Okay, let’s tackle this.

Microsoft just announced “Halo: Campaign Evolved,” a remake of *Combat Evolved* rebuilt on Unreal Engine 5, slated for a 2026 release. It’s going to be on Xbox, PC, and, bafflingly, PS5. Apparently, the Covenant have a fondness for cross-platform exclusivity. Let’s dissect this, shall we?

First, let’s address the elephant in the room – the timeline. 2026. Seriously? We’re talking about a game that’s nearly 25 years old, and the estimated release date is *seven years* away. I could build a functional spaceship in that time, let alone a photorealistic remake of a game that already looked impressive for its time. My grandma could probably build a better Unreal Engine 5 environment with a tablet and a YouTube tutorial. The sheer audacity of committing to a seven-year development cycle for a game that’s now effectively a museum piece is frankly, breathtaking. It’s like spending the next decade perfecting a recipe for toast. Great, but a little excessive, don’t you think?

Now, the claim that this is the “first Halo release since 2021’s *Halo Infinite*” is…well, technically correct, but incredibly misleading. *Halo Infinite* was a launch title – a full-blown, multiplayer-focused, major release. It had marketing campaigns, development teams dedicated solely to it, and a massive player base. *Campaign Evolved* is being presented as this…long-term project. It’s more like a carefully curated, decades-long archaeological dig for a beloved but increasingly dated game. It’s not a replacement for a new game. It’s a very, *very* slow renovation of a building that’s already crumbling.

Let’s talk about the platform support. Xbox, PC, *and* PS5? I’m genuinely struggling to understand the rationale here. The entire premise of *Combat Evolved* – that it was a revolutionary, groundbreaking first-person shooter – was built on the limitations of the original Xbox. Suddenly, the Covenant are suddenly interested in multi-platform releases? I’m picturing Master Chief having a strongly worded conversation with Sony executives. It smells like a desperate attempt to maximize reach, a classic Microsoft strategy of “we’ll put it on everything so *everyone* buys it.” Frankly, it makes less sense than a Grunt wearing a monocle.

The article mentions “new missions.” New missions. This is a core issue. Remakes, by their very nature, are about *preserving* the original experience. Adding new content, especially significant content like “new missions,” fundamentally undermines the concept. It transforms the game into something…else. It’s like taking a perfectly aged wine and adding a shot of tequila. It’s a modification, not a restoration. If they’re adding new missions, they’re not remaking it, they’re creating a new game *based on* the original. Let’s be clear: the core gameplay, the story, the level design – it’s all being touched. We’re not talking about a subtle polish; we’re talking about a full-blown, potentially radical, reimagining. It’s like saying you’re renovating a historical building but you’re also adding a disco ball to the ballroom.

Finally, the sheer confidence in delivering a complete remake on Unreal Engine 5 by 2026 is… optimistic, to put it mildly. Unreal Engine 5 is a *complex* engine, and it’s still relatively new. Expecting to fully utilize its capabilities and deliver a visually stunning remake in that timeframe is, frankly, a tall order. We’re going to be staring at photorealistic Grunts for the next seven years. I suspect the biggest challenge won’t be the technical execution; it will be simply getting the project to finish before the entire development team moves on to the next Halo game – because let’s be honest, they will.

It’s a fascinating, and deeply perplexing, undertaking. But let’s be realistic: this isn’t a new Halo. It’s a meticulously preserved, exceptionally long-term, and frankly, slightly terrifying, nostalgia trip.