In a new video, he claims to have confirmed the new gameplay loop. More importantly, it will “almost certainly” be revealed at Halo Fest 2026, which runs from December 12th to 13th. Ekur reportedly has a live service model, and Halo Studios has seemingly been working on it since 2023, which is apparently longer than Campaign Evolved after Certain Affinity crafted the initial prototype.

But will it be a standalone title or packaged with the next mainline Halo? This is still reportedly unknown, probably because we’ve heard very little about the unofficial Halo 7 in general, aside from the fact it’s using Unreal Engine 5, like all other current projects.

Time will tell, and plans could change – after all, look at all the twists and turns that Tatanka went through. In the meantime, Halo: Campaign Evolved launches on July 28th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Recent gameplay has looked good, but you shouldn’t expect anything in terms of new content, even for something like Theater Mode.

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.

Of course, the next mainline Halo is also reportedly in development on the same engine. But what about the rumored remakes for Halo 2 and 3? Those are reportedly early in development in parallel to Halo: Campaign Evolved, and they’ll release regardless of the latter’s success. Apparently, they were under consideration from the beginning, which would make sense, since rumours of their existence began fairly quickly.

Aside from embracing sprint and lacking multiplayer, it seems there will be some tease of the remakes in Campaign Evolved’s new prequel missions, specifically involving the alleged Brutes. These reportedly appear in the three new prequel missions (alongside an apparent new Covenant faction) with designs based on original art from Halo: Reach.

Neither Xbox nor Halo Studios has confirmed the existence of the Halo 2 and 3 remakes. However, it could announce a release date for Halo: Campaign Evolved on June 7th at the Xbox Games Showcase. It’s apparently out on July 28th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC with early access beginning on July 23rd.