: I'd find it interesting to see how many environments video games produce on
: average historically. From Super Mario Brothers to Titanfall 2, I would
: find it fascinating to know an average and see where Halo fits on that
: trend.

: Side note, but the Genesis environment in Halo 5 was honestly the first time
: since Halo 1 that I've felt that whole 'alien world' feel. Neither Requiem
: or the Ark ever really pulled that off for me, but it was something that I
: loved about Halo 5 and was glad to experience in a Halo game again.

I would say High Charity, in all its iterations, also gave a feeling of alienness, as did Delta Halo, but yeah, Genesis was a standout.

For me it's the flora and fauna that give the biggest impressions in that category-- the giant glowing succulent-looking plants in 343 Guilty Spark, the quadwings on Delta Halo and High Charity, the strange plants and birds and insects on Requiem (and to a lesser extent Sanghelios)-- those caught my eye.

For High Charity in its normal form, the biggest thing that hits me is how it all feels A) artificial, right down to the terrain (if you can call it that), and B) not normal-- it has shapes not usually associated with artificial structures, especially at the large scale of the structures in High Charity.

For Cortana and the end part of Floodgate and the end part of the level High Charity, what gets me is the way the Flood biomass comes together to create an effect similar to High Charity's unusual architecture, but more pronounced, and oddly enough it's exactly because it is organic rather than artificial or non-living. Having environments that look organic in certain ways is normal, but to have the terrain and structures be organic instills a strong feeling of wrongness that's enjoyable to explore. The fact that Cortana has bits of the Covenant's organic-looking architecture determining shapes or sticking out of the biomass only enhances the feeling that you're in a place that is fundamentally very different from anything humans are used to.