During the first day of Xbox’s big Halo esports event, a previously rumored remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved leaked ahead of a reported announcement. And surprise, surprise, after over two decades of being an Xbox-only series, Halo is making the leap to PlayStation in 2026.
This new remake, officially titled Halo: Campaign Evolved, was previously teased at last year’s HWCS via a tech demo that looked to contain remade assets from Halo CE. There have also been multiple reports of this newly announced remake of the very first Halo game, which is the first new game from Halo Studios since 2021’s Halo Infinite. Despite positive reviews, the open-world spin on Halo failed to achieve the long-term success that Xbox had hoped for. Two years later, the studio suffered layoffs in 2023 and was then completely rebranded in 2024. The studio has also ditched Halo Infinite’s custom-made engine, Slipstream, and is now using Unreal Engine 5.
Here’s What The New Halo Remake Looks Like In Action
Halo: Campaign Evolved is a totally different game from the Halo: Combat Evolved remaster we got back on the Xbox 360. As seen in this extended gameplay trailer, which Xbox published shortly after the store page went live, this is a brand new game based on the OG title with incredible visuals and new features. According to a preview from Rolling Stone, Campaign Evolved doesn’t feature any competitive multiplayer modes. It will support two-player split screen and four-player online co-op, though.
In the gameplay video above, we see someone playing through one of the game’s best levels, The Silent Cartographer. And at the end of that 13-minute gameplay trailer, it’s confirmed this upcoming remake of the classic FPS is coming to PlayStation 5 as well as Game Pass, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Cloud. What a world we live in. Forza, Gears of War, and now Halo are all PlayStation games. Wild. The game will support both crossplay and cross progression across all platforms.
According to Microsoft, as confirmed in a livestream during the Halo esports event, “going forward,” Halo will be on PlayStation. This seems to indicate that all future Halo games (and maybe past games) will ship on both Xbox and PlayStation. And Halo Studios teased this further, quoting the Master Chief in a post about the new remake: “I think we’re just getting started.”
The New Stuff Being Added To Halo: Campaign Evolved
In a PlayStation Blog post from Halo community director Brian “ske7ch” Jarrard, he welcomed PS5 gamers to the Halo universe and outlined some of the new content being added to this remade version of the 2001 classic. This remake features improved combat and nine new weapons, with some pulled from other Halo games. It also includes “three brand-new prequel missions starring the Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson.” According to both the PlayStation post and Xbox store listing, these missions are “set before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved” and will add “new environments, gameplay, and characters” to the remake.
Players will be able to hijack vehicles, a feature introduced in Halo 2, in this new remake. This means you can even hijack the powerful Wraith tanks and drive them around, something that wasn’t possible in the first Halo. This new version of Halo also contains the largest number of “Skulls” in the franchise’s history, letting players remix missions with various effects, like, yes, the Grunt Birthday Party skull. Oh, and you can sprint now in the remake, though Halo Studios confirms that the feature can be disabled.
In an Xbox blog post, it was confirmed that Halo: Campaign Evolved is running on Unreal Engine 5 and will support 4K visuals and include updated animations, remastered music, and re-recorded voice lines. “The campaign has been rebuilt to feel handcrafted and immersive, true to what players remember, not just visually, but emotionally,” explained the game’s executive producer, Damon Conn.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is set to launch in 2026 on Xbox, PS5, and PC.
Leave a Reply