Something to look forward to: With the (second) remake of the original Halo just over a month away, Microsoft recently outlined everything it has added to, and changed from, the original 2001 classic. Although it demands 100GB of storage space, the Unreal Engine 5 title has relatively modest system requirements.
Microsoft has spent the past few weeks showing off the drastic changes it has made to Halo: Combat Evolved's lighting, characters, environments, textures, and other visual elements. However, instead of creating a remake that lines up perfectly with the original, Halo Studios decided to remix certain gameplay elements and add features from later Halo titles.
For example, the story has been expanded to include three new missions that precede the original. Furthermore, the returning levels have received minor changes to adjust their pacing, include new enemy types, and account for the addition of four-player co-op.
All weapons from later Halo games, such as the M7 SMG, Spiker, and Energy Sword, are also included. Other new features include a sprint function, an optional third-person perspective, skulls, and more. Players can find and use 42 skulls to introduce new gameplay conditions or deactivate Campaign Evolved's modern features for a more old-school feel.
The remake fully utilizes Unreal Engine 5's Lumen global illumination, MegaLights, and volumetrics while maintaining 60fps on mid-range hardware. Achieving that framerate in 1080p requires at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super, an AMD Radeon RX 6600, or an Intel Arc A580. Meanwhile, an RTX 3070 or RX 7600 XT can perform well in 1440p. Native 4K at high settings demands at least an RTX 3080 Ti or an RX 9070 and at least 12GB of VRAM.
When testing the famous Silent Cartographer level, Digital Foundry reported that an RTX 4060 paired with a Ryzen 5 5600X encountered CPU bottlenecking at 1440p with DLSS Balanced Mode engaged. Meanwhile, an RTX 5090 capped at 60fps in 4K with DLAA at ultra settings reached only 50% GPU utilization, and a ROG Xbox Ally X handheld maintained 30fps at upscaled 1080p while drawing 25W.
Halo Campaign Evolved launches on July 28 on Steam, Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 for $49.99. Pre-ordering the $69.99 premium edition grants early access on July 23.