The Halo franchise is well known for its music, level design, and high-octane sci-fi combat, but if there’s one thing that visually sets it apart from countless other sci-fi games, it’s the unque visually identify of its various factions. From zombie-like Flood, highly aggressive Covenant forces, or ancient Forerunner weapons, players have already faced off against countless deadly threats from across the stars in their defense against humanity’s extinction.

Even if you’re already familiar with every faction Halo has to offer, there are dozens of enemies between each entry that got cut before release and never made their way into a playable game. While some did get brief mentions in other media, the upcoming remakes like Halo: Campaign Evolved and eventual sequels could offer a chance to restore these cut enemies into future releases for the new era of the series.

1

Stalker (Halo CE)

The original Halo: Combat Evolved has some of the most cut content from the entire series, given the developers were still figuring out what kind of game it would end up becoming, but one of the coolest enemies that got lost during the changes was the Stalker enemy. Alongside the brutal elites, Combat Evolved was also going to see a more monstrous Stalker that would have been kept as a pet by earlier versions of Elites.

While the Stalker enemy on its own already looks incredibly unique on its own, the original concept also let you shoot the collars off of the imprisoned enemy, which would cause them to go on a rampage against their captors. While it’s unlikely that we will see these creatures return in the Halo: Campaign Evolved prequel missions, the concept would definitely add a new layer of chaos and strategy on the battlefield.

2

Flood Juggernaut (Halo 2)

Out of all the cut enemies across the Halo franchise, the Flood Juggernaut got the farthest into development, with models, animations, and AI already present within the game files. Being twice the height of a Spartan like Master Chief, Juggernauts were originally able to kill you with a single hit on Legendary mode, while being able to launch debris at the player or send you flying through the air on other difficulties with its large tentacles.

Aside from being another terrifying addition to the Flood’s expansive lore, Juggernauts had some unique mechanics and animations like entering a defensive form by crossing its tentacles in front of its body, making it even harder to kill on top of its incredibly strong armor. Given the sheer level of detail and development the Juggernauts already had, it’s hard to think of a Halo enemy that deserves a second chance to shine, especially with a modern engine making its design even more viscerally grotesque.

3

Drinol (Halo CE)

Being yet another of Halo: Combat Evolved‘s removed concepts, the Drinol (later known as the Sharquoi) were a large enemy type that can be seen across several instances of concept art and early footage back when Halo was originally going to be a third-person shooter. Sharing the same fate as many of the series bigger beasts, the Drinol would have been a massive melee-focused Covenant enemy with an equally large health pool, requiring heavy weapons and strafing to take down from a distance.

Another interesting fact about the Drinol is that they aren’t entirely original to Halo either, as the concept was actually borrowed from the Hulk enemy of the early Marathon games. The Drinol were also planned to be brought back for Halo 2, but were similarly cut before release, before eventually being made canon through the Halo series’ later novels.

4

Mining Robots (Halo 5: Guardians)

Being second only to Combat Evolved in terms of cut enemy content, one of the robotic threats you were originally going to face off against in Halo 5: Guardians was an army of rogue Mining Robots. While we don’t know much about exactly why the worker bots would have turned against their human masters, be it Forerunner influence or controlled by Cortana, we have some idea of how they would have fought.

Being roughly the same size as a fully armored Spartan, Halo 5‘s Mining Robots would have offered another melee-only enemy to face off against, which would have been primarily encountered by Blue Team during their search for Chief throughout the game’s story. The few available concept images we have of the robots show that they would have also been capable of ambushing players when they weren’t looking at them.

5

Drone Sniper (Halo 4)

While Drones are often one of the more overlooked enemies within the Covenant forces, the cut Drone Sniper enemy from Halo 4 would have provided a much stronger adversary than the standard Yanme’e you come across throughout the series. While most of the finalized versions used a Beam Rifle, other weapons included the aliens holding Plasma Pistols and Plasma rifles in their mouths to rain down blasts onto players from above.

Compared to their smaller counterparts, the much larger Drone Snipers would also have been far harder to kill thanks to the purple armor covering their back and wings, being far more imposing and formidable than their smaller counterparts.

6

Blind Wolf (Halo CE)

Out of all the enemies and wildlife that never ended up making it into the final version of Halo: Combat Evolved, the Blind Wolves are one of the most iconic and highly requested to return out of the bunch. Originally included as hostile wildlife that would go out of its way to attack anything it came across, including Master Chief, early drafts even let you tame and ride the bipedal dinosaur-like creatures for yourself.

Although we only have early build footage of Blind Wolves running in a pack and a model included in the Halo 2 Collector’s DVD, the creatures were eventually made canon to the series in the 2015 novel Halo: Hunters in the Dark, which saw them return under the name of “Moralaath,” which threatened humans exploring newly discovered Ring installations.

7

Packmaster (Halo 5: Guardians)

Forerunner enemies can often be hard to differentiate from each other at times, but the cut Packmaster enemy from Halo 5: Guardians is easily one of the most standout designs out of the cut Prometheon enemies. While it’s never been officially confirmed, it’s speculated based on the name and concept art that Packmasters would have led the dog-like Prometheon Crawlers, commanding them and sending them to attack the player during battle.

Having likely been repurposed into the Armiger Soldiers we saw in the full game, the original design would have been much more animalistic than the one we actually got, able to stand on three limbs while wielding a massive energy weapon that can be used either as a long-range whip or a defense shield to protect them while firing with a plasma rifle.

8

Flood Arbiter (Halo 3)

The Flood have seen no shortage of variants and deadly forms ever since their introduction in Combat Evolved, but one of their most terrifying adversaries of Flood-infected Arbiters in Halo 3 never came to be. During the High Charity level, the player was originally intended to fight off waves of Arbiters that were resurrected by the Flood, combining the warrior’s deadly tactics with the brutality of the undead legion.

While we only have maps and some vague concept art to go off of for the unused concepts, the idea of fighting off some of the Covenants most powerful legends brought back from the dead would have made for an incredibly memorable encounter, especially when combined with the long-ranged Flood Infectors, Flood Stealth, and Flood Transport enemies that were similarly cut, albeit at a much earlier stage in development.

9

Forerunner Cavalier (Halo 5: Guardians)

Out of all the canceled Halo enemies from across the franchise, one of the coolest designs by far comes in the form of the Forerunner Cavalier from Halo 5: Guardians​​​. Having received over a dozen different concept art pages shared by the artist Paul Richard after its release, the enemy would have started off as an empty husk before being filled by the imposing Cavalier lifeform.

Even though the Cavalier was eventually repurposed as the Warden Eternal antagonist encountered throughout Halo 5: Guardians, the original multi-limbed design carrying a massive polearm would have made for an incredibly unique spectacle of a fight, offering a similar mix of melee and ranged combat we saw in the full release, but with a far more iconic design than the Warden’s more humanoid appearance.

10

Crusher (Halo Infinite)

One of the most recent instances of cut content from a Halo game comes from the Crusher enemy type that was removed from Halo: Infinite before release. While we already know that Infinite had massive gameplay aspects shaved off before release, the Crusher was removed due to the developers claiming that the gameplay style of an exceedingly fast melee enemy of such a large size wouldn’t be a fun enemy to fight.

The Crusher already had several concept arts, models, AI, and ready-to-go animations before it was removed, which even included some unique mechanics like holding ammo and weapons that the Banished would take and use mid-battle. Although fans had hoped that the Kaij-style beast with several armored variations would eventually be added to the game in its planned DLC, it never saw the light of day, but could still make its way to the series in a future Halo entry.

TV Show(s)

Halo

Video Game(s)

Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, Halo Wars, Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Halo: Spartan Assault, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo: Spartan Strike, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Wars 2, Halo Recruit, Halo: Fireteam Raven, Halo Infinite

Cast

Steve Downes, Jen Taylor, Keith David, David Scully, Pablo Schreiber, Shabana Azmi, Olive Gray, Christina Bennington, Kate Kennedy, Natascha McElhone, Natasha Culzac, Yerin Ha

Character(s)

Master Chief, Cortana, Arbiter, Commander Jacob Keyes, 343 Guilty Spark, Miranda Keyes, Catherine Halsey

Comic Release Date

648567,648568,648569,516289