At the risk of getting too personal, I cannot overstate how much Halo means to me. Halo was one of the first “adult” games I played. Playing through Halo 2 The campaign was a great experience for me and my older cousin. I have tattooed the series' logo on my body. And my wife even mentioned Halo during her wedding vows.
i love Halo. Even when I don't love the game, or the story, or how certain characters are portrayed, I still love Halo. Wort, wort, wort and all.
But like any die-hard Halo fans will tell you, it's been a rocky couple of years, and while we can find a glimmer of hope even in the darkest old Mombasa tunnels, we've learned not to get too excited when a new project is announced. That said, I've already fallen hook, line and sinker for the newly announced Halo: Campaign Evolvedand it all depends on just one change.
I didn't want a Halo remake, but now you have my attention
I'm still thinking Halo: Combat Evolved continues today. It may be almost 25 years old now, but I strongly believe that almost anyone can jump in Halo: Combat Evolved and have a good time with it. Yes, its visuals are “dated”, but I think the controls still feel intuitive, the shooting mechanics still feel satisfying, and the campaign still tells an engaging Sci-Fi story.
If you had asked me a few months ago if I thought we needed one Halo: Combat Evolved remake – especially one that only redoes the campaign part of the 2001 classic – I would have answered with a definite “no”. But now that Halo: Campaign Evolved has been announced, I can't help but feel excited.
Here is a brief summary of what Halo: Campaign Evolved changes and additions to the original 2001 game:
- The entire campaign is being redone from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5
- 4K images
- Updated animations
- Remastered soundtrack
- Re-recorded voice lines
- Three brand new prequel missions featuring Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson
- Nine weapons from the future Halo records that were not available in the original
- Can now hijack vehicles
- Can now pilot the Wraith
- 4-player online co-op with crossplay and cross-progression
- Ability to sprint
- Ability to aim down sights
Of course, another major departure from franchise tradition is that Halo: Campaign Evolved will also be available on PlayStation 5.
The Unreal Engine 5 makeover is obviously the biggest draw Halo: Campaign Evolvedand its prequel mission sounds incredibly exciting. But what caught my eye is how Halo: Campaign Evolved approaches the parts of the 2001 original that even die-hard fans have a hard time defending. More specifically, it's a comment Halo Studios has made regarding the mission “The Library” that makes me (cautiously) optimistic about this remake.
I Love How Halo: Campaign Evolved Is Changing The Original
The library is changing, and I couldn't be happier
To follow along Halo: Campaign Evolveds announcement at the Halo World Championship, Xbox Wire's Danielle Partis published a feature breaking down the remake's new additions, which included some comments from some of the lead developers working on the game. One comment I found particularly interesting came from Halo: Campaign EvolvedCreative Director, Max Szlagor, who said this:
“In The Library specifically, which contains several Flood encounters, we wanted to reevaluate the pacing and improve the environmental narrative. We've added new lines to the Guilty Spark, which guides players through the level, and there's new dialogue that gives more insight into the story as it unfolds.”
For those who don't know, the library is one of the most fragmented levels in the Halo: Combat Evolved. It essentially sees players follow 343 Guilty Spark through a labyrinthine network of metallic corridors while battling seemingly endless waves of The Flood. The quest takes way too long, it's way too hard on Heroic and Legendary thanks to the rocket-happy Flood, and it stalls the entire campaign when it should be speeding towards its climactic finale.
With that in mind, Szlagor's comment might not sound all that significant at first, suggesting that the team is just adding a few new voice lines for Guilty Spark during the controversial mission. But this comment has completely changed my perspective on the need for one Halo remake.
The library is not a terrible task in itself. Its atmosphere is tense and engaging, and The Flood can be fun to fight. The bottom line is that it's going on too long. And the main reason behind its excruciating length is that Guilty Spark has a habit of wandering off on its own, leaving empty Halo veterans shake their heads in confusion as to where they are supposed to go. Something as simple as adding new voice lines to help guide players could be all the library needs to finally flourish.
Halo Studios seems to be walking a very fine line
When remaking a mission as fragmented as the library, it would be all too easy for a developer to look at it and decide to drastically change key elements of the mission for the sake of modernization, and in the process, likely lose some core parts of the original's identity.
Halo Studios doesn't. It does not change the layout of the library or the enemies we will face there. It's simple to add new lines of dialogue to guide newcomers and Halo vets alike. As Szlagor puts it in Parti's Xbox Wire interview, “We're not changing the stories, it's about refining and adding context to this moment, and other similar levels, so players can stay on track.” This little addition seems like the perfect example of modernization Halos campaign without losing any of its essence.
Of course, this is just one of Halo: Combat Evolveds 10 assignments. But if this small tweak is any indication of how Halo Studios is approaching the entire campaign, then I'm personally very optimistic about the final product. And there's one final comment in Xbox Wire's interview that really seals the deal for me. Halo: Campaign EvolvedExecutive producer Damon Conn says, “We're not trying to rewrite Halo's legacy – we're trying to immerse you in it like never before…This is Halo for everyone.”
It is an almost impossible task for Halo: Campaign Evolved to balance both fan expectations and the expectations of modern shooter audiences new to the franchise. But these comments at least show that Halo Studios seems to be on the right track.
