artless processes

To start things off, Halo: Reach is an incredible game. It's definitely the best of the Halo: CE followups and a fitting end to Bungie's hand in the Halo franchise. The campaign was excellent. The multiplayer is excellent (all forms of it). Forge World is incredible. It is absolutely fun and has lead me to throw down 73 hours of playtime since it's launch 10 days ago (huzzah for late-starting school!). Now for the little problem I encountered today whilst playing through the campaign on Legendary difficulty.

I was nearing the end of the eighth mission "New Alexandria" when I ran into an elevator glitch/bug that made it completely impossible for me to advance. After entering Sinoviet Center to destroy the final communications jamming device I was trapped in the upper room and multiplayer map Reflection by apparent elevator malfunctions. When the jammer device is destroyed you are promptly attacked by Drones so I immediately took off for the set of elevators for a quick escape. Once I made it into the right elevator I activated the lift and descended to the lower level. At this point I could have exited the elevator and continued onwards towards the last part of the mission but I had heard about an easter egg regarding the elevator music in the left lift. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try going back up in the left elevator to see if anything would happen. Unfortunately nothing sounded any different so I immediately hit the button to return to the lower level. However, when I got there, the door would not open completely. It just repeatedly opened slightly and then closed as if something were blocking the door mechanism. At this point I assumed it was just an indication to use the other elevator so I went back up and called the other lift back up and tried returning to the lower level. Once again, the doors failed to open and I realized there was a really good chance I was completely screwed.

Video from someone else who experienced the same bug
The unfortunate part of this entire scenario is that I received a checkpoint while riding the lift back up to the upper level after my opportunity to continue onwards. I was completely contained in the upper level and elevators with no means of exiting. I couldn't just quit and restart because of that inopportune checkpoint. I realized I had just blown an hour of gameplay for a nonexistent easter egg (damn you for tempting me Siege of Madrigal).

After about ten minutes of running around trying to find a way out and wasting all my ammo and grenades I started messing around within the elevator at the upper level while activating the lifts. In retrospect I should probably have been trying this on the lower level since that is where I needed to glitch through the door. Anyways, by walking backwards immediately after hitting the button I managed to glitch through the door of the elevator, leaving me perched precariously on the edge of a long drop.


View on Bungie.net

I obviously tried dropping down and managed to land on another ledge where I once again received another terrible checkpoint (Film on Bungie.net). I tried dropping down again to the lower level elevator doors but hit a kill wall on the way down. There was no way back up and no way back down so now I have to replay the entire mission. Had I tried the door glitching on the lower level I might have been able to make it through and continue, but unfortunately that was not the case.

So as a warning for people playing through New Alexandria on Legendary with the Grunt Birthday Party and IWHBYD skulls on: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RETURN TO THE UPPER LEVEL OF SINOVIET CENTER OR YOU MAY HAVE TO RESTART THE ENTIRE MISSION BECAUSE OF AN ELEVATOR DOOR GLITCH.

Update
I've played the mission again and think I figured out the reason for this apparent bug. After you exit the elevator on the lower floor the elevators enter a mode that prevents reentry to the upper level. I believe that after I exited the elevator I entered the other elevator before the door malfunction prevented my reentry. Now in the elevator with the system operating to prevent entry functioning I was trapped in the elevator. The obvious way to avoid this is to not try to return to the upper level.

Update x2
Looks like the walking out of the elevator backwards glitch can be used to escape the elevator. Check out the first comment for the exact instructions but it essentially boils down to 1) going to the bottom floor in the elevator 2) hit the elevator button and immediately walk backwards into the door 3) having glitched through the inner elevator door start jumping up while walking backwards to eventually glitch through the messed up door. It seems that dying while performing this glitch is common but still can be used to escape the trap.