Griesemer worked on the first game as a level designer (and even as a design lead on Halo 2 and 3), and expressed displeasure with some of the changes showcased in The Silent Cartographer gameplay. “You aren’t supposed to be able to take the Warthog up to steamroll the Hunters. I intentionally placed rocks in the way so you had to fight them on foot. When you can just smash the crates out of the way, it wrecks the encounters.” He also lamented the addition of trees in the “WooHoo Jump”’s landing area.

When asked about his thoughts on the addition of sprint, Griesemer said the fact that it’s an option is “the biggest red flag for a dysfunctional design.” “We have no vision for what this is supposed to be, here’s the tools to fix it yourself.”

Of course, he’s aware that it’s a no-win situation for the development team and simply said they should, “’Keep getting them checks.’ Remakes and remasters are soul-destroying, and I feel for any dev working on one. They can’t win, and even if they do, they won’t get credit. Bad situation unless you are getting paid $$$.”

Developed with Unreal Engine 5 while utilizing Halo’s legacy code as the core, Halo: Campaign Evolved includes four-player campaign co-op, the addition of three weapons from later entries, a drivable Wraith, and three new prequel missions featuring Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson. It launches in 2026 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

The specific studio under Virtuos working on the Halo: Combat Evolve is reportedly Abstraction. The remake is also expected to be making use of a “hybrid engine”, with comparisons drawn with Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. This means that the core foundations of the remake will still run on the original engine, while newer features like modern visuals and physics will be powered by something like Unreal Engine 5.

Rumours from earlier this year also indicated that the remake of the original Halo will not feature any multiplayer modes. Rather, the remake is expected to focus solely on the single-player campaign, with options for co-op. These rumours come courtesy of a report that indicated that no work on developing multiplayer for the remake had been done so far. The report also indicated that another project at Halo Studios – dubbed Project Ekur – is a multiplayer-only battle royale title.

Earlier this week, Halo Studios wrote about how the upcoming Halo World Championship event – taking place on October 24 – will also involve the studio showcasing what it has been working on. This is believed to be the first look that we will get at the Halo: Combat Evolved remake.

“Back in June we let the community know that we’d be continuing the conversation from last year’s HaloWC and the ‘A New Dawn’ video and sharing more about what we’ve been working on,” wrote Halo Studios. “Like last year we’ll be on the Main Stage to talk about it but this year we’ve also got a “deep dive” panel planned for the Community Stage that you won’t want to miss.”

Halo: Combat Evolved was originally released all the way back in 2001 on the original Xbox and PC. Along with being the first game in the franchise, the title also acted as an introduction to some of the grander aspects of the Halo universe. It was also the game that established many of the gameplay elements that would go on to define the Halo franchise over the years, such as a regenerating shield, the HUD being part of the helmet worn by protagonist Master Chief, and the ability to only carry two weapons at a time.

The original Halo was also where much of the combat design that the series is famous for was established, since it would pit players against several enemies from a variety of different alien species in large sandbox-styled levels. This combat design encouraged players to get creative not only in how they tackled threats, but also with their weapon loadouts, since players would have to leave behind empty guns and grab strange alien weaponry from their fallen foes.

In the video, which you can check out below, sources revealed there has been no sign of multiplayer development work done for Halo: Combat Evolved. These sources also alleged that an internal multiplayer project, codenamed Project Ekur and believed to be a battle royale game, has been getting updates roughly every six hours for a few days. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any word about a possible PS5 port for Halo Infinite.

It is worth noting that, while Halo Studios has teased an announcement that will seemingly be made during Halo World Championships, unconfirmed rumours are best taken with a grain of salt. The studio had teased an announcement for October earlier this month, where it would also celebrate the first full year that has passed since it was rebranded to Halo Studios from its earlier identity, 343 Industries.

“Last year at HaloWC, we premiered ‘A New Dawn’ where we talked about the switch to Unreal Engine, gave you a behind-the-scenes look at Project Foundry, and debuted our evolution to Halo Studios as we enter a new chapter for Halo,” wrote the studio, referring to its big rebrand last year. “For us, ‘A New Dawn’ was just the beginning – at this year’s HaloWC, we look forward to continuing the conversation.”

“Speculation is always fun, but if you want the official scoop on what Halo Studios has been working on, you won’t want to miss this year’s Halo World Championship. We really hope you’ll join us in Seattle this October!”

During its rebrand, Halo Studios had also confirmed that its next projects would be developed using Unreal Engine 5. According to studio head Pierre Hintze, “[switching to Unreal] allows us to put all the focus on making multiple new experiences at the highest quality possible.”

While there has been tension at the studio owing to Microsoft letting go of more than 9,000 employees recently, tensions were reportedly quite high at Halo Studios even before that. Reports have indicated that there was quite a bit of stress faced at the studio because of work going on for multiple projects simultaneously, including developing more content for Halo Infinite.

“I don’t think anybody is really happy about the quality of the product right now,” said a developer. “There’s been a lot of tension and pep talks trying to rally folks to ship.”

In the meantime, Halo Infinite, available on PC and Xbox Series X/S, recently kicked off Operation: Reclaimer.

That’s right, according to Warren, Microsoft is considering bringing Halo to PlayStation consoles. More specifically, a remaster of Halo: Combat Evolved is currently in development, and it’s one of several first-party games that Microsoft is eying for PS5.

Of course, a remaster of the original Halo already exists with 2011’s Anniversary Edition, which is also part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Whether this second remaster is being built on top of that or as a separate project remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, it’s claimed that Microsoft also does have a number of upcoming first-party titles that it doesn’t intend to bring to rival platforms, like Fable and South of Midnight, both of which are allegedly targeting 2025 releases. Read more on that through here.

Halo: Combat Evolved

It’s crazy to believe that Halo: Combat Evolved began as a third-person shooter for the Mac. Developed by Bungie, the original game arguably took console first-person shooters to the next level with giant sandbox levels that facilitated multiple approaches, an incredible soundtrack and massive battles. Sure, the level design and story could have been better, but as many gamers’ first introduction to Master Chief, it was perfect.

Please note that there are major story spoilers for all the games listed below.

Halo: Combat Evolved – Just Getting Started

Halo: Combat Evolved ends with the protagonist Master Chief and his sidekick AI Cortana making a last-ditch escape from the titular Halo ring. After successfully making it out alive, Cortana reassures Chief that it’s finally over – to which Chief says, “No, I think we’re just getting started.” And of course, Master Chief was right – there were more Halos to discover and enemies to fight and meet. Halo: Combat Evolved might just be the most important game for Microsoft, and without its existence, Xbox wouldn’t exist today. It was also a pretty risky game for its time, so when the Chief said that it was just getting started – fans across the globe were elated that this was just a strong beginning to what would go on to become a system-selling juggernaut in the near future.

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead for all Halo games.

STEPPING OUT ON THE RING FOR THE FIRST TIME (HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED)

It makes sense to start with this one. For millions of people out there, this is the moment that defines Halo, and it’s easy to see even now why this is such an iconic moment. After fighting your way through mazy corridors and cramped rooms aboard the Pillar of Autumn in Combat Evolved’s first mission, you then crash land on the mysterious Halo ring. And that moment when you first step out of the escape pod and lay your eyes on the majestic and alien beauty of the landscape and the ring that curves into the horizon in the distance- that’s a magical moment that will never be topped.

In 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved graced our Xboxs as what would quickly be known as one of the best launch titles of all time. Seeing that the Xbox’s chief competitor, the PlayStation 2, was somewhat underpowered compared to Microsoft’s behemoth console, Halo was the perfect excuse for Bungie and Microsoft to really show off the power and capability of the Xbox – and that they did. Not only was the first game in the series a more than competent shooter that featured vehicles, a wide array of fun weapons, and a compelling multiplayer mode, but it was also a graphical showcase for the Xbox. With the PS2 being somewhat underpowered and the GameCube not really utilizing its potential with most of its games, this game really made the Xbox ecosystem stand out with its highly detailed character models and environments. Real-time reflections and shadows were rudimentary, and often mixed with fake ones, but they were convincing for the time among the lush, expansive environments and compelling aesthetic created by Bungie’s lead artists. The different alien factions all differed greatly in their general look as well as the technology they used, so that was reflected in their visual presentation to a huge degree. The game ran well, played well, and looked great, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that it was remastered and re-released on the 360 and PC ten years later with some enhanced graphics and improved lighting and textures. This remastered “anniversary” version of Halo would allow players to switch back and forth between the old graphics and the new ones at any time, which was a nice touch, and also included support for the Kinect (remember that?). All in all, either version still looks good today by all reasonable standards, mostly thanks to the original artistic direction.

3 short years after the first game was released, we got Halo 2 on the same console. While the Xbox’s limits had been on full display for a while by this point, Bungie still had more than enough know-how and experience with the platform by then to really make a game that looked noticeably better than its predecessor. Halo 2 would serve as the pinnacle Halo experience up to that point, as it had basically everything that made the first game great but now with the extra 3 years, Bungie was able to iron out many of the original’s rough edges, as well as provide a robust multiplayer mode that looked indistinguishably as good as the campaign. Halo 2 would not merely be more of the same with some refinement though. The physics and graphics engine were both overhauled which allowed for several new techniques including “shadow volume” that would quickly become a mainstream way of casting real-time shadows from in-game environments. Doom 3 would also implement the same technique to an even greater effect, but that was after Halo 2 popularized it. Real-time reflections on armor and metal surfaces were also more pronounced as a result of the overhaul and it ultimately added up to one of the better looking games of its time as a result.

Halo 3 was sure to follow, and follow it did. This game would have the enormous benefit of being a game on new hardware, but also not quite needing to be a launch title, so Bungie had a bit more time to really crank out as much goodness as they could from the Xbox 360. Here we see yet again, a complete overhaul of the graphics engine. Bungie went with their own in-house development toolset and it really paid off with better lighting, depth of field effects, and a subtle motion blur that added a heightened sense of realism. While some of the techniques under the hood did require the game to render at an odd 1152×640 resolution, that was technically upscaled to a stable 1080pby the 360, making it a very sharp-looking game.

Halo ODST was an interesting game. It started out as a rather beefy expansion to Halo 3, but ultimately ended up being its own standalone release given the sheer amount of content that it contained. Given that this was only a couple years since Halo 3 launched, graphically it had more in common with it’d predecessor than not, making it the first game in the series that didn’t look like a massive improvement from the previous one. Which isn’t to say it was underwhelming in that department, just nothing to write home about in 2009. Outside of some interesting visual flair thrown in for flashback sequences, it was largely just a slightly more refined version of the look of 3.

The final Halo game to be developed by Bungie was Halo: Reach. The game had a lot of callback visual cues that more than successfully elicited plenty of nostalgia for long-time Halo fans despite Master Chief not even being the main character. The graphics were largely unchanged from 3. Much like ODST, Reach already had a solid foundation on which to build a great looking game, and it didn’t disappoint. The large battles, lush backdrops, and nice variety of locations does feel a bit limited by the 360 at times in Reach, but the occasional framerate stutter was not much more than a minor flaw in an otherwise gorgeous game.

Halo 4 was a landmark game in the series for myriad reasons, but most notably was the fact that Bungie would have basically nothing to do with it. By this time, the former Halo developer had split from Microsoft and gone multiplatform and were working on their upcoming original shooter Destiny. The Halo series would finally change hands with 343 Industries at the helm. While the game was primarily designed for the aging Xbox 360, it was also 2012, which means Microsoft’s next console was also kept in mind for a future enhanced release. While the slight tick up from Halo 3 was noticeable, the biggest changes seemed to come from a totally different artistic vision rather than technical improvements. Halo 4 was a game that still “felt” like Halo ultimately, but it also had a slightly darker tone to its visuals. Master Chief looks more weathered, his armor seems bulkier, and he’s just more imposing overall. Other characters’ facial expressions were brimming with subtle movements and emotive performances, which made them some of the best in the generation – across all platforms. 343 were handed such a finely-tuned playbook on how to make a Halo game, that they were able to really stretch beyond what most thought was doable on an Xbox 360 with global illumination, ambient occlusion, and image-based lighting that all basically added up to a very impressive illumination and shadow system that made some environments look positively next gen. As impressive as it was, it was really just a preamble to what the next game had in store. Halo 4 would also get that very logical Xbox One release a couple years later with some minor enhancements and a smoother frame-rate. This was in 2014, which was a perfect time to whet the appetites of Halo fans as they were eagerly awaiting the 5th mainline installment.

By this time Halo had done almost everything it could do. It had maxed out the capabilities of two console generations and seen enhanced PC and next gen versions get released. Even though many still considered the series the best its genre had to offer, it still had to share much more of the stage with Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Bungie’s new game Destiny. Among the things Halo 5 tried to stand out was its aiming to be the best looking first-person shooter to date, and while it didn’t slam dunk that goal as hard as it did with past entries, it certainly satisfied the eyeballs of those who played it. Gone were the vast majority of the baked in fake lighting effects of the past two generations, and gone were the majority of other tricks Bungie had to implement to make the previous games look better than they actually were. Halo 5 backed off a tad from the slightly drearier look of 4, and somewhat tiptoed back into the look of the older games with more green, lush, outdoor locations, and highly realistic water. Halo 5 did hang on to all the advancements in detail of character models that show wear and tear on various pieces of armor, though. 343 also wisely chose to continue valuing the frame-rate over resolution, and with the seamless dynamic resolution of Halo 5 in place, the game could go from 1080p while you’re walking around and taking in the atmosphere, to 720p during an intense firefight, and right back up without you ever even noticing a thing. The PC version would need to do this less of course, depending on the rig, but both the Xbox One and PC version of the game looked great.

Now, all of these games are playable on PC, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X in their ultimate forms. The most drastic improvements can be found in the Halo: Master Chief Collection which contains all of the games we’ve mentioned here before Halo 5. Depending on the game and the hardware you’re using, the games vary in how much of an upgrade they are, but even the most conservative version of the Master Chief Collection on the Xbox One is a sight to behold with much higher resolutions and rock-solid frame rates. While the collection launched in a somewhat rocky state, and that rightly impacted its reputation for a while, playing it today with all of the current updates and patches is far and away the best way to experience these games.

With Halo Infinite on the way, and 343 surely understanding that we’ll be paying close attention to its graphics, we are likely in for yet another visual stunner from the flashy, science fiction franchise that reinvented its genre all those years ago.

#9. HALO WARS

Halo Wars definitely had some good ideas, and it was by no means a bad game. Its campaign was solid enough in its own right, online play was fun, and it was surprising how well developer Ensemble Studios managed to make a real time strategy game work on a console controller- but there just wasn’t enough here for anyone to really latch on to. For Halo fans, it was a nice distraction, but not exactly what you’d expect from a Halo game, while for RTS fans, it was far too simplified and shallow to be anything more than a decent yet largely forgettable game.

#8. HALO 5: GUARDIANS

The absolute lowest point of the Halo franchise’s numbered entries, Halo 5: Guardians represented a series that just didn’t know what to do with itself anymore. Ask any Halo fan what their least favourite campaign in the series is, and the overwhelming majority will name Halo 5, which for some reason decided to focus on Fireteam Osiris, and Master Chief receding into the background. That could have been forgiven if it at least told a good story- but of course, that was definitely not the case here. Thankfully, Halo 5: Guardians had a great multiplayer component, one that made some smart changes and improvements to the series’ formula. Aggressive monetization was a letdown here as well, but by and large, there was a lot to love in the game’s multiplayer offerings.

#7. HALO WARS 2

Much like its predecessor, Halo Wars 2 deserves credit for translating the real time strategy experience to a console gamepad with surprising ease- but again, much like its predecessor, that came with some sacrifices. As a strategy game, Halo Wars 2 was far too simplified and pared back for genre fans to really be able to get much out of it, and it didn’t help that on the multiplayer side of things, the game was largely a step back from its predecessor. That said, Halo Wars 2 had a solid campaign, with excellent production values, cinematic and flashy cutscenes, and a surprisingly compelling story that explored some interesting parts of the Halo universe. Is it a must-play for Halo fans?Maybe not. But it’s still a solid enough game in its own right.

#6. HALO 4

343 Industries and Microsoft had a lot to live up to with Halo 4. Bungie redefined the entire genre and took the industry by storm with a number of stellar games released over the course of a decade, so of course, Halo 4 had to live up to impossibly high expectations. And maybe it didn’t exactly do that- it was definitely not nearly as good as its predecessors, but it was still an excellent way to start off the series’ next era. In spite of a convoluted story that made the ill-advised decision to focus way too much on extended universe plot elements, Halo 4’s campaign was a blast to play through, with 343 Industries proving beyond a doubt that at least where the core shooting and mechanics of the series were concerned, they were more than up to the task of carrying Bungie’s legacy forward. Multiplayer, though not perfect, and though not on the same level as its recent predecessors, was still a heck of a lot of fun, and laid down solid foundations for its successors.

#5. HALO 3: ODST

A shorter expansion-style game that had relatively sparse multiplayer offerings and didn’t feature series protagonist Master Chief whatsoever? Halo 3: ODST should have been a recipe for disaster- and yet it was a masterstroke by Bungie. No, it never touched the heights of other Halo games that came around it, but as series fans will tell you every chance they get, it still deserved more of the spotlight. It had an excellent campaign that brought a very different tone and style to the series than what we had come to expect from it in previous years, while on the multiplayer front, Firefight was an addictive, tense experience that fans seemed to just never got bored of. The fact that it shipped with Halo 3’s excellent multiplayer made it that much more of a compelling experience.

#4. HALO 2

How do you follow up on one of the best, most influential games ever made? That was the question that Bungie was faced with while developing Halo 2, and in retrospect, it’s safe to say that the answers they came up with were the right ones. The sandbox shooting of Combat Evolved was taken to new heights in Halo 2, which, crucially, introduced dual wielding, while the multiplayer offerings were a huge improvement over the first game, and pretty much set the standards that Halo as a series is still following to this day. Sure, development constraints meant that Halo 2 was not without its issues – the campaign, in particular, is far from perfect, not least because of its infamously abrupt ending – but by and large, it was a worthy follow-up to its spectacular predecessor.

#3. HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED

The one that started it all, and the one that, frankly, is in so many ways what the series is still aspiring to even now. Halo: Combat Evolved was an absolute revelation, delivering a brand of sandbox shooting against vibrant and deviously intelligent enemies the likes of which were had rarely been seen in games before. Its campaign was packed full of incredible, memorable moments that captured audience’s attention and are fondly looked back on two decades from its launch, and the fact that the series still largely abides by the gameplay foundations laid down by Combat Evolved should tell you how timeless they were. Seriously, even today, going back and playing this game is an absolute joy- and that, after all, is the true mark of an unabashed masterpiece.

#2. HALO: REACH

Halo: Reach was the game that Bungie signed off with, the game that would bring about the end of an era for this massive franchise and usher in a new age at the same time- and boy did it live up to expectations. Sure, at the time it ruffled a few feathers with the introduction of abilities that many felt had no place in Halo. But once people calmed down and actually played the game, they realized that Bungie had managed to find the perfect way to implement them without compromising the series’ identity. A stellar multiplayer component was backed up by what is probably the best ever campaign in a Halo game here, all of it coming together in a game where Bungie were at their absolute best.

#1. HALO 3

Think back to the months leading up to Halo 3, and try and come up with a game that demanded as much hype, anticipation, and expectation as Halo 3 did. There aren’t many. The series was on top of the world back then, and millions upon millions were chomping at the bit to “finish the fight” with Halo 3. And without the shadow of a doubt, the game somehow managed to live up to those impossibly high expectations- it was just such a well-rounded experience. An excellent campaign that closed off the trilogy’s story in satisfactory fashion and was full of excellent levels and firefights, and a brilliant multiplayer component that commanded the attention of a deluge of players who logged in every day for a long, long time to come- to this day, in fact. Halo 3 was an absolutely incredible game that took the biggest strengths of all its predecessors and took them to their absolute zenith, to deliver the perfect refinement of Halo formula.

Halo: Combat Evolved

From being a third person shooter on the Mac to a first person shooter exclusive to Xbox, Bungie’s IP saw its fair share of changes. When it debuted, it presented incredible gun play, well-crafted missions and large sandbox-like levels that rewarded all kinds of play-styles. All of this along with Marty O’ Donnell’s stellar score turned Halo into a juggernaut and Microsoft into a venerable gaming force for years to come.