In its last few levels, 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved virtually turns into a survival horror game as you battle your way through hordes of twisted, undead enemies in dimly lit corridors, pressed to make every shot count and desperate to preserve your health as you press forward. Perhaps no level in Halo’s storied campaign presents such a sudden change of tone and intensity as “The Library,” a long set of spacious corridors in which you first meet the sentient undead lifeform known as the Flood, and must face an almost inexhaustible supply of them while equipped with the game’s most powerful weapons.
“The Library” has once again become topical as we look toward the release of the upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the original Xbox launch title. Unlike the anniversary edition of the game which shipped in 2011, Campaign Evolved sets out to tweak existing level structures, as well as the weapon sandbox. And the level whose potential changes fans are speculating about the most is “The Library.”
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That’s because “The Library” is a notorious level, widely considered a low point, a blemish on Combat Evolved’s otherwise outstanding campaign. But I disagree with the sentiment that “The Library” is some broken level that desperately needs remixing to fix. After recently replaying the level, I am convinced it remains a tense, brutal section of the game that tests you in everything you’ve learned about Halo’s combat thus far, equipping you with the skills necessary to finish the remaining levels, which only amplify the threat by tossing Covenant back in the mix with the Flood.
© Gif: Halo Studios / Kotaku
The arrival of the Flood dramatically steps up the difficulty in CE. After several levels spent fighting the Covenant, the introduction of these swarming parasites forces you to learn some new playstyles and find new strengths and weaknesses in each of the game’s weapons. The last few levels could’ve just been more of the same. But the Flood dramatically change the pace and scope of the game. Their introduction is when Halo evolves. And evolution is often painful, and full of surprises.
The Flood swarm the player in vast numbers wielding both human and Covenant weapons; they can leap incredible distances; their melee attack is brutal; the bulbous carrier form explodes with an AOE attack and spawns in several tiny enemies which can collectively swarm you to death if you’re careless. Oh, and they can basically rise from the dead at least once, usually when you least expect it.
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They’re a challenge to fight. Critically, they’re a challenge to survive. And that’s what makes “The Library” such an engaging level; it’s a test of endurance, knowing which fights are worth engaging in, and which ones are better left in your dust.
“The Library” is tough, but it has a logic
© Gif: Halo Studios / Kotaku
“The Library” asks three things from you: Equip yourself well, use your enemy against you, and keep moving. While there are a few segments in which you’re asked to stand your ground while 343 Guilty Spark takes his sweet time to open a door, that last challenge—keep moving—is the most important of all. Standing still in “The Library” is guaranteed to lead to death, so mastering circle strafing, bunny hopping, and crouch jumping to get on to the elevated platforms is essential for maintaining distance.
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The Flood are nasty but they also have critical vulnerabilities, all of which “The Library” asks you to manage. Take the bulbous carrier forms which explode. Not only can their explosion work against them when they’re in a dense crowd of Flood, displacing or destroying their own comrades, but they can also trigger chain effect grenade explosions from any explosives dropped by the standard infantry. Again, the challenge is to spot those opportunities, creating more problems for your enemy than they do for you.
Is Halo the same story if “The Library” isn’t a trip through hell?
And because virtually every weapon in the game is available in the Library by way of the Flood carrying both human and alien firepower, your challenge is to keep yourself stocked. My preference is for a shotgun and plasma rifle combo, occasionally picking up a rocket launcher or needler if I feel I need to take out larger hordes.
In the darkness, terror
© Screenshot: Halo Studios / Kotaku
“The Library” is ominously dark, almost bland, utilitarian. It doesn’t feel like it was made to bedazzle you, the player. It feels purpose-built by some ancient alien intelligence that wasn’t concerned with baroque, sci-fi trappings. It’s a dreary, barren set of massive corridors turned into a hellscape by the swarm of undead after you.
All the while, as you fight for your life, 343 Guilty Spark’s comments on the inefficiencies of your weapons and his strange fascination with the Flood as a life form are reminiscent of Ash’s speech about the xenomorph in Alien being a “perfect organism.” It feels absurd, almost hilarious, how 343 is more pre-occupied with miscellaneous facts about the function of the parasitic life form than on your actual struggle as you fend off the terrifying swarm.
I’m always reminded of Alien, particularly its opening scenes, when I play “The Library,” with which it shares a haunting austerity and ever-present darkness. Dimly lit corridors seem to stretch on forever, revealing an indecipherable architectural language lit only by a passing flashlight.
What’s at risk of getting lost when Halo Studios changes “The Library”?
© Screenshot: Halo Studios / Kotaku
I remain skeptical of the need to remake Halo at all. To be honest, I think we’re still living in an era of first-person shooters that, especially on console, was largely shaped by Halo to begin with. Tweaking the original Halo to include sprint, ADS, new weapons, and some new level layouts isn’t going to be as substantial an evolution as we saw in, say, the remake of Resident Evil 2 a few years ago.
What is to be gained by altering “The Library”? Does it just become a more casual stroll through an amusement park of sci-fi architecture?
The difficulty of “The Library” speaks to the unstoppable brutality of the Flood in Halo’s narrative: They are such a threat, we’re told, that a previous civilization had to destroy (almost) all sentient life in the galaxy to stop them. Nothing else would do. And in surviving them, Master Chief’s heroism is equally amplified.
Is Halo the same story if “The Library” isn’t a trip through hell? Is the Flood truly such a terrifying foe if it isn’t given the spacious emptiness of the Library to swarm around in?
“The Library” is a demonstration, both narratively and through its challenging gameplay, of why the Flood are so feared. Pare those elements back, and Halo: Campaign Evolved risks being something more generic than the groundbreaking shooter it’s based on.
