Former Halo: Combat Evolved Developer Says Halo: Campaign Evolved “Feels Genuine” and is “Gorgeous”

While the level designer behind the original Halo: Combat Evolved might have expressed some criticisms about some of the things showcased in the gameplay for upcoming remake Halo: Campaign Evolved, another member of the original development team has warmer opinions. In a social media post, Marcus Lehto wrote about how the remake “feels genuine” and how its new visuals are “gorgeous”.

For the sake of context, Lehto is an industry veteran that had a hand in the creation of not only the original Halo, but also the design of protagonist Master Chief. In his social media post, Lehto wrote about how he wished that the original development team could have made Halo: Combat Evolved like the upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolved.

“My honest impression of seeing the new Halo Campaign Evolved is this: I absolutely love where this is going,” wrote Lehto on social media platform X. “The game looks and feels genuine. It’s gorgeous in a way I wish we could have built it originally back in 2001. It warms my heart to see Halo [Combat Evolved] like this.”

While Lehto might be excited to see Halo: Campaign Evolved, level designer Jaime Griesemer took to social media to criticise some of the changes that had been made to the game over the original. In his post, Griesemer noted that a particular scene from gameplay footage of the upcoming remake that allowed the player to drive a Warthog up and run over some Hunters was originally not intended.

“You aren’t supposed to be able to take the Warthog up to steamroll the Hunters,” he wrote. “I intentionally placed rocks in the way so you had to fight them on foot. When you can just smash the crates out of the way it wrecks the encounters.” Greisemer also criticised the removal of what he referred to as the “WooHoo Jump” from the landing area, with Halo: Campaign Evolved having replaced them with trees.

Halo: Combat Evolved was originally released all the way back in 2001 as a launch title for the original Xbox. The title would eventually also get ported to PC. It saw quite a bit of success, not only in helping establish the Halo franchise, but also Xbox as a new console platform that had to be taken seriously by competitors Sony and Nintendo.

Halo: Campaign Evolved was officially unveiled over the weekend. The title is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026, marking the first time that a game in the Halo franchise will be showing up on PlayStation. It is worth noting that the upcoming remake will not feature the competitive multiplayer that the original is known for. It will, however, bring back the co-op gameplay from the original.

While Halo Studios plans to go for a “faithful yet modernized” take on Halo: Combat Evolved with Halo: Campaign Evolved, the remake will also include three new missions set before the events of the original game featuring Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson. Commenting on the multiplatform release, Xbox game content and studios president Matt Booty has noted that “our biggest competition isn’t another console.”