Rumored standalone Halo multiplayer title, known only as Project Ekur, has seemingly gone through a major genre shift. According to Rebs Gaming, the title was originally going to be an extraction shooter made by Certain Affinity. However, these plans have seemingly changed, and Project Ekur has seemingly been turned into a large-scale multiplayer shooter, similar to Halo’s Big Team Battle modes.
This wouldn’t be the first time Project Ekur has changed directions. According to the leaker, it was originally being developed as a battle royale game under the codename Tatanka. This got cancelled when Halo Studios decided to transition its development efforts to Unreal Engine 5. At the time, this transition involved giving Certain Affinity the task of creating prototypes to see whether the assets made for the Slipspace and Blam engines used for Halo Infinite could be imported over into Unreal Engine 5, and to see whether the resulting game could maintain the “feel” of Halo.
Citing sources, Rebs Gaming claims that these goals were originally accomplished in June 2023, with prototypes of Project Ekur being developed that involved AI opponents. This led to the exploration of a Halo-based extraction shooter. Among the concepts explored was the idea of players teaming up with AI squad members to explore a large map and scavenge for resources, often taking on other teams of players and their AI squads. While there were still some elements of the extraction shooter genre in this concept, the studio was reportedly going for something more in line with Halo 5: Guardians’ Warzone game mode.
While Halo Studios hasn’t officially confirmed the development of Project Ekur so far, such a game being made wouldn’t be too surprising, since the next big entry in the franchise is going to be the campaign and co-op-only title Halo: Campaign Evolved. A remake of the original Halo, the game will not feature any competitive game modes. Rather, Halo Studios has decided to focus strictly on single-player and co-op content. To that end, an accompanying game that focuses purely on PvP could be seen as a smart idea, since the Halo franchise as a whole is also beloved for its multiplayer.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on July 28th. This will mark the first time that a Halo game is playable on a PlayStation console since the franchise’s inception all the way back in 2001.
Executive producer Damon Conn and creative director Max Szlagor have previously spoken about how Halo Studios wants to honor the entire franchise and its fans, while also bringing it to a new generation of gamers.
“We hope to bring along the series veterans who have been with us for the past 25 years and have them play with an entirely new generation,” said Conn. “There are people who have never been exposed to Halo. Maybe they’ve always been on Sony products, switched consoles at a certain point, or just missed it at the time. We want to bring players back together.”
While you wait for Halo: Campaign Evolved, check out the 10 major differences between it and the original Halo: Combat Evolved.
