I played a small slice of Halo: Campaign Evolved ahead of its official reveal, and can confirm that this upcoming remake of the first game’s legendary single player offering is absolutely beautiful.
Diving into the start of the fan-favorite ‘The Silent Cartographer’ mission, it’s clear why the developers chose this section of the campaign to show off their vision. It’s a level that back in 2001 seemed incredibly ahead of its time, with a semi-open environment that encouraged exploration and defied the more linear designs of other first-person shooter (FPS) games of the era.
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(Image credit: Microsoft/Xbox/Halo Studios)
Absolutely unreal
Built in Unreal Engine 5, Halo: Campaign Evolved is very much positioned to recapture the same sense of magic and wonder when it launches in 2026.
Running at a crisp 4K resolution, this new version of that famous beach landing is dripping in cutting-edge visual tech, be that the near photorealistic textures or impressively life-like lighting effects. It’s all brought together with a remastered soundtrack and tastefully re-recorded voice lines that seem so close to the original clips that it’s difficult to tell that anything has changed unless you compare them side by side.
This is very much Halo: Combat Evolved as you remember it, though I did spot a few interesting changes here and there that hint at a little more going on behind the scenes. Firstly, the beach environment definitely seems a lot closer to its remastered incarnation in 2014’s Halo: The Master Chief Collection, with quite a bit of added grass and foliage that wasn’t originally there. A minor, but interesting decision.
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(Image credit: Microsoft/halo Studios/Bungie)(Image credit: Microsoft/halo Studios/Bungie)(Image credit: Microsoft/halo Studios/Bungie)(Image credit: Microsoft/halo Studios/Bungie)
Although I didn’t clock it at first, the controls have also been substantially altered to be more in line with modern expectations.
The right trigger is still used to fire as you would expect, though you now have to hold the left trigger to zoom in your weapon. Grenades are much less fiddly than before, bound to the left bumper, and you now no longer have to scramble for the B button every time you want to use your melee – that’s now bound to pressing down the right thumbstick.
Do the same to the left thumbstick and you’ll enter a sprint, something entirely absent from the original game. It all feels completely natural and should go a long way to making it more approachable than before, and if you’re not such a fan of it, Halo Studios has confirmed that you’ll be able to turn it off.
(Image credit: Microsoft/Xbox/Halo Studios)
Combat evolved
The developers have also said that there will be some more comprehensive changes in the full game.
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Visual differences aside, the segment of ‘The Silent Cartographer’ that I sampled played out nearly identically to its original incarnation, though other parts will receive more substantial tweaks. The infamous library, for example, will be significantly less maze-like with design alterations to improve the pacing of encounters and additional dialog for 343 Guilty Spark, your AI companion, to presumably guide you so that you don’t get lost.
New weapons are coming in from across the series, too, including the Energy Sword, Battle Rifle, and Needle Rifle, which should give even the most seasoned Halo veteran a few more combat possibilities. I didn’t spot any in my play time, so I’m interested to see just how well they fit in each level they appear. If that wasn’t enough, you’ll be able to pilot more vehicles, or crank up the challenge with the Skulls modifiers that return from the Master Chief Collection.
There are three tantalizing new prequel missions to boot, set before the events of the original story and bringing in brand new enemies and characters. The developers say that this remake is powered by the 2001 game’s code, with Unreal Engine 5 acting something like a layer for its visuals (an approach that also underpinned the recent The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered), so I’m curious to see what kind of things they’ll be able to cook up while still using parts of that original tech.
I just wish that some of these exciting additions were present in my demo, as die-hard series fans will surely be wondering whether these new arrivals enhance or detract from the overall experience. With the game set to release in 2026 for Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, and PC, it’s still early days, so I’ll be waiting with baited breath for further news. At least the visuals have been nailed down quickly.
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