The first review points for Halo: Campaign Evolved has now come from media outlets worldwide, with most responses trending in a positive, albeit mixed, direction so far. Halo: Campaign Evolved is 2001's long-awaited remaster Halo: Combat Evolved.
Halo: Campaign Evolved has remade levels from The fight developed along with some mechanics from later Halo titles. This includes additional variants of the Flood enemy faction and new weapons Master Chief can use. Halo: Campaign Evolved also includes three prequel missions focusing on Sgt. Johnson and Master Chief take down a Covenant ship. Halo: Campaign Evolved is also the first entry in Halo series to be released outside the Microsoft ecosystem, as the game also received a PS5 port.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is a fun Trip Down Memory Lane
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Image via Halo Studios -
Image via Xbox Game Studios -
Image via Xbox Game Studios
With early access now underway ahead of the game's full release on July 28th, Halo: Campaign Evolved is currently available to users who purchased the $70 Premium Edition on any platform. So far, Halo: Campaign Evolved score on Metacritic has trended positive based on 39 reviews at the time of writing. Halo: Campaign Evolved currently holds a “Generally Favorable” Metacritic score of 81, with a strong overall score of 83 and an 88% critic recommendation on OpenCritic across 58 reviews. The highest ratings have come from outlets such as the Daily Star and VGC, which each gave Halo: Campaign Evolved a perfect score for being a nostalgic experience that even PS5 players can now enjoy for the first time.
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VGC (Andy Robinson) – Score: 10/10
Halo Studios' Unreal Engine 5-powered upgrade of the original Halo campaign elevates the original with sublime graphics, smart tweaks, and broad respect for the gameplay, design, and aesthetics that make this game so beloved.
Daily Star (Tom Hutchison) – Score: 10/10
Overall, jumping back into classic Halo has been a joy. There's a wonderful new sheen to this makeover, but the gunplay underneath is still the addictive, brilliant shooter it always was. And now that it's on Playstation, players who have always stuck with that ecosystem will get a chance to enjoy a true greatness of the game catalog in all its modernized glory.
IGN (Michael Higham) – Score: 7/10
Halo: Campaign Evolved speaks to the series' timelessness and adds a decent set of new missions, but it's mostly a lean retread that's more of a test run for its future with the Unreal Engine.
Game Informer (Matt Miller) – Score: 8.5/10
The core game is showing its age in some notable ways, but there's no mistaking that the magic that made this formula work all those years ago is still very much intact.
DualShockers (Ethan Krieger) – Score: 6.5/10
Halo: Campaign Evolved brings back one of the coolest FPS experiences of all time, and it looks better than ever. Unfortunately, some PS5-specific headaches and poor performance issues are currently holding it back in big ways.
But some mixed reviews pointed out some of the flaws like Halo: Campaign Evolved have. IGN stated in their review that Halo: Campaign Evolved had solid gameplay that felt modernized, but also found that the game's extra missions didn't last long enough. Additionally, some PS5-specific issues were mentioned by DualShockers that may affect performance at launch. Additionally, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users will have to wait until July 28 to dive in Halo: Campaign Evolvedas only the standard edition is included in the subscription.
Despite praise, Halo: Campaign Evolved also set a series low. As reported by TheGamer, Halo: Campaign Evolved is the lowest score Halo title on Metacritic so far. Halo: Campaign Evolveds current score of 81 is the best of Halo 3: ODSTwhich has a score of 83. In comparison, Halo: Combat Evolved had a Metacritic score of 97, which is a difference of 16 points between the original version and The campaign developed. Additionally, some PS5 users pointed out that physical copies of the Halo: Campaign Evolved on PS5 requires a full download and that the game requires an active Internet connection to play despite having no PVP multiplayer. It remains to be seen if Halo Studios will add an offline mode Halo: Campaign Evolved on the road.
Despite the changes made compared to the original Halo: Combat Evolvedmost reviews stated that the use of Unreal Engine 5 made Halo: Campaign Evolved a testing ground for Xbox to consider. Time will tell how successful Halo: Campaign Evolved will once again dive into the game.
- Released
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28 July 2026
- Developer
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Halo Studios
- Publisher
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Microsoft Studios
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-platform play
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Yes – all platforms
