Uh, I haven't been active here in years, is the gaming forum gone? I'm seeing stuff about Halo and Elden Ring in The Floo- uh, #offtopic, so I'm guessing so. Weird. Anyway. With rumours swirling of the newly-rebranded ‘Halo Studios’ remaking Halo: Combat Evolved, I thought to myself ‘Why not give it the FFVII Remake treatment?’ I’m not yet familiar with that game, but apparently we follow the same premise, but the plot diverges in significant ways as it progresses. I think we can all agree that especially the latter third of CE could have done with much more time in the oven, so may I present my take on those levels… [b]The Library[/b] Probably the most infamous level in the game. In fact, definitely the most infamous. My first thought was breaking up the neverending deluge of the Flood. I thought it would be hilarious if, at least near the end, Sentinels are shot down by rocket Flood, only to themselves be obliterated by an off-camera pair of Hunters that come around a corner. The reaction ‘I’ve never been so happy to see Hunters!’ is what I’d expect. Maybe we also come across one or two groups of Marines on our travels, just to break up the pacing a little. They could be teleported in by Spark beforehand in his efforts to find Reclaimers (or desperation for more Reclaimers in case Chief isn’t able to do ‘what had to be done’). As for the physical level design itself, we get a hell of a lot of very repetitious hallways and corridors, and it is spectacularly linear. So I think some branching paths are in order, maybe with different encounters down each, but also I think it would be cool to have the Library built like a library, with several sections of towering data banks and a thread of narrow corridors between them (still branching). It could possibly get very cramped and even impossible to move in such spaces, so my solution? Flood Barriers. Transparent or translucent barriers preventing infected hosts and Flood forms passing through, but allowing passage for others such as Reclaimers and meddlers. Lore-wise, they’d be there to protect the physical storage units of the indexed species from the Flood. And to keep things spicy in the gameplay, they could also be malfunctioning in some parts, flickering to let Flood through, or moving around the tighter corridors themselves. All sorts of possible combinations there. There’s lore precedent too, with the barrier around the Index itself. [b]Two Betrayals[/b] It would start the same, but once we were outside of the control room, Cortana would lead us to a previously-locked door (uh, unlocked as she worked out what they needed to do before she was pulled from the system), and it would be a whole new level after that, though still with a Scorpion and Banshees, seeing as they’re almost nowhere else in the game. That said, a Scorpion would probably be present in the next remixed level. I also thought it would be cool to have the pulse generators (if that’s what we’re disabling in the remake) to be protected by shields too, only these ones aren’t malfunctioning, powered by what they’re protecting (dunno if that makes sense logically, but a self-sustaining protection system seems like a good idea to me… with backup provided by Halo’s own backup system just like the superweapon is itself, per Cortana). You have hordes of Flood throwing everything they have at the shields (initially it was every enemy, but why would the Covies and Sentinels try to destroy the generators?), and have a choice: sneak past them, to your objective, and then fight them on your way out once the generator and shield is down, or let possible Covies or Sentinels in the encounter do some of it for you, sneak past, and handle the leftovers once the shield is down. Maybe Cortana nabbed some code or something to let you sneak through a side door that was previously locked. [b]Keyes[/b] Here’s the level I’d change the most - it’s no longer boarding the Truth and Reconciliation to rescue the captain, but scraping together the last of the UNSC forces and resources to launch an assault on a Covenant stronghold on the Halo ring itself, in the desert. Because I’m a sucker for desert levels, and also massive vehicular assaults. Maybe we can see the place in the distance and have to wind our way through the deserts and caverns for it. As we return to daylight, the sky gets darker, until - closing in on the place - the Flood appears and attacks. Just when we think we’ve reached Keyes safely, he gets Floodified again. In every universe. Why isn’t he already in Flood control? This time, he initially escaped the Flood with Johnson’s help, only for them both to get captured by the Covies. Keyes sacrifices himself to let Johnson escape. Unfortunately for Johnson, this only adds to the survivor’s guilt he feels in 2 and 3. Back to the level itself, the place is a ruin afterwards, with Chief as the last man standing, and, as a load of Flood and freshly-infected Covies rise up, he hightails it out of there in a Banshee. [b]The Maw[/b] Think we can all agree this one’s a banger, not gonna change much here unless previous changes need it. Can’t think of anything right now. Even the repeated level design, for several reasons: 1, at this point, it would be the only significant copy-paste in the game (AotCR/Two Betrayals would just be the control room and exterior). 2, I always liked it because it was like coming back to what once was a place of relative comfort, but utterly wrecked and almost alien, a very sobering tone shift. Really pressed home the ‘humanity vs. everything’ central theme of the game. P.S. I came up with a lot of this stuff just off the cuff yesterday and managed to write it down before I forgot, so I haven't put as much thought into it as a professional level designer. So if it seems like I'm overlooking stuff, ya know why.