A $20,000 Halo 2 challenge issued by streamer and YouTuber MoistCr1tikal has finally been completed, with streamer Jervalin claiming the reward.
Earlier this summer, MoistCr1tikal offered $5,000 to anyone who could conquer what he called “the hardest challenge in all of gaming.” That challenge? Complete Halo 2 solo on Legendary difficulty with all difficulty skulls in the game enabled without dying once. While the feat has surely been accomplished by someone, somewhere, since the game’s release in 2004, there is no video record of it ever being done, so MoistCr1tikal’s challenge also stipulating that the entire ordeal had to be streamed live on YouTube or Twitch to qualify. When no one stepped up for three weeks, MoistCr1tikal increased the reward to $20,000 for the first person to land the deed.
While it’s certainly up for debate whether or not a Halo 2 “LASO” (legendary, all skulls) is the “hardest challenge in all of the games,” it’s certainly up there. Halo 2 on legendary difficulty is already infamously difficult. There are more high-ranking enemies (and just more enemies in general), for starters. Enemies deal much more damage, have better weapons, throw more grenades, and are much smarter. Elite melee attacks and certain forms of flood will kill in one hit. And that’s without even mentioning the game’s well-known Jackal Snipers, who appear more frequently and are much more accurate and deadly on legendary difficulty.
All this before turning on the game’s difficulty to modify the skulls. With multiple skulls enabled, Halo 2 on Legendary becomes a whole different ball game. The Assassin’s Skull, for example, gives enemies permanent invisibility. Mythic gives enemies even more health and shields. Black Eye causes players’ shields to not automatically recharge and can only be refilled by killing enemies with melee attacks. Hunger causes all weapons dropped by enemies or allies to have half ammo. Any mistake, no matter how small, almost certainly results in instant death. The only skull Jervalin didn’t carry was Envy, which gives him the Arbiter’s active cloaking ability and actually makes the game easier, not harder.
It is, to put it mildly, absolutely brutal. Completing the challenge would have been hard enough even without the undead stipulation. But Jervalin, who completed the run using an original Halo 2 disc and has made a name for himself by completing various Halo-related challenges over the years, took home the gold in style, completing his run in a little less than six and a half hours. He also wasn’t above using some tricks to emerge victorious. For the final boss fight of the game against the Brute Chieftain Tartarus, Jervalin sneaked a flying Banshee vehicle into the boss arena in order to get the encounter. After his victory, his family ran to give him a hug.
“You couldn’t write a healthier ending here,” MoistCr1tikal says in a video congratulating Jervalin. According to MoistCr1tikal, about 2,000 people have actively attempted to complete the challenge over the past 40 days. Only 25 people made it past the first level, says MoistCr1tikal.
Jervalin himself said live that he once thought a non-death run, Halo 2 LASO was “impossible”. Now, he’s $20,000 richer and his feat will go down in history.
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