Halo Studios has created one thing particular for the twenty fifth anniversary of Halo subsequent yr. Halo: Marketing campaign Advanced is a full remake of the unique Fight Advanced that launched alongside Microsoft’s first Xbox console in 2001. It has a totally rebuilt marketing campaign with 4K visuals, new weapons and automobiles, a four-player on-line co-op mode, and brand-new story content material.
And it’s all coming to the Xbox Sequence X / S, PC, and — for the primary time — PlayStation 5 in 2026.
I’ve been taking part in a prerelease demo part of The Silent Cartographer mission this week to get a really feel for all of the modifications. It’s the identical stage that was used because the demo model of Halo: Fight Advanced for each Mac and PC, however this remade model opens instantly with up to date cinematics, improved voice traces, and tremendously overhauled visuals and animations.
It appears and feels distinctively Halo, however then I began sprinting towards a rebuilt Warthog that has an additional seat on the rear and I noticed there’s loads occurring in Marketing campaign Advanced past its Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals.
“We did this work on Halo Anniversary. There have been sure issues that we weren’t in a position to obtain at the moment, there have been sure issues we weren’t in a position to do,” says Greg Hermann, technical director at Halo Studios. “As we had been constructing this out, we didn’t simply put a coat of paint over the unique cinematics. We ended up revisiting precisely how they had been blocked out, how they had been sequenced, and the way they had been put collectively. We’ve executed that throughout the board.”
Halo Studios even introduced within the core voice actors of Fight Advanced to re-record their traces. It was one thing I seen instantly as The Silent Cartographer mission loaded in. “This actually offers a level of constancy that we weren’t in a position to do for Halo Anniversary,” says Hermann.
The enduring vistas in Halo have additionally been rebuilt, in addition to the alien structure and environments. It’s actually designed to be the final word remake of the unique marketing campaign that’s each welcoming to new gamers and likewise in-built a means that respects Bungie’s authentic creation and story.
“Each time we make a change, the primary factor is to be true to the unique sport,” says Dan Gniady, lead sport designer at Halo Studios. Gniady joined Halo Studios final yr and beforehand labored on the unique releases of Bungie’s Future and Future 2 titles.
Halo Studios has entry to the unique supply belongings and code for Halo, in addition to the unique storyboards. That’s allowed the workforce to remaster and remix the music alongside the cinematic change and large visible upgrades. The entire new content material within the sport is created in UE5, and it’s layered on prime of the methods and code used for the unique sport to take care of that distinctive Halo really feel.
Marketing campaign Advanced consists of three new bonus missions. “It was actually necessary that we preserved the unique story as it’s, so these missions are supposed to be a prequel setup for the primary refrain,” says Max Szlagor, studio design director at Halo Studios. “These new missions are going to supply some new alternatives for character interactions between Chief and Johnson.” The missions will embrace new environments, gameplay, characters, and enemies.
There are additionally new mechanics and AI behaviors. Maybe the obvious is the power to dash within the sport, which makes all the pieces from fight to shifting round missions really feel loads quicker. There’s even a brand new seat within the Warthog, affectionately known as the golf cart seat or bumper seat by Halo Studios’ builders. It is going to be ultimate for co-op missions, as somebody can now grasp off the rear of the Warthog.
As much as 4 folks can play this marketing campaign collectively on-line, no matter what platform they’re on, because of crossplay and shared development throughout console and PC. There’s additionally two-player split-screen co-op native play on consoles, identical to the unique sport. “We are going to make a number of the areas bigger, and we additionally wish to be certain we’re genuine to the encounters themselves,” says Szlagor. “So it’s a balancing act between that problem tuning and making these encounters the suitable measurement for the suitable area.”
The entire weapons have been reworked and rebuilt with increased constancy, so the look, really feel, and sound of weapons is much better than what Halo Studios achieved with the remastered variations; the plasma results from weapons will even absolutely mild up the indoor environments. You can too goal down sights with all weapons now, and there are 9 further weapons from throughout the Halo sequence obtainable in Marketing campaign Advanced — together with the power to choose up an Power Sword after you’ve killed an Elite. When you’re a fan of the automobiles in Halo, you’ll even be capable to hijack enemy ones, so you possibly can pilot a totally drivable Wraith on this marketing campaign.
If you wish to amp up the difficultly, Halo Studios is leaning much more on skulls on this remake, the gameplay modifiers from Halo: The Grasp Chief Assortment. There are dozens of cranium choices in Marketing campaign Advanced, “probably the most we’ve ever had in a Halo sport,” says Szlagor. There are such a lot of that the builders don’t assume it is going to even be attainable to finish the sport on legendary mode with all skulls turned on. “There’s loads, so if you are able to do a real legendary all-skulls-on run, tell us as a result of I’d like to see it,” says Gniady. I’m certain a hardcore Halo fan will discover a means subsequent yr, although.
The one factor that’s lacking from Marketing campaign Advanced is multiplayer. The unique sport had native multiplayer and maps, nevertheless it launched earlier than Xbox Reside, so there was by no means any official on-line multiplayer. Whereas the PC model added on-line play, Halo Studios is sticking purely to the marketing campaign factor of the unique Halo sport. The Halo franchise is understood for its multiplayer, however this actually began with Halo 2. I did ask Microsoft to remark in regards to the lack of multiplayer, however the firm refused to debate it.
Even with out multiplayer, Marketing campaign Advanced is a blueprint for future Halo video games. “For future titles, we are going to proceed to push the boundaries of expertise whereas making certain the core Halo gameplay for that sport will be seen, felt, heard, and developed the place wanted,” says Hermann.
Halo: Marketing campaign Advanced is coming in 2026 to the Xbox Sequence X / S, PC, and PS5. It’ll be a day one sport with Sport Go Final / PC Sport Go, and also will assist Xbox Cloud Gaming and Xbox Play Wherever.
{content material}
Supply: {feed_title}