2026 brings a huge moment for Xbox’s iconic Halo series, as the franchise is turning 25 years old.
To celebrate, Halo Studios is revisiting Master Chief’s roots with its next game. Titled Halo: Campaign Evolved, it’s a full remake of Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign. Eschewing multiplayer, the team is focused on rebuilding and expanding the story, adding new weapons, enemy behaviors, and much more.
It's also huge for another reason, as this will be the first Halo game ever that’s also launching on PlayStation 5. With Forza and Gears of War also leaping across platforms earlier this year, the so-called “Big Three” of Xbox will all be available on PlayStation in some form or capacity.
I recently had the chance to visit Halo Studios and play a slice of Halo: Campaign Evolved while talking to the developers working on the project.
Remaking a classic ...but, why?
While speaking with Halo Studios, I was curious why the team is doing a remake. After all, to be cynical for a moment, if it's just about expanding Halo to a new audience, then why not port The Master Chief Collection?
Executive producer Damon Conn explained it's about the importance of the 25th anniversary for the series, while taking the opportunities a remake provides to lay groundwork for the future.
"...There's an opportunity to modernize where it makes sense, but we're not modernizing for modernization's sake. Everything that we do, we think about the impact on Halo and make sure that it fits."
Damon Conn, Halo Studios Executive Producer
"So we just found that that's a natural place to start off in the 25th anniversary, and it's a paved way forward for what the future will be for the franchise, which is really exciting," Conn says.
"You get an opportunity to bring the most fans and players to the game that started it all. And some of them [it's] the first time that they get a chance, so they're going to get to follow along with the story from the very beginning. We feel like that's worth taking a moment and celebrating and building."
Conn also noted that the team has been careful to "preserve the heart of Halo," adding that "...there's an opportunity to modernize where it makes sense, but we're not modernizing for modernization's sake. Everything that we do, we think about the impact on Halo and make sure that it fits."
So, what's new?
Halo: Campaign Evolved is being developed using Unreal Engine 5 for the new visuals and other aspects, while a chunk of the older BLAM engine's code has been ported over to maintain certain aspects like physics and enemy behavior.
The remake introduces four-player online campaign co-op, while preserving the original two-player console splitscreen. Naturally, there's online cross-play and cross-progression, so players can go through the entire original journey together...as well as checking out three all-new missions, which are a prequel arc focused on Master Chief and fan-favorite Sergeant Johnson.
And yes, sprinting is in, though I'm told that players can disable it if they prefer a slower pace.
Accommodating four players means some tweaks to enemy layouts, as well as adding an amusingly-tiny fourth seat to the back of the Warthog.
Other additions include new weapons — Energy Swords, Fuel Rod Cannons, and Sentinel Beams can all be picked up, while the Battle Rifle and Needle Rifle are being ported over — as well as the ability to aim down sights with all guns and hijack enemy vehicles. Remember those Wraiths in Assault on the Control Room? Now you can turn them against the Covenant.
And yes, sprinting is in, though I'm told that players can disable it if they prefer a slower pace.
Halo: Campaign Evolved also touts the most game-changing Skulls ever for the series, and while the team isn't ready to talk about a lot of them, they do confirm that Grunt Birthday Party (which causes an explosion of confetti when a Grunt is killed with a headshot) will be making the cut.
All of this comes alongside completely new cinematics, which include re-recorded audio from the main cast, as well as a few additional lines, with Halo Studios explicitly confirming that 343 Guilty Spark will have more to say throughout the Library in order to help keep players from getting lost.
Creative director Max Szlagor added that for the new cinematics, the team has gone back to the original storyboards, using them to ensure that anything new matches the original intent and mood.
Finally, the horrors of the Flood are being enhanced, and the Pure Forms that were originally introduced in Halo 3 will also be present in the fight across Installation 04.
Asking where the team draws the line, I was told it involves a great amount of discussion to ensure a change feels right.
"A lot of these things are things that the user would have expected to do in those games, and they were just kind of not there or not available at that time," explains game director Greg Hermann.
Creative director Max Szlagor added that for the new cinematics, the team has gone back to the original storyboards, using them to ensure that anything new matches the original intent and mood.
Playing in the sandbox
Sitting down to play the demo on an Xbox Series X, I was honestly concerned, not around the concept of a remake in general but at how it would feel.
Halo Infinite feels utterly fantastic to play, and I was worried about how well the feeling would translate into Unreal Engine 5. Fortunately, my concerns have been assuaged, and I’m happy to say that Halo: Campaign Evolved feels far better to control than its prior iterations.
Aiming, reloading, shooting, and meleeing is something of a cross between Halo Infinite and Combat Evolved, and it feels good.
Playing on Heroic for the opening segment of The Silent Cartographer mission, I breezed through much of the level, but was promptly smacked down when I encountered the iconic pair of Hunters guarding one of the central island platforms. You can say goodbye to strafing the hulking creatures and disposing of them with a single pistol shot to the back.
My second death came when I realized that, of course, the Warthog isn't indestructible anymore, and my attempt to use the vehicle to ram the Hunters down ended in a fiery explosion. The Warthog was thus held back and saved for trying to cram it down hallways it wasn't meant for.
All throughout, I found myself pausing to admire the scenery and the way everything appears.
When the 2011 remaster, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, arrived, it was something of a mixed bag, with a fair few levels that skew away from Bungie’s intended art direction and mood.
From what I’ve played, Campaign Evolved is an infinitely more natural progression, keeping the atmosphere while elevating the visuals. Watching glowing Grunt blood spatter on the walls in the dark, it truly looked and felt like a faithful update to the original game.
I still have some questions — the team notably declined to discuss the game's price — but I’ve gone from wondering why this remake exists to looking forward to playing more. Most of all, I’m looking forward to another co-op campaign run with all my friends on Xbox and PlayStation.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is slated to launch at some point in 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam and Xbox on PC), and PlayStation 5. Like all Xbox first-party games, it’ll also be available in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass at launch.
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