Something froze over somewhere, as it’s now official that a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved is making its way to PlayStation. The 24-year-old title is getting remade using Unreal Engine 5 and has been retitled Halo: Campaign Evolved. Older fans needn’t worry about missing out because it will, of course, be released for PC and Xbox.
“After crash landing on a mysterious ringworld known as Halo with his AI companion, Cortana, the Master Chief must defend his stranded shipmates against Covenant forces and uncover a dark secret that threatens the annihilation of all life in the galaxy…”
-Microsoft
Microsoft has gone all out with the remake, adding new missions, updated cinematics featuring new motion capture, a remastered soundtrack, and more. There are vehicle upgrades and additional weapons to boot, so just because you think you’ve seen everything the original game had to offer, it can still be a brand new experience.
- New missions: Fight beside Sergeant Avery Johnson, one of the Master Chief’s most beloved and stalwart allies, as you encounter new characters, enemies, environments, and dangers in three new missions set before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.
- Stunning cinematics: Battle through all of Halo: Combat Evolved’s iconic moments with enhanced cinematics featuring new motion-capture animations and freshly recorded dialog from returning cast members.
- Enhanced audio: Immerse yourself in heroic exploits with a remastered soundtrack and fully rebuilt sound design that brings Halo’s unmistakable weapons and vehicles to life in stunning fidelity. Just listen to those glorious Hunters shoot!
- Expanded arsenal: Wield nine additional weapons from the Halo universe for the first time in Halo: Combat Evolved! Battle the Covenant with the Energy Sword, Battle Rifle, Needle Rifle, and more instantly recognizable Halo weapons, alongside tried-and-true standbys from the Master Chief’s first journey.
- Vehicle upgrades: For the first time in Halo: Combat Evolved, the Master Chief can hijack nearby enemy vehicles and add range to his repertoire at the helm of a Wraith tank. Better still, the dependable Warthog now boasts an additional seat on the rear bumper—so your whole four-player Fireteam can ride out together!
- Dozens of Skulls: Return to any mission in Halo: Campaign Evolved and remix your experience with the most gameplay-modifying Skulls of any Halo campaign. Activate Skulls for randomized weapons, altered enemy behavior, player attributes, environmental effects, and more!
Here’s a 13-minute gameplay trailer for those wanting to see more of what to expect. The only real bad news is that an official release date has not been announced, other than sometime in 2026, just in time for the franchise’s 25th anniversary.
“What we want is for as many fans and players to be able to play the game as possible. To be on the Xbox Series X and S, PC, Steam, and PlayStation all at one time is a heck of a way to kick off the 25th anniversary.”
-Damon Conn, Halo Studios executive producer
What’s more is that this will not be the only Halo game coming to PlayStation, and that Halo: Campaign Evolved is just the beginning. Community director Brian Jarrard had more to say about the new reveal during a live stream (via VGC).
“As a community guy, I know the Halo community is super excited to welcome in their friends as well. It’s just going to mean more Halo for everyone. It’s really a new era. Halo is on PlayStation going forward, starting with Halo: Campaign Evolved.”
-Brian Jarrard, Halo community director
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →A former Sony exec said porting exclusives to PC was almost like printing money. MS was already doing that, so the untapped revenue stream is PS. Gears Reloaded on PS has only sold approx. 260K copies so far. But it is added player base for the MP and juicy user data, that would not exist otherwise. Probably did not add too much extra expense to do the port. The hardware is so similar now, unlike the PITA Cell was BITD.
Yep, we covered that too.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.thefpsreview.com/2025/02/21/former-sony-exec-says-bringing-games-to-pc-is-almost-like-printing-money-for-the-console-maker/[/URL]
I think one of the reasons I saw (and still see) a lot more players in Forza Horizon 5 this year is cuz the game came out on PS5.
I've never been down with exclusives, even though I realize that exclusives sell systems. Microsoft has been dead last for two generations now, but I appreciate that they release their games on PC at exactly the same time as on Xbox consoles. Sony waits years cuz they want to maximize profits for PlayStation consoles first. But at least the Sony games do eventually end up on PC. I don't care how long it takes, so long as it finally happens. Would be cool to see Halo MCC come out on PS5 as well.
I also really like this modern era of cross-play, where players on different platforms can all play together. I also like cross-progression cuz my save files follow me no matter what platform I play the game on. That's something else I also really appreciate (although for Microsoft games, you usually have to get the game through the Microsoft Store rather than Steam if you want cross-progression, and I don't do that, cuz f*ck the Microsoft store and UWP apps).
As for this Halo 1 remake, I see it is using UE5, so I really hope there's no hitching and stuttering and sh1t. Visually the game doesn't look that much better than Halo 1 Anniversary's new graphics and art assets, but we've only seen these videos so no telling what the final product will look like. I still think a remake is unnecessary, especially since we already got a remaster, but whatever. Although a lot of fans seem to believe that the only reason they are doing this remake is cuz they lost a lot of talent and have no idea how to make a new Halo game (and Halo Infinite was meh), so the only thing left for them to do is rehash the past. Well, the controls and physics and AI should be updated, and they are modifying the levels for better balance and flow, so the remake does stand to improve on things over the original 24-year-old game. The music was already remastered for Halo 1 Anniversary, but the original soundtrack was better. I think that's gonna remain the case with the new remastering of the music for this new remake in UE5. Also there are 3 new prequel levels that take place before the original first level of the game.
Once again I see PC is getting shafted with split-screen multiplayer. Serious Sam 3 can do it, Gears of War 4 and 5 can do it, Doom 64 has like 7P or 8P split-screen on PC, but not a single f*cking Halo game has split-screen multiplayer on PC, and that is hella weaksauce. 4P online co-op is new for Halo 1 though. 4P co-op was originally introduced with Halo 3. Oh yeah, games like Gears 4 and 5 and Halo MCC support LAN. Will this new Halo 1 remake support LAN? I hope so, but that is such a rare thing these days. Back in August I was playing Halo MCC co-op with my bro who was visiting, using two desktop PCs. We tried to do LAN but couldn't get it to work, so we had to fallback to online co-op.
They will probably charge full price for this remake. It should be discounted for people who own Halo MCC. Well as usual I'll be waiting for a deep discount. And of course I always try before I buy.
Well on the plus side, they said they'll be releasing on PC/Xbox/PS moving forward but I do wonder how long it'll be before we hear about a new game as I'm sure there's got to be something in the works.
The console wars have (officially) ended
Trump And GameStop Trade ‘Halo’ And Console War Memes
ByPaul Tassi,
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/10/27/trump-and-gamestop-trade-halo-and-console-war-memes/[/URL]
Can Microsoft find it in their balance sheet somewhere to finally bring Halo 5 to PC?
We already know the game works on PC thanks to Forge, we just need the campaign.
I know it sucks, I want to be able to play it and then say it sucks with certainty.
Generative AI was used - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/halo-campaign-evolved-remake-impressions-1235451111/
Maybe AI will be a boon? Can't say I'd complain if development cycles were much shorter. That would reduce costs too. My cynical side says it will just result in AI slop shovelware.
It's really frustrating because AI could be a good tool when used right, but there seems to be only two prevailing opinions of it. One thinks it is the devil and hates it no matter what, the other thinks it's magic and can do anything at the click of a button.
I just thought this was funny.
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Compared to what? human made slop shovelware?
-Yes, we cannot allow AI slop to take human slop's jerbs
LMAO, touché.
Hopefully those workers will continue going indie and turning out more games like Expedition 33, Stray, Holo Knight, Hades, Stardew Valley, etc.
The hallucination is someone buying an Xbox in late 2025 :p
That's the opinion of my kid, a software engineer. Finished getting all of his degrees and certs a couple years before AI and the current crop of "vibe coders" thank goodness. He says a chatGPT subscription through his employer makes him more productive now.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I thought that video would've been even more funny if it ended with the PS5 guy leaving with the other dude's girl. Harsh but would've been the cherry on top. ;)