Halo: Campaign Evolved Remake Arrives on PS5 and Xbox in 2026
▼ Summary
– Halo: Campaign Evolved is a full remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, featuring a rebuilt campaign with 4K visuals, new weapons and vehicles, four-player online co-op, and new story content.
– It will release in 2026 on Xbox Series X/S, PC, and for the first time on PlayStation 5, and will be available on Game Pass from day one.
– The remake uses Unreal Engine 5 for visual overhauls, includes re-recorded voice lines by original actors, and adds new mechanics like sprinting and an extra seat in the Warthog.
– Three new bonus missions serve as a prequel to the main story, offering new environments, gameplay, characters, and interactions between Master Chief and Johnson.
– The game excludes multiplayer, focusing solely on the campaign, and introduces extensive skull options for gameplay modifiers, with dozens available for increased difficulty.
Halo: Campaign Evolved Remake Arrives on PS5 and Xbox in 2026
Halo: Campaign Evolved, a comprehensive remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, is set to launch in 2026 for Xbox Series X/S, PC, and for the first time ever, PlayStation 5. This ambitious project from Halo Studios celebrates the franchise’s 25th anniversary by rebuilding the beloved campaign with modern technology and significant new features.
The game presents a fully reimagined single-player experience, boasting 4K visuals, entirely new weapons and vehicles, and a four-player online cooperative mode. Additionally, players can look forward to completely original story content expanding the Halo universe. A recent hands-on demo featuring The Silent Cartographer mission revealed substantial enhancements, including updated cinematics, refined voice acting, and completely overhauled character animations and environments.
While the core identity of Halo remains intact, new mechanics like a sprint function and a redesigned Warthog with an extra rear seat immediately signal a deeper level of modernization. Greg Hermann, technical director at Halo Studios, emphasized that this is far more than a simple graphical upgrade. The team revisited and rebuilt cinematic sequences from the ground up, something that wasn’t feasible for the previous Halo Anniversary edition.
A key part of this authenticity involved bringing back the original voice cast to re-record their dialogue, achieving a level of audio fidelity that surpasses earlier remasters. The entire visual package is powered by Unreal Engine 5, which has been used to reconstruct the game’s iconic landscapes, alien structures, and interior spaces.
According to lead game designer Dan Gniady, the guiding principle for every change was to remain faithful to the spirit of the original game. To achieve this, the developers worked directly from the original source code, assets, and storyboards. This allowed them to remaster the music and layer all the new UE5 content on top of the original game’s foundational systems, preserving that classic Halo gameplay feel.
The remake will include three brand-new bonus missions that serve as a prequel to the main story. Studio design director Max Szlagor confirmed these missions will introduce fresh environments, gameplay scenarios, and enemies, while also providing new opportunities for character interactions between Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson.
Beyond new content, the game features revamped AI behaviors and modernized mechanics. The addition of sprinting changes the pace of combat and exploration. The new “golf cart” seat on the Warthog is designed with co-op in mind, allowing a fourth player to ride along. The campaign supports full cross-play for up to four players online, alongside two-player local split-screen co-op on consoles.
Every weapon has been remodeled for higher fidelity, with improved sound design and visual effects, plasma blasts now dynamically illuminate dark rooms. A new aim-down-sights function is available for all firearms, and nine additional weapons from across the Halo series have been integrated, including the Energy Sword. Vehicle enthusiasts can even hijack and pilot enemy vehicles like the Wraith.
For players seeking a greater challenge, the game heavily expands on the “skulls” gameplay modifiers from The Master Chief Collection. Campaign Evolved will feature the most skulls ever included in a Halo title, with developers joking that completing the game on Legendary difficulty with all skulls activated may be an impossible feat.
It is important to note that Campaign Evolved does not include a multiplayer component, focusing exclusively on the single-player and co-op campaign experience. Despite the Halo franchise’s strong association with multiplayer, which truly began with Halo 2, the studio is dedicating this release solely to the story campaign.
Hermann stated that this project serves as a blueprint for future Halo titles, demonstrating a commitment to pushing technological boundaries while honoring the core gameplay that defines the series. Halo: Campaign Evolved will be available on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass on its release day in 2026 and will support Xbox Cloud Gaming and the Xbox Play Anywhere program.
(Source: The Verge)
