Halo: Campaign Evolved is a gorgeous remake that debuts on PS5 and Xbox in 2026

Halo Studios has created thing peculiar for the 25th day of Halo next year. Halo: Campaign Evolved is simply a afloat remake of the archetypal Combat Evolved that launched alongside Microsoft’s archetypal Xbox console successful 2001. It has a afloat rebuilt run with 4K visuals, caller weapons and vehicles, a four-player online co-op mode, and brand-new communicative content.

And it’s each coming to the Xbox Series X / S, PC, and — for the archetypal clip — PlayStation 5 successful 2026.

I’ve been playing a prerelease demo conception of The Silent Cartographer ngo this week to get a consciousness for each the changes. It’s the aforesaid level that was utilized arsenic the demo mentation of Halo: Combat Evolved for some Mac and PC, but this remade mentation opens instantly with updated cinematics, improved dependable lines, and greatly overhauled visuals and animations.

It looks and feels distinctively Halo, but past I started sprinting toward a rebuilt Warthog that has an other spot astatine the rear and I realized there’s a batch going connected successful Campaign Evolved beyond its Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals.

“We did this enactment connected Halo Anniversary. There were definite things that we weren’t capable to execute astatine that time, determination were definite things we weren’t capable to do,” says Greg Hermann, method manager astatine Halo Studios. “As we were gathering this out, we didn’t conscionable enactment a overgarment of overgarment implicit the archetypal cinematics. We ended up revisiting precisely however they were blocked out, however they were sequenced, and however they were enactment together. We’ve done that crossed the board.”

Halo Studios adjacent brought successful the halfway dependable actors of Combat Evolved to re-record their lines. It was thing I noticed instantly arsenic The Silent Cartographer ngo loaded in. “This truly provides a grade of fidelity that we weren’t capable to bash for Halo Anniversary,” says Hermann.

The iconic vistas successful Halo have besides been rebuilt, arsenic good arsenic the alien architecture and environments. It’s truly designed to beryllium the eventual remake of the archetypal run that’s some welcoming to caller players and besides built successful a mode that respects Bungie’s archetypal instauration and story.

“Whenever we marque a change, the fig 1 happening is to beryllium existent to the archetypal game,” says Dan Gniady, pb crippled decorator astatine Halo Studios. Gniady joined Halo Studios past twelvemonth and antecedently worked connected the archetypal releases of Bungie’s Destiny and Destiny 2 titles.

Halo Studios has entree to the archetypal root assets and codification for Halo, arsenic good arsenic the archetypal storyboards. That’s allowed the squad to remaster and remix the euphony alongside the cinematic alteration and immense ocular upgrades. All of the caller contented successful the crippled is created successful UE5, and it’s layered connected apical of the systems and codification utilized for the archetypal crippled to support that unsocial Halo feel.

Campaign Evolved includes 3 caller bonus missions. “It was truly important that we preserved the archetypal communicative arsenic it is, truthful these missions are meant to beryllium a prequel setup for the main chorus,” says Max Szlagor, workplace plan manager astatine Halo Studios. “These caller missions are going to connection immoderate caller opportunities for quality interactions betwixt Chief and Johnson.” The missions volition see caller environments, gameplay, characters, and enemies.

There are besides caller mechanics and AI behaviors. Perhaps the astir evident is the quality to sprint successful the game, which makes everything from combat to moving astir missions consciousness a batch faster. There’s adjacent a caller spot successful the Warthog, affectionately referred to arsenic the play cart spot oregon bumper spot by Halo Studios’ developers. It volition beryllium perfect for co-op missions, arsenic idiosyncratic tin present bent disconnected the rear of the Warthog.

Up to 4 radical tin play this run unneurotic online, careless of what level they’re on, acknowledgment to crossplay and shared progression crossed console and PC. There’s besides two-player split-screen co-op section play connected consoles, conscionable similar the archetypal game. “We volition marque immoderate of the spaces larger, and we besides privation to marque definite we’re authentic to the encounters themselves,” says Szlagor. “So it’s a balancing enactment betwixt that trouble tuning and making those encounters the close size for the close space.”

Halo Studios has rebuilt each portion of the archetypal crippled truthful movement, aiming, and weapons and look and consciousness similar a modern Halo game.

All of the weapons person been remodeled and rebuilt with higher fidelity, truthful the look, feel, and dependable of weapons is acold amended than what Halo Studios achieved with the remastered versions; the plasma effects from guns volition adjacent afloat airy up the indoor environments. You tin besides purpose down sights with each guns now, and determination are 9 further weapons from crossed the Halo series disposable successful Campaign Evolved — including the quality to prime up an Energy Sword aft you’ve killed an Elite. If you’re a instrumentality of the vehicles successful Halo, you’ll adjacent beryllium capable to hijack force ones, truthful you tin aviator a afloat drivable Wraith successful this campaign.

If you privation to amp up the difficultly, Halo Studios is leaning adjacent much connected skulls successful this remake, the gameplay modifiers from Halo: The Master Chief Collection. There are dozens of skull options successful Campaign Evolved, “the astir we’ve ever had successful a Halo game,” says Szlagor. There are truthful galore that the developers don’t deliberation it volition adjacent beryllium imaginable to implicit the crippled connected legendary mode with each skulls turned on. “There’s a lot, truthful if you tin bash a existent legendary all-skulls-on run, fto america cognize due to the fact that I’d emotion to spot it,” says Gniady. I’m definite a hardcore Halo fan volition find a mode adjacent year, though.

Halo Studios has remade full environments successful Campaign Evolved.

The 1 happening that’s missing from Campaign Evolved is multiplayer. The archetypal crippled had section multiplayer and maps, but it launched earlier Xbox Live, truthful determination was ne'er immoderate authoritative online multiplayer. While the PC mentation added online play, Halo Studios is sticking purely to the run constituent of the archetypal Halo game. The Halo franchise is known for its multiplayer, but this truly started with Halo 2. I did inquire Microsoft to remark astir the deficiency of multiplayer, but the institution refused to sermon it.

Even without multiplayer, Campaign Evolved is simply a blueprint for aboriginal Halo games. “For aboriginal titles, we volition proceed to propulsion the boundaries of exertion portion ensuring the halfway Halo gameplay for that crippled tin beryllium seen, felt, heard, and evolved wherever needed,” says Hermann.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming successful 2026 to the Xbox Series X / S, PC, and PS5. It’ll beryllium a time 1 crippled with Game Pass Ultimate / PC Game Pass, and volition besides enactment Xbox Cloud Gaming and Xbox Play Anywhere.