One of the most legendary shooters, if not games, of all time is reborn in 2026. The third iteration of Halo arrives 25 years after the original and 15 years after the XBOX 360 remaster, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
Master Chief’s first outing is one that many will have played at least once, or countless times like myself. With Combat Evolved: Anniversary existing inside the Master Chief Collection, many have wondered if Campaign Evolved is a necessary remake.
An exclusively campaign only remake, Halo’s story has been rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine. Featuring 3 brand new never before seen prequel missions, a wealth of quality-of-life updates to bring the gameplay to modern standards and 4 player crossplay co-operative play, Campaign Evolved isn’t a simple reskin.
Have Halo Studios found the right balance of recreating a classic and bringing in a new audience, notably on PlayStation? Our spoiler-lite review.
Familiar Ring
Campaign Evolved is a familiar story to many, a legendary ten mission campaign which takes Master Chief from a sleepy cryochamber to purger of a branch of the Covenant. This is not a reimagining of Combat Evolved, a la the Resident Evil or Final Fantasy VII remakes, it is a rebuild of the original game for a contemporary gamer. All the missions you have likely played before return with an Unreal Engine shine that brings the world of Halo to today’s visual standards.
Without ripping the DNA from the core experience, this remake introduces some important quality of life gameplay enhancements (more on those shortly) that having now experienced, I’d feel lost without. Mechanically, Campaign Evolved feels much more like the latest mainline Halo, Infinite than the 2001 original with the controversial inclusion of sprint and the ability to part-zoom in with all weapons (you can turn both off with Skulls).
Some of gaming’s most iconic firearms. the arsenal of Covenant and UNSC weaponry feels better than ever here. The true GOAT of Halo 1’s guns, the Magnum pistol carries its prestige to the remake. The clocking animation each time you equip it, before using it as a sniper-like canon feels as brilliant now as it did all those years ago. The ever-reliable Assault Rifle feels like it packs more of a punch than it used to, and the Needler’s sparkles glisten Elites in a glorious pinksplosion. The game also introduces weapons to the campaign which were never there in the original or Anniversary including the ability to wield Energy Swords, Fuel Rod Cannons and more. Purists may dislike that, but they’re so much fun to use. What hasn’t made it into the game however is dual wielding which began in 2 before becoming a series staple, which seems a missed opportunity.
Campaign Evolved reminded me what a brilliant campaign was crafted all those years ago, and one that still holds up today. The aerial landing to The Silent Cartographer mission, the sandbox approach you can take to the second mission, Halo and the games final escape in a Warthog still feel as magical today as they did in 2001. On the flipside, it puts into perspective how little first person shooter gameplay has advanced since then.
A Campaign, Evolved
It’s easy to forget that this will be a new adventure to many. Despite being playable via the Master Chief Collection, it has been a very long time since this campaign was first released, it is also the first Halo to arrive on PlayStation as Halo Studios wish “to grow, expand, and reconnect the Halo community.”. Halo Studios have evidently strived to create a game for a modern shooter audience, whilst satisfying hardcore series fans (like myself) – don’t worry, the Warthog is still twin-stick controls!
The gameplay enhancements that Halo: Campaign Evolved introduces are excellent, so much so that I think I’d struggle to replay my beloved Combat Evolved now. General movement and traversal ‘feels Halo’ and the move to Unreal Engine thankfully hasn’t withdrawn that.
Sprint, which was never in the first three Halo titles, arrives for the first time in the game enabling players – solo or co-operatively – to proceed through sparse locations with more ease. Although I have extreme love for the original, being able to get through the game’s low point, The Library at a faster pace was extremely welcomed.
It may be heresy to some but for the first time, both health and shields recharge and there’s no need to find health packs to stay alive. Naturally, that makes the game more approachable to new audiences and indeed easier, but by the time I’d completed Pillar of Autumn, I’d already forgot about health.
One other very additive addition is boarding vehicles, which didn’t debut until Halo 2. By approaching enemy vehicles you can hold the action button to kick Covenant forces out of the drivers seat before commandeering the vehicle for yourself. It is very entertaining to kick foes out of Ghosts before lighting them up with plasma. Unfortunately, the ability to do this is: 1) temperamental as I regularly didn’t get the button prompt to perform the action; and 2) limited by level and vehicle. You may recall Banshees flying overhead at the start of mission 2, Halo. I was knocking them to the floor with a fully charged plasma pistol but the game prevented me from boarding them. Given Halo’s largely sandbox design, taking away the player ability to have a bit of fun is an unfortunate design decision.
The game’s friendly AI has also improved overall, with UNSC marines seemingly more co-operative and belligerent than they have been in other Halo titles. So much so that during mission 2, Halo, I as essentially a Warthog driving chauffeur to my fellow troops who completely decimated the Covenant with a blaze of bullets from the turret. Paradoxically, some enemies were unresponsive and seemingly glitched on a small number of occasions, one of which I opened a door to see a group of Flood stationary ready for the kill.
Rightfully, many have been bemused by the decision to leave competitive multiplayer out of this remake – my time with the game left me longing for an Unreal Engine rebuild of Blood Gulch. Alas, there is plenty of replayability on offer. Cross-platform co-operative play is offered, which for the first time is up to four players. Meanwhile, the series famed collectible Skulls return. There are a whopping 42 in the game to find, at the time of writing I’ve found 27 and have had immense delight hunting for them. Once located, Skulls unlock gameplay modifiers which can significantly change the experience. And difficulty. For Halo veterans and achievement / trophy hunters, the Legendary* All Skulls On (LASO) challenge is required if you want your gamercard completion. *Halo’s highest difficulty.
The Great (New) Journey
Campaign Evolved introduces three all new prequel missions which take place prior to the events of the core ten missions. In design and gameplay they feel very much like the rest of the game, linear with wave after wave of enemy to dispose of on the way to an objective. Played solo as Chief with your AI partner Sargeant Johnson, each mission lasts approximately 30-40 minutes. They’re a competent set of new chapters but certainly nothing groundbreaking.
The new missions, Operation: Meteorite, take place one year before the events of the main game. Infiltrating a large Covenant ship led by Harmony, you will seek to secure important intelligence that will shape the war for humankind and the galaxy. Much of the new content is the standard Halo sci-fi shooting many love, graced with the classic witty Master Chief and Johnson camaraderie. Equipped with his oversize sniper rifle, ‘Sophie’, Johnson is actually quite over powered in these prequel missions. Whilst semi-hunting for Skulls, I’d come back to a room that the Sargeant had turned into a Cov slaughterhouse.
The last short segment is a visually stunning space warfare section where Chief pilots a Covenant Seraph. In this section you’ll be taking on enemy Banshees and other fighters, reminiscent of Halo Reach’s space battles. Despite being a technical showcase, the segment was very one dimensional and certainly felt like it could have been fleshed out, particularly on the basis of objectives.
What the new missions do allow for is adding new enemies and weapons that would have been a step too far for the remade missions. Added to the array of weapons is the fan favourite Battle Rifle, alongside the Covenant’s Needle Rifle (which is very powerful here) and more you’d find in Halo 3. The ape-like Brutes and their guns are also added to the mix, which after ten missions of samey enemies were good to see. Showing an earlier slot in the Halo timeline, there are also some cool new skins for Elites and Grunts. With the Chief himself donning a different set of armour to the original missions.
Presentation
The presentation of Halo: Campaign Evolved, in terms of its visual performance, the game’s reworked audio and it’s terrific CGI cutscenes, is a triumph.
Whilst divisive among the gaming community, Halo Studios have utilised the Unreal Engine and its visuals to create the most stunning Halo game to-date. Each environment is re-crafted from the ground up, with wildlife rich outdoor areas looking particularly stunning. Lighting bounces around the screen delightfully, with plasma exploding grunts decorating Covenant ship corridors in alien goo. Visual effects are truly impressive too, most noteworthy in the final mission, The Maw. During the escape section in the Warthog, as the ship begins to fill with fire and smoke, visibility drastically reduces as the screen appears to be burning in front of you. It is a crying shame that Campaign Evolved lacks a photo mode.
I found the remake’s cutscenes to be exceptional. Not created like-for-like, Campaign Evolved reimagines the originals non-playable sections to create some brief Halo cinema. At the end of one of the early missions, Keyes will smash the front two prongs of a Covenant dropship into two Hunters as they’re about to sandwich Chief. Halo fans will absolutely love that moment, as will they with the cinematic introduction to the Silent Cartographer.
Does the Halo soundtrack hit as hard as it did back in 2001? You bet it does. The legendary Gregorian-style chant (which Halo Studios recently uploaded as a six hour loop) of course returns, with the games re-recorded and including extra guitar riffing.
Outside of the stellar soundtrack, the sound effects are outstanding here. All of the classics – plasma grenade explosions, needler pew pew and chatty Covenant forces – return, but there’s more. In the first mission, Pillar of Autumn you can feel the space warfare taking place out of the ships windows. During Assault on the Control Room, you’ll get into the drivers seat of a Scorpion tank and the booming sound of the cannon firing whilst you ascend an ice cave is so, so satisfying. Even more so when it’s followed by the mechanical explosion of a Banshee you’ve just picked out of the sky.
Despite the audio being particularly brilliant, I did experience some significant sound loss in later missions. In locations where Flood and Covenant forces were battling each other in The Maw, sound would stutter in and out frequently.
Conclusion – A Forerunner to Halo’s Future
25 years later, there is a reason that Halo remains so highly regarded. It is a shooter with an excellent story, a tremendous arsenal of weapons and vehicles, and some highly memorable missions. The new prequel chapters are not alone worth playing the game for. But, combined with a wider package that offers plenty of replayability solo or co-operatively, Halo: Campaign Evolved is the best version of Halo 1 there is – albeit with some technical issues.
Halo Studios future using Unreal Engine looks bright and as a huge series fan, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Master Chief.
Halo: Campaign Evolved releases on July 28, 2026 on Steam, XBOX Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Early access begins July 23 for Premium and Collector’s Edition owners.
This review was played on XBOX Series X. Thank you to Halo Studios and XBOX for the code provided for review.
