Halo Studios is still heads-down working on Halo: Campaign Evolved with no new details since its reveal last year. However, Rebs Gaming, which recently claimed that Abstraction Games and Virtuos are co-developers, revealed some potential new details about what to expect, especially around the new prequel missions.
Set before the game’s main campaign, these three missions are focused on Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson and feature new enemies. However, one of them apparently focuses on the “reignition” of an “old rivalry” between the ODSTs and SPARTANs. The Jiralhanae or Brutes, who were absent in the first game but appeared in Halo 2, will also reportedly appear in the new missions.
Which is interesting, because it could mean a potential connection to Joseph Stalin’s Halo: Contact Harvest. Set nearly three decades before Combat Evolved, the plot features Johnson and contains major revelations about the Forerunner’s artifacts. To that end, there will apparently be a new, “never before seen” Covenant faction with a source claiming that they’re built “entirely from scratch” and “where Halo Studios leadership decided to invest their resources into.”
Unfortunately, those who held out hope for Combat Evolved’s original art will apparently be disappointed, as Halo Studios is reusing the Banished Covenant and UNSC Marine models from Halo Infinite. “I’m told that despite the negative feedback about Campaign Evolved’s gameplay reveal, they have not made any changes and are still only using Infinite’s models for these missions,” said Rebs Gaming.
It’s similar to 343 Industries’ work on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which also didn’t feature the original game’s art, instead cobbling together assets from other titles. With Campaign Evolved allegedly launching before September, there likely won’t be any last-minute pivot either. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.
