I remember reading the Halo book later and it gave that marine his own little section where he was the first human 343 ran into so 343 tried to get him to retrieve the index first. Master Chief in the book was flabbergasted that a marine made it that deep with no augmentations or armor because he himself was feeling pushed to the limit. Also I remember 343 saying something along the lines of "you only have a class 2 combat suit, it is recommended you upgrade to at least class 12 to fight the flood" and being like "wat" lol

The bird and insect sounds on certain levels, combined with the fact that you don’t ever really see any birds or insects, almost makes you feel like the forerunners were piping the sound in through speakers

Blues and grays are the colors our eyes see when we switch to cones in low light situations and need to be alert for predators that are hard to see. It's the perfect choice of colors to set you on edge

as a little kid the marine that lost his mind in halo ce scared the crap out of me

Weirdly as a kid i never once wondered why there were no animals. I literally just accepted everything as it was and it felt right lol

Very recently I played Silent Cartographer together with my friend. With every Convenant soldier we dispatched, we felt that we were in a more dangerous place than at the beginning of the mission, precisely because of this unnerving feeling that on this already empty map, someone or rather something unnatural was watching us or maybe even hunt us. The fact that all the UNSC Marines who stayed on the beach mysteriously disappeared didn't help either. Even though it was the most visually pleasing location, we wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

One thing that I always found creepy about Halo CE compared to 2 and 3 was the noise the Flood makes. In 2 and 3, they growl and howl, but in CE they also make this unnatural wheezing/chirping sound.

That flood intro mission in CE terrified me as a 10 year old, the atmosphere, the noises, the realisation that you’re in the room where Keyes’ squad vanished. And just when you think you’ve escaped, the lift goes DOWN

Limited options and assets etc, bring out more creativity of people. Thats why old games are legendary. Creativity flows through every level

8:37 - The way I would describe it is: The Forerunner structures feel like tombs. Giant, monolithic tombs you walk through.

I was 9 years old when Halo CE came out. Something that has always stuck with me was the eerie, cosmic-horror feeling of the main menu. The haunting men's choir singing the main theme without any backing music, combined with the giganticism of the Halo ring just floating in the vastness of empty space always used to give me the creeps.

To me the CE has one extra level of liminality: the lack of barriers. It let you see the shortcuts the developers made, which made the world feel even weirder. For example, that blue hallway on the other side of the SC pit, it looks like it leads to another huge section of facility, but with grenades and a warthog launch, you get over there and its just a giant hallway that goes nowhere. This like that add to the backrooms feeling.

God man, the Halo theme in the first two games, the cymbals, the chorus... truly the best soundtrack for any game, I am literally getting shivers down my spine right now, goosebumps just thinking about that perfect theme song.

CE was and still is absolutely beautiful to me. The ring stretching across the sky box and the mysterious and ominous ruins left behind by the Forerunners...it's all so beautiful to me. Probably the first genuine art piece I ever experienced as a child. I love CE to death.

The interesting thing about halo 1 specifically is that it was the only one where you need to survive. In all the other ones, you have backup. In Halo 1, you ARE the backup. Literally the last hope. By the end you’re the only survivor so that should tell you something I think.

This game really is a timeless classic, we're still learning from it today

The environmental storytelling of 343 guilty spark was always so chilling to me. The build up with the downed pelican playing the repeat message of Keys being captured by some "new" covenant set the mood. Then seeing the covenant fleeing in fear from something and the brief fight at the entrance to the facility all just keep building up. The brief radar full of friendlies before suddenly vanishing and the crazed marine. Add in the music that sounds like scratching and it just keeps getting creepier. Then the crescendo with the video from the helmet and wella.

I first played 343 guilty spark when I was 10 and my brother 8. When we finished the level, we both said “let’s take a break” and we ended up not touching the game again for months

One thing you missed on 343 Guilty Spark, you can actually backtrack to the original elevator that brought you down. However once you activate the lift the elevator explodes and becomes non functional, effectively trapping you inside and forcing the player to search for an alternate escape.

Derelict The empty hallways, howling of the wind and the ambient sounds that almost sound like some giant creature breathing anytime you're inside in Assault on the Control Room will always stand out to me. No other video game has ever had the feel this game has. I am honestly so glad I've had it in my life for the last 20+ years.

During my very first play through and feeling overwhelmingly terrified after finishing the Library, I'll never forget how relieved I felt when I saw the Covenant again in Two Betrayals even despite the fact they were shooting at me, they were the enemy that I knew. What also hammered the twist was the little booklet you got with the game describing covenant races, the weapons etc but there was absolutely zero mention or indication of the flood! I thought that was a very nice touch on Bungies part which added to the horror in game.

The Library has always been my favorite level, since the first time I played this game. It's a testament of your abilities and quick reactions. Unlike the first levels, there is not much of an strategy apart from "shoot everything that moves", it's just your shotgun, another weapon for popping infection forms, and you, going through similar-looking, labyrinthine corridors looking for the Index. And in Legendary, this is a delicacy to play. Also, the music/ambiance is the best in the game.

I remember sometimes when i was younger just walking around valhalla in halo 3 and messing around. I tried doing it again and realized just how creepy it is being all alone in the middle of nowhere.

In the beginning section of 343 guilty spark, you can see friendlies on your motion tracker outside the map and can even glimpse them. They walk to the edge, and then walk away, but they don’t look quite right. This is masterful storytelling by bungie.

The old Halo CE multiplayer maps gave me the same feeling as the ones in Mechassault 1&2. It's one thing to have a map that is empty, but it's very different to have a map that FEELS empty. Not one where it feels like everyone has just gone out for coffee and is going to be back in an hour, but one where no one's coming back, and likely hasn't been here for years.

The point you made that playing halo as a kid on a multiplayer map with no other player (since our pc didn't have an internet connection) made it unnerving and uncanny to play is so relatable. It is after all an empty map but there was that irrational fear of someone luring somewhere. I thought it was only me (for lack of content like this back then). One particular multiplayer map that was creepy but in a somewhat different way from the other maps was Gephyrophobia because it had the added uncanniness of the height (and the smog doesn't let you see how deep it actually is) and the music. The most comforting was death island because it was mostly open space.

The terminal in CE showing Keyes’ infection terrified me when I was younger, I couldn't play CEA for a couple months after it because of how scared I was

Something I just realized- the marine that says "Keyes has been captured" knew enough about the op/had some audio or video confirmation that he wasn't KIA, at least not yet. And seeing as he was captured once already, it stands to reason that they didn't anticipate the Covies granting him life this time around. "It's not Covenant." This guy likely heard some of the last confirmed words of dying marines being mutilated, and had to have had someone say "Keyes is captured," as opposed to killed. Why else would he say capture and not KIA? Chilling. Someone told him that a far worse fate was occuring.

I swear I used to be so scared when I reached the menu with all the creepy choir music. Even the first Pillar of Autumn was soo scary because of he urgency and the dread of being attacked by these alien creatures with dreadful sounds! Took me a while to actually get past this level

I was 6/7 when this game released and I adored it. However, I would always get to the mission where the Flood are introduced and I'd back out and start the game again and repeat this cycle. That mission utterly terrified me. Seeing the Covenant flee from an unknown enemy in such terror, the static radio in the crashed Pelican, the deranged marine, it was all too much. Of course I did eventually play through it (I think a year or so later I got an older cousin to play it split screen with me as I couldn't face it alone) but I'll never forget the emotions evoked from Halo: CE, a true masterpiece not only in video games but as a piece of art.

I really miss Blood Gulch. So many hours spent in constant struggles and now...nothing.

Thank you for pointing out the liminal space aspect, that's part of why I love CE so much. Despite the graphics being outdated, something about that ring stretching up into space above the player's head is absolutely beautiful. Just walking around on any map set on the surface of the ring gives you a heavy dose of peaceful nostalgia and wonder.

The closest ive come to a liminal space (i think?) is the feeling you get when you move house and everything has already been packed and youre doing the final clean and tidy. You look around and recognise all the same walls, and the window is still there, but the couch, the cabinets the bed the fridge, all your stuff - your mess - has disappeared. Familiar, but abnormal. Yesterday you made a cuppa & ate your toast at the table like you'd done for the last 10 years, tomorrow, you'll never set foot in it again. Like your heart is telling you its your home, but your brain is telling you its an empty house.

Playerless multiplayer map: exists RU-vid: Why is this CREEPY?

Halo to us then was literally what kids nowadays fear in the Backrooms, the Liminal Spaces, the Monster that is beneath the map and the despair to escape and stop the madness

I remember very well wandering the spaces of many of the multiplayer maps, alone, and yet never actually feeling alone. They would always elicit that same eerie feeling you get when you can feel someone's eyes on you.

Your video came across my thread. Glad it did. Always felt the same way about those empty rooms. The ambient noises are so well done. And I’m kinda glad I’m not the only one who still walks around from time to time in the multiplayer maps alone reminiscing about the past. Crazy it’s been over 20 years.

This was wonderfully well-written and had me hooked throughout. I thought I'd heard everything that could be said about this game, but your video helped to further explain why so many people have a connection with this game. The atmosphere just lingers on in your memory. Great job! 👍👍

Holy hell, somebody else gets it. The opening shot of Sidewinder with the characteristic ambience told me that you understood. Thanks for explaining why this game still has something the sequels never did.

Halo 1 was just such a perfect blend of elements. Sound effects and room ambience (especially 343 guilty spark) were practically music on their own in how tonal they were at times. Your "liminal space" claim is also pretty spot on. The look of the library has this feeling like you're wandering around in some abandoned hotel or hospital. And lots of machinery on the library sounds like either a vending machine or a distant vacuum down some creepy hotel hallway at night. It's all super familiar so the player has an impression to have some base emptional reaction, but things never indicate an obvious purpose, thus they still feel alien. I also love the creepy celestial sound of the light bridges and shade turrets. I never really felt the same sobering feeling from the rest of the games. They always seemed like the loud cartoonish ones while this one seemed like the strong silent type. I could go on and on about how all sound and visual elements seem to have some artistic intention behind them, but it's just too much typing. Haha

Bravo, sir. What a beautiful homage to an experience we all share, and lacked the words for at the time.

I remember the shock of witnessing The Flood for the first time 😅 I honestly thought Halo was about shooting bright purple space drawfs … 😮

I was a young Marine when this game came out. It always felt accurate. The loneliness and duty of serving.

Epitaph is map that always stuck in my head just the fact that a forerunner structure so tall and significant is in the middle of a bright and barren desert it’s so mesmerizing to me

This is great! As an adult, I'm a big horror fan, and more and more I realize that a lot of the media I was drawn to as a child had spooky or scary elements to it. I don't tend to remember Halo as being creepy (aside from the Flood which is obviously just a horror level), but your description of its second half as survival horror is spot on

Really cool to learn about liminal space from this. I’ve had the same feeling about old games: where hardware limitations require spaces to be bleak. To see that it was also intentionally designed to trigger the off-putting feeling makes it even better. Thanks for the video

Let's also not forget: back in 2001 when Halo first came out, we played it on those box TVs that had those grainy textures (definitely NOT HD); only adding to the fact that you as the player couldn't entirely make out exactly what you were walking through. This only heightened the mysterious feeling of the game, in general.

Watched my dad play halo ce when i was 8 and i just feel in love with the ambiance. The music and the way it would make me feel as he went through the game and there's no other game that can capture that feeling. What really sets this game apart from so many others is the music, Marty O'Donnell really made masterpieces with only 3 words as inspiration. "Ancient, Alien, Mysterious."

I recognized those halo custom edition maps. So many memories playing as a kid with my friend. Either on the ones filled with Ai or just wandering alone through maps. I loved that empty lonely uncanny and creepy feeling, and that it carried over to the modded maps back then was amazing

This video brought back so many obscure memories as a kid growing up playing since the first halo game. It’s always been so hard to put it into words but this video did it for me! Thanks!

Opening with sidewinder, such a fun map

Sadly, we may never get other games as good as Halo was.

Something that I found really interesting is how much your introductory section reminded me of Borderlands. The Borderlands series has a similar tonal shift between the first and second game. While the gameplay in BL2 is significantly improved, the setting and tone of the first game were uniquely captivating to me. Come to think of it...the same is true of Mass Effect. It's fascinating to think that the ambiance, tone, and immersiveness of the first game in a series is a huge part of my love for all my favorites.

I remember sleep overs with my friends and being glued to the screen as we played though this game fighting for our turn to play and my parents coming down the stairs to routinely remind us we need to sleep. The game was new and different then and the landscapes and creatures felt so different. Later life in my late 20s I replayed the game on legendary by myself and wind and sounds of the ring breathing and the noises and lack of life felt so hollow it made me feel hollow as I remembered those sleep overs with my friends people I lost contact with. The game just hits differently if you grew up wifh it and come back to experience later life. It does echo that march of time and how things change.

This video finally put the finger on what I've been trying to articulate about this game for years. Master class, well done.

Alot of the feelings shared in this video are how i feel in Mario 64. It has such an odd almost creepy feeling to it at times.

great video. really took me back to my teens. seeing the empty player maps was especially strange. in university we learned about liminal spaces (but not with that name) as we talked about the uncanny valley in animation. (The tutor might have referred to them as non-places like an empty airport/mall) I'm glad it's become such an aesthetic.

nikos always be poppin off and making good content

Something I learned while writing, playing and also doing my own Videogame Design Documents is that fear doesn't comes from grotesque or uncanny visuals, that's only really useful for jumpscares Fear in media comes from the same place it does from real life: "The Unknown" Halo CE's atmosphere is so unsettling because we don't know what's going on here, what's going to happen, or what's the nature of the place That's why liminal spaces are scary, vevause they are devoid of context or meaning That's the way to scare people and keep them scared, or at leats the way I have found in my studying

As a kid heading the forerunner halls breathe freaked me out. I’d usually just play for the epic battles lol

My mate introduced me to half life a few years back, and I absolutely enjoyed playing through them (episode 2 in particular) but it’s the art style that made me enjoy it. There’s something about those early/mid 2000’s games that get it. The landscape in half-life felt so derelict but at the same time super interesting just to walk around and explore and to see the parts of the map far away, the same with CE maps - they’re just fun to walk around by yourself, and it’s almost as if you can imagine being there yourself walking around them.

I love the atmosphere of late 90s, early 00s shooters. I can't articulate just what it is about them, but there is something to the liminal quality to them that always brings me back. One of my favourites is the rather obscure SiN from 1997.

Halo CE can be described in a few key ways. The ring is: Unimaginably old, unfathomably advanced, incredibly massive, but entirely empty of its own life. That what is so creepy about the original game. It’s a paradox of extremes that we as humans can understand.

Also the fact that there is NO EXIT when looking around the ring. It adds to the liminal horror that you are trapped here with those things… And the heavy sigh of relief we all breathed once we found out there was a longsword fighter still docked.

I love that you touched on the subject of liminal spaces in this video. They are the exact reason I love the game portal 2 so much along with this one. Those empty abandoned rooms inside the facility give a sense of nostalgia, but also give an eerie feeling and a sense of horror.

great video brings back some cool memories so much time spent here.

Thank you so, SO MUCH, for mentioning the Invisible Flood in the Armory. I kept looking for more people talking about it online but information is really scarce. It's, legit, the creepiest part of the entire series, in my opinion.

I am SO HAPPY to see other people share this sentiment. Halo CE & 2 had something unique, eerie, strange, scary and fascinating. As I grow older, I am more and more nostalgic about it.

Amazing retrospective, thank you for creating this

when you talked about going to the bottom of mid rises to hang out in the empty basements, it reminded me of the mail and laundry rooms in my old dorms when i was in college. the whole building would be bustling with other students and staff, but somehow the mail room was almost always empty and my footsteps echoed the same way you describe them doing so in certain environments in the campaign. good vid me likey

10/10 video. as a kid, I played reach, 3, then 1 in that order and ce always felt the most oddly comfy and also oddly creepy. a sort of "theres no fighting here, but that makes me feel very unsafe and vulnerable" feeling, that this video put into words perfectly. ce is my favourite nowadays, not just for its gameplay but because how empty and desolate it looks, while maintaining an almost faux nature look to it. like if you went into a greenhouse, and all the plants looked like they were made of plastic.

This is a perfect example of a liminal space feeling that some of the maps and levels have which always separated itself from all the others and the creepy ambiance

Amazing video, the nostalgia hits hard

I never usually take in the atmosphere, but when i do, its usually not fear, im amazed, curious, i look and walk around, its kinda calming, nothing shooting you, not running from you, just you and the terrain, its just so nice sometimes, its usually the snow or more open yet enclosed areas in games that give me these feelings

In the cartographer security station, if you go out through one of the three doors behind the hologram, you find a a sigle bridge leading out to nowhere. At the end is a small platform, with two pillars, about the height of a person, connected by an equlally thick chest high wall in the center. It appears to be a barricade, suspended above a manufactured shaft so massive that the depths are invisible. This place captures the feeling for me. I always feel it when I'm there. For the first time in the game, the mysterious purpose of the edifice around you seems to be revealed by inference. It is such a purposeful use of the space, yet is almost an afterthought in its nature as a defensive position. The implications are massive: what civilization could be so advanced to build such a thing as the ring, only to build it with consideration to the needs of fighting an physical, defensive battle of survival? What could they have been expecting to fight? The room cant tell you, and the people who could died before the beginning of history. All it gives you is the cryptic whispers of the tunnel wind, and the humming of ancient machines.

I truly felt like I was alone in Halo CE, and that was a bit spooky because the environment is a mystery.

This game series always makes me feel so emotional. This game made me feel a lot of things for the first time. I remember playing on my original Xbox in 6th grade and I don't think I have ever felt the same feelings from any other games since. I think Halo is still the most beautifully crafted, Shakespearian FPS ever to touch this planet. RIP Bungie, you guys made my childhood for many years.

Wow I couldn't find myself agreeing with you more. When you got to the multiplayer section, the first thing I thought was Chiron TL34, and then you crown it as the most eerily notable. Hats off man, you described this subtly stellar phenomenon of liminal atmospheric games surgically! I've had alot of dreams taking place on halo maps in particular. I've dreamt of a whole underwater aquatic world with air pockets and node systems beneath Lockout. An underground village beneath halo 3s Sierra 117. Exploring forerunner hallways and lifts. I remember stepping out during a light snow storm in January one year and telling my gf: Huh, this is the same weather as Lockout.

As a kid it was kinda creepy playing Halo CE or what i call it Halo 1 and after when you complete the pillar of atumn(the first mission) it was creepy to me when the covenant drop ship creps by trying to search for you and the aliens are inspecting the pod with that violin music in the background.

Interestly enough, I think Halo Reach is also very good at this.

Man, such an awesome video, you are making want to a sick day from work to play CE start to finish.

This is an awesome video! Been waiting for something like this. I keep telling my friends why Halo 1's atmosphere and environment storytelling was peak in the halo franchise. keep up the good work

You captured the essence of CE so perfectly. Played it since the beginning when I was a kid and it was always so awesome, but kinda eerie, during silent sections.

I wish I was alive during the peak of these games but man I’ll tell you what there is literally no game in my opinion that can share the same atmospheric, lifeless, mysterious, ambient, want to know more kinda feeling that you get from Halo Combat Evolved. Not even Halo 2 or 3 can replicate it. The 3 original Halo games are my favorite video games ever and will continue to be for the rest of my life. Great video and keep up the good work.👍👌

EXTREMELY well done! I’ve watched sit a couple times through now!

Love this breakdown of the art and sound style. Nice video

I agree that older 3D games had a bit of a creepy vibe to them, such as Mario 64 having every level being a platform in an endless void..... and so many games being based on going from only a central hub, it gave an unnerving air of claustrophobia to me.

Spectacular video. I live for stuff like this. I sometimes lack the expressiveness to explain what made something so significant, often getting lost in my own memories and rambling about it. This is like one of those memories played like a hologram thank you!

I'm so glad youtube recommended me your channel. I watch A LOT of youtube this video was breath of fresh air. Fantastic video.

What an excellent video. You make points that I think a lot of halo fans always knew in their heads but didn't think of it as the main reason that halo CE will always be a unique game.

This was such a great subject for a video! Loved the creepy vibe Halo CE gives off, and you talked about it perfectly. In 343 Guilty Spark, you can get yourself glitched onto the hills, and the creepiness factor is entirely engulfed on those hills, so much so, you can find a lone marine standing in the middle of a field by himself. Creeped me out so much when I was a kid

i also quite liked the abandoned areas on earth for the multiplayer maps in Halo 2/3. They felt lived in but quickly abandoned, while you can hear battle sounds far in the distance, making the player feel very far and away from things, isolated (mostly Halo 2 here).

Much of what you said in this video summarized my thoughts playing through CE as an adult just recently. The liminality, as well as the whole “passage of time” making things feel more left behind were concepts well articulated in this video that people tend to not “appreciate” the complexities of.

Great video brother. I remember bringing this game home and just being blown away.