15 November 2001. The day one of the most popular genres in gaming changed forever.

Halo: Combat Evolved quite literally evolved how combat worked in first-person shooters. It introduced a two-stick control system that actually worked, a strict two-weapon limit, and three distinct ways to take out enemies in the form of guns, grenades and melee. It also introduced intelligent AI enemies that could flank you, rechargeable shields, seamless vehicle combat and the ability to play with and against others over LAN.

All of this is pretty much taken for granted these days, but make no mistake, Halo: Combat Evolved was revolutionary at the time. With Halo turning 25 this year, and remakes and remasters being as popular as ever, it was perhaps inevitable that Combat Evolved would get a ground-up remake in the form of Halo: Campaign Evolved.

While this faithful remake is still fun to play through, the fact it remains so faithful to the original may hold it back in some ways in 2026. I’ve spent 16 hours playing through the latest remake – here’s my full review.

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• Release date28 July 2026
• PublisherXbox Game Studios
• DeveloperHalo Studios
• Age rating16+
• Why we love it- Visually stunning
• Fun gameplay

• Decent story

• Take note- Levels and enemies can feel repetitive

• Some performance issues in dense sections

Halo: Campaign Evolved is a ground-up remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, developed in Unreal Engine 5. The 2026 remake focuses on the campaign, featuring the original 10 missions plus three new prequel ones, but there is no PvP (player versus player) multiplayer, which feels like a huge missed opportunity to sustain the game's longevity, especially given Halo’s synonymity with some of the best multiplayer experiences of all time.

There is the option to play through the campaign with up to three other people, with cross-play supported, while couch co-op is also available on consoles. There are more customisation options for campaign missions than ever before too, including a brand-new perspective on how the game plays.

The sci-fi first-person shooter sees players take on the role of the iconic Master Chief, an enhanced supersoldier who is part of the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) fleet fleeing an attack from an alien species known as the Covenant. They crash-land on something known as Halo, a mysterious ring-shaped artificial world.

Master Chief and his allies, including the highly intelligent AI companion Cortana, have to uncover the secrets of the Halo while surviving and stopping various deadly alien threats, including a huge twist along the way.

When loading up a new game, the first thing you’ll notice is just how good it looks. I played through Halo: Campaign Evolved on a PS5 Pro, switching between Fidelity and Performance modes, and the game is genuinely jaw-dropping across both settings.

Character models, landscapes and environmental detail make Halo: Campaign Evolved one of the best-looking games I’ve ever played. Seeing the game brought to life visually in this way is nothing short of stunning at every turn.

In terms of performance, I found the game to be pretty stable on the whole, except during really dense sections with high enemy counts. In these areas, the resolution remained stable, but stuttering and frame-rate drops were very noticeable and lasted for quite a while, at least until I could take a few enemies out.

Gameplay is where Halo: Campaign Evolved feels very faithful to the 2001 original compared to how modern shooters can play. Yes, there are key modern quality of life additions such as sprinting, hijacking vehicles and vehicle destruction but the different ways you can take out enemies and enemy variety feel very akin to the original.

Gameplay is where Halo: Campaign Evolved feels most faithful to the 2001 original when compared with how modern shooters play. Yes, there are key modern quality-of-life additions such as sprinting, hijacking vehicles and vehicle destruction, but the different ways you can take out enemies, as well as the enemy variety, feel very akin to the original.

Gunplay is great. Staying on the move and picking your moments is key, while other ways of taking out enemies, including ranged grenades and melee attacks, are incredibly satisfying when you can mix things up and get into a flow. The variety of guns is great too, with the UNSC arsenal feeling like real-world weapons and the Covenant’s arsenal genuinely alien, which, of course, it is. There are some new additions to the weapon roster too.

It’s really fun to mix and match, working out which weapons suit your playstyle and how you want to approach certain challenges. While Halo: Campaign Evolved's core gameplay feels quite simplistic compared with more modern shooters, it’s crucially fun.

You have to master it to get the most out of Halo: Campaign Evolved, but some levels still fall into the trap of feeling repetitive as you progress, while the enemy variety isn't the strongest either

Generally, you find yourself coming up with strategies to defeat bigger waves of similar foes rather than learning the strengths and weaknesses of a wide variety of enemy types. Some moments are also just downright frustrating, as you can die with no idea what actually happened.

In some cases, checkpoints can be incredibly infuriating too. Some give you almost no chance to defeat what's in front of you when you respawn, while others simply don't register your progress correctly.

I found myself, on a number of occasions, being sent back quite a way, only to die at the same spot. The second time around, however, a more recent checkpoint suddenly registered. “Why couldn't it have done that the first time?” I kept thinking whenever this happened.

While the original missions are faithfully recreated with expanded designs, I actually found the prequel missions to be quite dull. The three new missions make up Operation Meteorite, in which Master Chief and Sgt Avery Johnson infiltrate a Covenant research facility.

These are tucked away in a completely separate menu tab from the main campaign. They're treated almost like DLC, offering more context to the war between the UNSC and the Covenant.

But they just end up feeling repetitive and uninteresting. It feels like these levels have been shoehorned in for the sake of including something new, rather than offering anything that expands the world.

They’re very much designed to be played after completing the main campaign because of the enemies you encounter and their higher difficulty, but they don't really add anything essential to the overall experience. I just didn't click with these extra missions at all.

Campaign Remix is unlocked by collecting three Skulls (collectibles, of which there are 42 in total), allowing you to add gameplay modifiers to missions you've already completed. Arguably the biggest addition is the ability to play the entire game from a third-person perspective. It's fun replaying sections this way, and it almost makes the game feel brand new.

Third-person can feel a little floaty at times, particularly when moving around. You'll also notice Master Chief’s hips rotating on the spot like a robot rather than a human wearing the iconic Mjolnir armour, but it still adds another dimension for players who prefer this perspective.

A quick note on the audio too: the stunning soundtrack is back and sounds better than ever thanks to its remaster. There are new lines of voice acting as well, and the improved audio only adds to the overall experience.