You can now play the original version of Halo, before it was an FPS

Ever wished you could witness the embryonic stage of Halo: Combat Evolved? The original version of Halo: Combat Evolved from a time when the most influential FPS of our time wasn’t even an FPS yet. Then you can now download and play the elusive Halo 1: Speartest and e32k builds, completely free of charge, and enjoy a massive blast from an alternate past.

You can now finally play as that old-school Master Chief with the weird helmet, fire the minigun shown in the very first previews, try out a non-covenant sword, various rocket launchers, a sick flamethrower, and even drive the scorpion tank. It’s all there. Moreover, I was surprised to see just how beautiful and rich the original ringworld looked — and that’s coming from someone who adores the original’s aesthetic.

That’s right, Halo is now old somehow enough to make for great e-archeological findings, as we’d recently seen extremely devoted fans unearthing and making Halo 2‘s fantastic 2003 E3 demo playable 21 years later. The unearthing of Speartest is arguably even more interesting, as it allows players to experience the game in a completely new way.

Halo was many things before it materialized in Halo: Combat Evolved, the title that would put the original Xbox on the map and change all FPS — yes, not just console ones — forever. Before it was the FPS that most once loved and now have sadly mostly forgotten, it started development as mix between RTS and third person shooter, one envisioned for Apple systems, no less. Speartest is none other than the version announced by Steve Jobs himself way back in the year 2000.

It was in one of Bill Gates’ dirty blows to Steve Jobs that he managed to snag not just Halo but also Bungie, its developers and makers of Marathon, Apple’s biggest original series, and take everything to Microsoft.

This release is just a small part of the nearly 25 years of Halo content that got leaked after — but not necessarily due to — the Digsite modding team quitting after citing mistreatment by Microsoft.

You could say that Halo in the third person isn’t really new anymore because of Halo: Infinite. Still, this proved a potent nostalgia fix for a time I didn’t know I missed, so I recommend that everyone who loves this series to check it out.

If you want to try out the original vision for Halo as a shooter, a 3rd person shooter, you can get It right here through the marvelous Internet Archive.