They said it was intolerable and, for astir 2 decades, that seemed to beryllium the case. But past night, a streamer named Jervalin bushed Halo 2’s “LASO deathless” challenge, earning a chill $20,000 successful the process. Talk astir finishing the fight.

Let’s rewind. Earlier this summer, the YouTuber Charles “Cr1tikal” White Jr. posted a $5,000 bounty to bushed Halo 2 connected the highest trouble setting, with each bonus situation modifier turned on, without dying. In the 18 years since Halo 2’s 2004 merchandise connected Xbox, nary 1 had ever published grounds of completing the challenge. White’s situation stipulates that the full tally is streamed, either connected YouTube oregon Twitch. By July, nary 1 had successfully stepped up to the plate, truthful past month, White tacked an other $15,000 onto the bounty.

Most observers keeping tabs connected the situation had their wealth connected Jervalin—a comparatively backstage streamer who’s picked up a humble pursuing for mounting satellite records connected a assortment of Halo challenges—being the archetypal idiosyncratic to implicit it. Sure enough, precocious past night, helium crossed the decorativeness line. (Here’s the archived stream.)

Neither White nor Jervalin could beryllium reached for remark successful clip for publication.

Jervalin was remarkably chill for finishing what immoderate people, including White Jr., person called the “hardest situation successful each of gaming,” addressing viewers successful the even-handed code you’d usage portion moving connected to the adjacent addendum successful a mostly bare assemblage committee meeting.

“All right, chat,” helium said. “I deliberation we did it. I deliberation we fucking did it. Imagine that. Two years ago, I said, ‘I deliberation this is impossible.’ Imagine fucking that.”

Whether oregon not Halo 2’s “LASO deathless” situation truly is the “hardest … successful gaming” is, of course, a subjective measure. But it’s decidedly up there. You person to activate each of the game’s skulls, oregon gameplay modifiers that typically ramp up the difficulty. The Catch skull, for instance, makes enemies flip grenades much frequently. Famine, meanwhile, means enemies driblet fractional the ammo they usually would. Mythic doubles the wellness of each enemies, portion Angry increases the enemy’s occurrence rate. Blind removes your HUD. Assassins turns enemies invisible. (It’s not technically all skulls, however. For the challenge, Envy is near off, due to the fact that that 1 grants you invisibility too, which does not marque Halo 2 much difficult, for evident reasons.) All together, erstwhile you crook each skull connected and play connected Legendary, the game’s highest trouble setting, you much oregon little make a acceptable of conditions that ensures you dice instantly if you instrumentality immoderate damage.

Jervalin had to trust connected a fewer exploits to decorativeness the challenge. To wit: He brought a banshee, a violet-colored aerial conveyance with a almighty cannon, into the last brag combat against Tartarus connected the “Great Journey” level. That last combat takes spot connected a bid of circumferential platforms hovering implicit an abyss. With pinpoint precision, helium utilized the banshee’s cannon to nonstop waves of foes careening disconnected the borderline arsenic they spawn—before they get a accidental to truly adjacent fight.

I’ve been covering the Halo assemblage for a portion now, and can’t callback a clip wherever I’ve seen players beauteous unanimous successful an opinion, fto unsocial a affirmative one. Sure, Halo Infinite, the latest crippled successful the series, has its issues, which players are not shy astir criticizing. But determination remains a reverence among adjacent the biggest names for Bungie’s archetypal games from the mid-2000s, and the mind-bogglingly awesome feats players are capable to propulsion off.

The tally garnered praise from Halo streamers similar Remy “Mint Blitz” and Luc “HiddenXperia.” Emanuel Lovejoy, the manager for Cloud 9, arguably the champion nonrecreational Halo squad connected the satellite close now, called Jervalin a “legend.” So did Spacestation Gaming’s UberNick. The Halo pro Kyle Elam noted however yesterday’s scrims—basically, matches betwixt pro players that don’t number toward the authoritative seasonal record—were enactment connected intermission truthful players could collectively ticker Jervalin get it done. “Gonna request Jervalin to marque a Twitter truthful we tin really @ this fable [clapping hands emoji],” Halo esports expert and caster Alexander “Shyway” Hope said. It has been a genuine delight to witnesser specified cosmopolitan acclaim from each corners of the community.

But the astir heartwarming moment—the benignant of infinitesimal that proves this, not the toxicity that inhales truthful overmuch oxygen retired of the room, is what video games are each about—happened successful the last seconds of the stream: Jervalin’s household runs into the stream, embracing him successful an astir suffocatingly choky carnivore hug. $20,000 is nice. That’s nicer.