Halo: Campaign Evolved, the second remake of Halo 1, is coming out next year

During Friday's Halo World Championship esports tournament on Friday, Halo Studios was meant to unveil its next project. But the Xbox store got to it first: Halo Campaign Evolved has appeared on the site, revealing that Microsoft is remaking the iconic FPS 14 years after the last time it remade it.

"Halo: Campaign Evolved is a faithful yet modernized remake of Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign. Experience the original story rebuilt with high-definition visuals, updated cinematics, and refined controls, plus three brand-new prequel missions featuring the Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson," the store page says.

After the store page popped up, Halo Studios quickly pushed the trailer live on YouTube and its social media channels. There's no release date currently, but the trailer does confirm the remake will be coming to Steam... and PlayStation 5.

Here are the highlights from the store description:

• A "broader arsenal of weapons, vehicles, enemies, and gameplay-modifying 'Skulls'"
• Console-only 2-player splitscreen co-op, but 4-player online co-op with cross-progression
• "The original missions, newly rebuilt with enhanced level design, updated cinematics, and improved wayfinding"
• "New voice performances recorded with the primary cast"
• Sprint added
• Energy sword, needle rifle, and battle rifle added alongside six other series weapons
• "Join the Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson in a brand-new arc set before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, featuring new environments, gameplay, characters, and enemies"

In addition to the trailer above, Halo Studios has also put out a "Roundtable Reveal," with several developers on the team commenting on why they're remaking the game again.

"We did this work on Halo Anniversary, and I felt like there were certain things left unsaid, certain things we were unable to achieve at that time," says director Greg Hermann. (Anniversary's graphical remaster was not well-received by fans back in 2011).

The new remake is being done in Unreal Engine 5, with the cinematics also being fully redone with motion capture. The biggest addition, though, will be those three new "prequel" missions, though the Halo Studios team didn't say much about them.

Given 2026 is Halo: Combat Evolved's 25th anniversary, we'll presumably see the game out sometime next year.