Halo: Campaign Evolved, the remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, launches in 2026. Read on to learn more about how the remake improved the original title and what the developers have in store for the fans.
Halo: Campaign Evolved Announced During Halo World Championship 2025
Releasing in 2026
Halo: Campaign Evolved (Halo: CE) is the upcoming faithful, yet modernized remake of Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign. As revealed by Halo Studios during the Halo World Championship 2025, the game is expected to launch sometime in 2026.
Players will relive the original missions, which have been rebuilt with improved design, updated cinematics, and streamlined wayfinding to keep the pace. Fans will still get to experience all the original wonder, tension, and heroism, but with a refined, smoother flow.
Additionally, the game will have a complete visual and auditory overhaul, with iconic sights rebuilt with new visuals, cinematics, and animations. Meanwhile, the game includes a remastered soundtrack, updated sound design for deeper immersion, and new voice recordings from the original cast.
Combat feels instantly familiar yet sharper, with players now able to sprint, aim, and engage with refined precision. They can also wield nine additional iconic weapons from the series, including the Energy Sword, giving them new strategies for every engagement in Halo: CE.
The game introduces three new prequel missions that allow players to join the Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson in a brand-new arc set before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, which features new environments, gameplay, characters, and enemies.
Meanwhile, Halo: CE’s full campaign can be experienced either solo or with friends in 2-player split-screen co-op on console, or through 4-player online co-op, which supports crossplay and shared progression across both console and PC.
Furthermore, vehicles will make their return to the game, enabling players to Drive, Hijack, and Wreak Havoc, and this is now more chaotic than ever. For the first time in Halo: CE, players can hijack enemy rides and pilot a fully drivable Wraith, adding new possibilities for mayhem alongside the classic Warthog runs.
To ensure endless replayability, the game features a campaign remix option that allows players to return to any mission and modify the experience using the highest number of gameplay-altering "Skulls" in a Halo campaign, introducing optional challenge and variety with randomized weapons, enemies, and environments.
Modernizing Classic Halo
Xbox Wire spoke with several members of the Halo Studios and shared their insights on how the remake came to be. According to Executive Producer Damon Conn, the team wanted the remake to be the "ideal entry point" for new players to experience the Halo franchise.
He stated, "We wanted to start where it all began, with the original campaign that defined Halo. Starting here means people that have never played the game before will be able to understand the story from the very beginning, and that can help us chart a course forward with new Halo stories."
While their goal was to present the game to fresh eyes, Conn emphasized that Halo: CE will keep the classic Halo feel, not replace the essence of the original title. Creative Director Max Szalgor detailed how they rebuilt the game to fit in today’s age.
"Because this is a remake, we’ve been able to carefully rebuild almost every level and every encounter with more fidelity. As we’re building the technology for this game, we’ve had to do it piece by piece, which included reevaluating all of the individual elements as we’re revisiting them in the original game," stated Szalgor.
With Halo: CE now able to accommodate up to 4 players, the team adjusted the game’s scale, citing The Library as the perfect example. He explained, "In The Library specifically, which features several Flood encounters, we wanted to reevaluate the pacing and enhance the environmental storytelling. We’ve added new lines to Guilty Spark, which guide players through the level, and there’s new dialogue that gives more insight into the narrative as it plays out."
Aside from the newest additions to the game’s content, Halo: CE is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, all while retaining the foundational code of the original game. Game Director Greg Hermann stated that this method will ensure that the spirit of Halo lives on while adapting to modern systems.
Above all else, the developers wanted to acknowledge the importance of the Halo community for the franchise. "Halo: Campaign Evolved doesn’t seek to replace the original game, but instead, offer a modern experience that can stand proudly beside it. When new players launch the game for the first time, it must recapture the indescribable feel of picking up Halo for the first time 25 years ago on the original Xbox," Szalgor said.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is set to be released in 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
