It’s been a week since the official release date for Halo: Campaign Evolved was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase 2026. Since then, Halo Studios has been steadily sharing more and more about the upcoming remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, including images and gameplay footage.
Even with all the new details and gameplay shown in official trailers and videos from creators who played an early version of Campaign Evolved, Halo‘s newest game isn’t launching until Tuesday, July 28th on Xbox, PlayStation 5, and PC.
With the release of the new Halo game still some time away, both longtime fans and new players have plenty of opportunity to experience the other eight Halo titles. These games contain important story details, gameplay elements, and insights into the development of the upcoming game.
8. Halo 3: ODST
Playing as an Early Form of Supersoldier
The Halo series is well-known for its Spartan supersoldiers, who are the main characters in most of the games. However, Halo 3: ODST is different – it doesn’t feature Spartans at all. Instead, players take on the role of a different kind of enhanced soldier from the UNSC.
Taking place between Halo 2 and Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST puts you in the role of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of Alpha-Nine. They’re sent to New Mombasa on Earth to fight the invading Covenant, reconnect with their team, and recover a secret object for ONI before the city is destroyed.
If you enjoyed Campaign Evolved, you’ll definitely want to try ODST. Sergeant Major Avery Johnson fought alongside ODSTs on multiple occasions, and his history as an original Spartan (known as a Spartan-I and part of the ORION project) actually shaped how ODSTs are trained and equipped today.
7. Halo Infinite
The Basis for Campaign Evolved’s Visuals
The newest installment in the Halo series, Halo Infinite, features Master Chief and the UNSC Infinity fighting against The Banished – a group of Brutes who are the remnants of the Covenant – on Zeta Halo. The conflict, taking place from 2559 to 2560, centers around controlling the ring and uncovering its ancient, potentially galaxy-threatening secrets.
With the 20th anniversary of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2021, the developers of Halo Infinite intentionally created a world reminiscent of the original game’s landscapes and sense of discovery. Interestingly, despite this focus on the past, the ring within Halo Infinite – Zeta Halo – is actually the oldest and smallest of the Halo rings we see in the newer games.
As a big Halo fan, it’s really interesting to learn how they made the Campaign Evolved remake! Apparently, since Halo Infinite came out before they started, the team at Halo Studios actually reused a lot of stuff they’d already created for that game. It’s cool to see how they did that with the Covenant – some of the designs for enemies like Grunt Majors and Elite Zealots in the remake are actually based on stuff they originally made for The Banished in Halo Infinite! It just shows how they were able to build on their previous work.
6. Halo 2
Delving Into the Covenant’s Infrastructure
Although Campaign Evolved is primarily a remake of the original Combat Evolved, it also includes content from later Halo games. This includes enemies like Brutes and Prophets, as well as weapons that weren’t available in the original CE.
We don’t yet know how characters like the Brutes and Prophets will appear in the main story of Campaign Evolved after the first three levels. However, if you’re new to the series and want to learn more about these alien groups and the Covenant as a whole, Halo 2 is a great place to start.
As a huge Halo fan, I always loved how Halo 2 picked up right after the first game. It’s all about what happens after the Covenant discovers Delta Halo. Things really fall apart for them, with the Prophets and Brutes turning on the Elites in a power grab. It was a total civil war! That’s why the Elites ended up teaming up with the UNSC – they were looking for anyone who would help them get revenge and take back control.
5. Halo Wars
The Early Years of the Human-Covenant War
The upcoming remake, Campaign Evolved, will feature Master Chief in his classic Mark IV Mjölnir armor for the first time in a Halo game, specifically in three prequel missions set during the Operation: METEORITE in 2551. However, if you’re interested in seeing more Spartans wearing Mark IV armor during the early days of the war, you can find that in Halo Wars.
Released as the first spin-off from the popular Halo series, Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game set in the year 2531. The game takes place six years into the Human-Covenant War, and 21 years before the events of the original Halo (Halo: Combat Evolved). It follows the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire as they fight to protect the human colonies of Harvest and Arcadia from a Covenant invasion, ultimately leading to the discovery of a hidden Forerunner world protected by an ancient shield.
The Spirit of Fire doesn’t face these battles alone. During their journey to Arcadia, they’re assisted by Spartan-II Red and Omega Teams. While Omega Team remains on the colony world, the members of Red Team join the Spirit’s crew, traveling to the Shield World and beyond to combat galactic threats.
4. Halo: Reach
The Fall of Reach
The new campaign borrows heavily from the visual style of Halo Infinite, but uses many of the character movements and animations originally seen in Halo: Reach. This creates a connection to the story, as Reach leads directly into the events that begin on Alpha Halo during the Battle of Installation 04.
Set in 2552, Halo: Reach tells the story of Noble Team, a group of highly skilled soldiers. This team—comprised of five Spartan-IIIs and one Spartan-II—is sent to defend Reach, a crucial military base, against an invading enemy known as the Covenant. Their mission is to fight the invasion and evacuate as many people as possible, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.
Although the upcoming Campaign Evolved will connect to the story of Reach, it’s still recommended that players finish Reach first. This will give them a better understanding of the events leading up to the discovery of Alpha Halo by the UNSC Pillar of Autumn and highlight just how desperate humanity’s situation was, as Reach represented Earth’s final line of defense.
3. Halo: Fireteam Raven
Alpha Halo’s Forgotten Tale
| Developer | Play Mechanix |
|---|---|
| Platforms | Arcade |
| Release Date | 2018 |
As a huge Halo fan, it’s awesome how many different ways the Battle of Installation 04 has been explored! We’ve seen it in books, comics, games, and even a movie, and a lot of them show us things that weren’t in the original Combat Evolved. A great example of this is Halo: Fireteam Raven – that arcade game really fills in some gaps and shows you even more of what happened during that epic battle.
Fireteam Raven tells the story of an ODST squad whose actions run alongside the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. They helped evacuate the ship Autumn, supported Master Chief in disabling the ring’s energy generators, and witnessed the Autumn’s eventual destruction.
What makes Fireteam Raven stand out is that it shows events originally found only in the novel Halo: The Flood, like the attack on the Autumn and the defense of Alpha Base. It was also the first time the Flood’s pure forms appeared in a game during the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.
2. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
Halo’s First Remaster
Campaign Evolved is a complete remake of the original game, built with the latest Unreal Engine 5 and incorporating art from Halo Infinite and Reach. However, this isn’t the first time the original Combat Evolved has been updated; Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, released in 2011, was an earlier refresh for new platforms.
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To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Halo, Halo Studios (originally 343 Industries) created CEA. They worked with Saber Interactive to update the game’s graphics, making them more similar to Halo: Reach. This included redesigning characters like the Marines to resemble the UNSC Army and giving Zealots more elaborate armor.
Though CEA is frequently criticized for changing the look of the original CE, it remains a memorable part of Halo history. It expands on the story of 343 Guilty Spark and the Halo Array through its video terminals, and players appreciate being able to instantly switch between updated and classic graphics.
1. Halo: Combat Evolved
Master Chief and Cortana’s Original Adventure
Before the release of Halo: Combat Evolved next month, both longtime Halo fans and newcomers should definitely play the very first Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved, which originally came out in 2001.
When a video game gets remade, it’s a good idea to play the original first. This lets you see what’s changed, understand why the developers added, removed, or altered things, and decide if those changes actually improved the game.
For instance, the updated version of Campaign Evolved will significantly alter the famous Warthog run on the Autumn level to better reflect the ship’s layout as described in the game’s story. The remake will also rework The Library level to be less frustrating and repetitive, though all Halo fans should still try to beat the original Library solo on Legendary difficulty at least once.
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2026-06-15 20:45