Footage of a VR Halo project titled Reverie has surfaced on Twitter following a July 6 post sharing details of it.
The information comes from Twitter user Mr_Rebs_ who credits a different user by the name of wwm0nkey for sourcing it. The post reads: “In response to my post about the canceled Halo VR project, here’s our only look at what Halo VR would look like. This was created by Nibre_ who was hired by 343 as a Halo MCC engineer after he posted this in 2019”.
In response to my post about the canceled Halo VR project, here’s our only look at what Halo VR would look like. This was created by Nibre_ who was hired by 343 as a Halo MCC engineer after he posted this in 2019 👀 #Halo #Xbox pic.twitter.com/UvOQGGw4mg
— Rebs Gaming (@Mr_Rebs_) July 8, 2022
There are only 34 seconds of footage shown, with an Oculus Touch controller being used in what appears to be some kind of VR version of Halo: Reach. The multiplayer map Boardwalk can be seen clearly in the background, with the character’s Magnum and Energy Sword weapons moving in sync with the controller. There is also some first-person footage of what looks like the interior of a Warthog in Halo: Reach Forge World.
The previous Tweet first discussing the Reverie project reveals that 343 Industries initially considered it in 2017 “but didn’t due to hard challenges with VR and limited VR users.” Interestingly, this post is accompanied by documents that prominently feature Master Chief, and imply that he would be the playable character.
Halo fans will know that Chief doesn’t appear in Reach (outside of a minor Easter Egg cameo towards the end of the game), so it seems that the footage was likely just to test the technology, and isn’t indicative of what the potential final product could have looked like.
Unlike PlayStation, which is gearing up to launch its second VR headset, there is currently no proprietary Xbox VR headset, so it seems likely this pitched VR project would have been released on PC platforms only.
In other news, 343 Industries is working with modders to restore a plethora of cut Halo content, including Halo 2’s E3 2003 Earth City demo.