Nightfall

This article is about the Halo: Reach level. For the Halo: Reach song, see [[Nightfall (song)]]

and for the live-action series bundled with Halo: The Master Chief Collection, see [[Halo: Nightfall]].

Previous	ONI: Sword Base
Next	Tip of The Spear
Game	Halo: Reach
Nightfall
Player	SPARTAN-B312
Date	August 11–12, 2552
Location	Reach
Depicts	Recon mission in Szurdok Ridge
Objective	Recon Covenant Combat Capabilities Proceed South Out Of Settlement Protect Militia Recon Hydro Plant Via Riverbed Neutralize Covenant Defense Defend Jun Proceed Further Into The Dark Zone
Enemies	Sangheili Minors Majors Ultras Rangers Generals Unggoy Minors Majors Heavys Ultras Kig-Yar Minors Majors Snipers T'vaoan Minors Majors Mgalekgolo Gúta Vehicles: Phantoms Banshees
Weapons	Sniper Rifle Magnum Designated Marksman Rifle Plasma Repeater Frag Grenade Shotgun Rocket Launcher Focus Rifle Plasma Turret Plasma Grenade Plasma Pistol Plasma Rifle Assault Rifle Plasma Turret Shade

Move in behind enemy lines and evaluate the opposition.

Nightfall is the fourth campaign level of Halo: Reach.

Summary

The mission involves Noble Six cooperating with Jun-A266 (Noble Three), in a series of stealth-based encounters at night, the purpose of which is to recon Covenant Forces in the colloquially named 'Dark Zone'. They first eliminate a few guards posts, and then encountering a native creature of Reach, the Gúta. They then meet a few militia troopers attempting to recover smuggled UNSC weaponry at a waterfront. The militia troopers gave the Spartans information about a hydro plant further into the dark zone. There they discovered a Covenant pylon, which was generating the dark zone. Jun placed a det-charged inside of it to avoid detection by the Covenant. After proceeding further into the dark zone and eliminating the Covenant troops in the area, the two Spartans discovered a Covenant landing zone. Kat receives the visual and tells them to retreat so they can prepare for the next day.

Transcript

{Cutscene}

The camera fades in on a cliffside at night.

26:30 Hours

A Phantom flies by with its search light on. Jun-A266 emerges from a concealed position behind a rock as the dropship passes. He nods to Noble Six, who follows Jun along the cliff edge.

• Warrant Officer Jun-A266: "Recon Team Bravo reporting: Three and Six in position. It's starting to get crowded up here, Kat."

• Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 (COM): "Then we're closing in. Report any Covenant structures or devices. Direct action may be necessary."

• Jun-A266: "Copy that. (chuckling) When Kat runs an op, direct action is always necessary."

Jun hands Six a magazine of sniper rounds.

• Jun-A266: "Here. You may need these. High-velocity, armor-piercing. They'll take the hat off an Elite at two thousand yards. And they ain't cheap."

Jun and Six head further along the ledge, Jun reaches a boulder and starts to climb it.

• Jun-A266: "Mm. I'll be in touch."

Noble Six slides down the ledge to the ground below.

{Gameplay}

...Too Quiet

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Recon Bravo, the sector ahead is dark to electronic surveillance."

• Jun-A266 (COM): "Covenant can block our instruments?"

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "So it would seem, and Command wants to know what they're hiding."

Six heads up along another ledge. An Elite stands watch over the area, back facing them, while a few Grunts sleep nearby.

• Jun-A266 (COM): "Elite. He's yours, do it quiet."

Noble Six assassinates the Elite quietly. Meanwhile, Jun rejoins Six.

• Jun-A266: "Not bad."

Six eliminates the Grunts and continues forward, eventually reaching a Covenant-controlled complex.

• Jun-A266: "Recon Bravo to Noble Two, stand by for contact report."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Standing by to copy, over."

• Jun-A266: "We have eyes on multiple hostiles patrolling a settlement. This what we're looking for, Kat?"

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Negative. Too small, you're not in the dark zone yet. Engage at your own discretion, but keep moving."

• Jun-A266: "You heard her, Six. Drop those tangoes."

Or if you've engaged prior to Kat's clearance...

• Jun-A266: "Already engaged."

After eliminating a few of the Covenant troops, a Phantom shows up.

• Jun-A266: "Incoming. Looks like we really pissed them off."

Jun and Six eliminate the rest of the Covenant in the area and continue on a trail behind the buildings, going further into the complex, soon finding an area with more Covenant troops.

• Jun-A266: "We got hostiles near."

The Covenant in the area are quickly eliminated. Jun and Six find a trail leading away, with more Covenant troops advancing.

• Jun-A266: "Visual on targets."

After dealing with the enemy troops, Jun and Six continue down the trail.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Jun and Six reach a clearing where some native large creatures are attacking Covenant troops.

• Jun-A266: "Look at that!"

After eliminating the Covenant, the creatures notice Jun and Noble Six, and begin to charge them.

• Jun-A266: "Major enemy, incoming."

The creatures take sustained gunfire from both Jun and Six, but eventually fall.

• Jun-A266: "Kat, pick any of that up?"

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Affirmative, Recon Bravo. It's an indigenous creature, called Gúta."

Jun and Six continue on, soon finding another trail.

• Jun-A266: "Six, there's a trail up ahead through the rocks. Let's take it."

While taking the trail they come across several Moa, soon hearing gunfire.

• Jun-A266: "Gunfire. Magnums, security side-arms. Standard issue."

The trail opens up to a pumping station. Several militia are under attack by Covenant forces.

• Jun-A266: "Noble Two, that's some sort of pump station. Got eyes on civilians, I'm thinking more local militia, they've engaged hostiles."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Move to assist. They may have intel we need."

• Jun-A266: "You heard her, Six. Keep those civilians alive."

• Militia Trooper: "Give us a hand! Bastards just keep comin'."

After the Covenant troops in the area are eliminated, the group gathers around a couple briefcases.

• Militia Trooper: "Little more action than we're used to. You Spartans are good in a fight."

• Jun-A266: "What are you doing here? Whole area's supposed to be evacuated."

• Militia Trooper: "Didn't like leaving it to someone else to protect our home. So we came back, for this. We have 'em hidden all over the territory."

The briefcases electronically open to reveal various UNSC weapons.

• Jun-A266: "You know this stuff is stolen."

• Militia trooper: "What? You gonna arrest me?"

• Jun-A266: "No. Gonna steal it back."

A Phantom shows up, and the group moves to defensive positions.

• Jun-A266: "Another dropship coming in."

After dealing with the hostiles, a second Phantom shows up.

• Jun-A266: "We've got company."

After eliminating the hostiles, yet another Phantom shows up.

• Jun-A266: "More inbound."

If all of the militia are killed...

• Jun-A266: "Recon Bravo to Noble Two. We've lost the civilians."

Eventually, they eliminate the final wave.

• Jun-A266: "Nothing here but that lake."

• Militia trooper: Road leads to a hydro-electric plant, but the gate doesn't work.

• Jun-A266: "Alternate route?"

• Militia trooper: "We use the riverbed to smuggle rations, weapons..."

• Jun-A266: "Basically anything the UNSC considers contraband."

• Militia trooper: "Basically."

• Jun-A266: "Show us."

The troopers lead Jun and Six to the riverbed.

• Jun-A266: "There's the riverbed, Six. Let's see where it goes."

The Spartans continue down the riverbed.

• Jun-A266: "Where does this riverbed lead?"

• Militia Trooper: "Straight to the hydro plant. We dammed this river up forty-five years ago, plant powers every settlement in the territory. Shame if it all gets wasted."

• Jun-A266: "Doing what we can."

A Phantom passes overhead.

• Jun-A266: "Hold up. Covie dropship, take cover."

The Phantom passes them by.

• Jun-A266: "OK, clear. Let's move."

This section requires expansion.

I'll Just Leave This Here...

They continue on, eventually reaching the plant, which is under Covenant control. A Covenant pylon is seen near the plant.

• Jun-A266: "Kat, are you seeing this? Covenant structure. Kind of a big pylon. Heavily fortified."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "That's the source of our dark zone."

• Jun-A266: "Okay, consider it gone."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Negative, stick a remote det charge on it. Command's planning something big. They say that pylon dies at dawn."

• Militia Trooper: "We're gonna blow it?"

• Jun-A266: "We're gonna clear the area, and I'm gonna plant a remote det charge. You want to provide some cover, go right ahead."

They neutralize the guards on the bridge, attracting the attention of the other Covenant in the area.

After eliminating the Covenant forces in the area, Jun heads for one of the pylon's legs.

• Jun-A266: "All clear, Six. This is gonna take a minute, keep your eyes peeled."

A Phantom shows up and drops off a pair of Hunters, followed by another Phantom with an Elite SpecOps team. They are eventually defeated.

• Jun-A266: "Recon Bravo to Noble Two, charge placed."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Somewhere inconspicuous, I hope."

• Jun-A266: "Stuck it inside the pylon's power supply."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Alright. Keep pushing into the dark zone. Command wants to know what the Covenant are hiding."

• Jun-A266: "There's a gate to the southeast of the power plant."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Copy. Uploading security codes to you now."

• Jun-A266: "Okay, got 'em. Unlocking the gate."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Recon Bravo, you're heading into the dark zone now."

• Jun-A266: "Understood."

The Spartans head through the gate, engaging more Covenant troops almost immediately.

• Jun-A266: "Phantom! Too close for comfort."

They advance further, engaging more Covenant troops and a Shade Turret.

• Jun-A266: "Shade! Fire and maneuver, Six! Hit 'em from the side!"

After neutralizing the Shade, they advance further. Multiple Banshees start flying overhead.

• Jun-A266: "Lotta air traffic around here, Six. I think we're getting warm."

As they advance further in, they encounter more Covenant troops and several more Shades. Soon, a Covenant corvette is seen holding position on the other side of the rock wall.

• Jun-A266: "Noble Two, we have eyes on at least one Covenant ship."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Solid copy. Don't stop now."

Eventually, the Spartans and militia clear the area of hostiles.

• Jun-A266: "Yes, clear."

{Cutscene}

Jun and Six are shown crawling forward. A massive Covenant landing zone is shown ahead of them in the distance.

• Jun-A266: "Jackpot."

• Noble Six: "Transmitting visual."

• Jun-A266: "You seeing this, Kat?"

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Confirmed. Receiving Noble Three and Noble Six's live visual of a Covenant strike force."

• Jun-A266: "That's no strike force, it's an invading army. If we're gonna smother this thing, we need to go in hard and fast."

• Catherine-B320 (COM): "Agreed. All recon teams disengage and fall back. Sun will be up in a few hours... and it's going to be a very busy day."

Fade to black.

Level ends.

Achievements

Icon	Name	Description	Value
	I Need a Weapon	Complete the level on Normal difficulty or higher.	10G

Trivia

Miscellaneous

• A section of this level is a night-time version of the multiplayer map Powerhouse, with some notable differences such as a large Covenant shield dome generator.
• This is the only level that features a Gúta, one of Reach's native species.
• This is the only level in any of the games to feature the Colonial Militia.
• The Sniper Rifle given to Noble Six at the start of the mission has more ammunition capacity than normal. This is mission-specific only, as Nightfall is primarily a sniper mission. This is similar to the mission Truth and Reconciliation from Halo: Combat Evolved, in which John-117 uses a Sniper Rifle with above-normal ammunition capacity.
• The firefight map Waterfront is also based on this level.
• The chapter "...Too Quiet" is a reference to the second chapter of Silent Cartographer, "It's Quiet..."
• When fighting the Guta, the Phantoms lights will follow them until they die, where they will then continue following you.
• Throughout the level there are weapon boxes similar to the ones where you get the rocket launcher from after helping the milita, but they are closed; yet when hit they will open to reveal either a DMR or Sniper Rifle, which is useful when low on ammo.
• There is a box that has the number seven on it. It can be found in one of the warehouses
• After going through the gates by the Powerhouse, if you look down the cliffs to the left, you can see the beginning of the next mission, Tip of the Spear.

Glitches

• If a Hunter knocks Jun into the canyon, he will not be able to progress further. You, on the other hand, will be able to progress further albeit with no Jun. This will make the scripted events awkward, and deprive the player(s) of an invincible ally for the rest of the level. 
• If the player gets into the forklift at the pylon and parks it at the center of the gate and get out, the player can slip through the gate and continue the mission, but without any Covenant spawning, this glitch can be useful when playing Legendary.
• Sometimes, when doing the above glitch involving the gate, the Tyrant will not appear. This is incredibly rare however.

Mistakes

• After you meet up with the Militia at the area that is known in Firefight as Waterfront, you will follow a riverbed. At the start of the riverbed, you can see several Moa, however once you get to a certain distance, they will disappear.
• The Phantom's searchlight in the beginning cutscene doesn't seem to be flashing from the nose turret, rather It is emitted from below the cockpit.

Videos

Halo Reach MCC PC Walkthrough - Mission 3 NIGHTFALL (Sub ITA)

Halo- Reach Walkthrough - Part 4 - Nightfall - No Commentary

Gallery

A screenshot of the level.

Noble Six with his SRS99 sniper rifle.

Noble Six and Jun standing atop a cliff.

A Sangheili standing guard while a Phantom passes by.

Noble Six sneaking up on the Sangheili.

Noble Six assassinates the Sangheili sentry.

Jun and Noble Six encounter a Gúta, one of Reach's native creatures.

A Phantom over a Covenant outpost.

Another general view of the outpost.

Jun and Noble Six approaching the Covenant-occupied power plant.

Noble Six and Jun engaged in combat.

Noble Six in combat with a Mgalekgolo.

Noble Six commandeers a Forklift while under fire by a Mgalekgolo.

Noble Six and Jun overlooking a Covenant encampment.

Tyrant AA gun at the ending cutscene.

Concept art of Nightfall.

Sources

Preceded by ONI: Sword Base

Halo: Reach Campaign Missions Nightfall

Succeeded by Tip of The Spear