While Halo: Campaign Evolved is slated to feature cutting-edge modern visuals thanks to its use of Unreal Engine 5, former Bungie lead mission designer Niles Sankey, who had previously worked on the original Halo: Combat Evolved, is worried that the visuals might affect the gameplay by making things less readable for the player. Speaking to Mint Blitz, Sankey spoke about the deliberate nature of the art direction in Halo: Combat Evolved, which gave players the ability to quickly read the battlefield despite the chaos that might be ensuing.
With Halo: Campaign Evolved, however, he thinks that this tactical advantage for players might have disappeared with the rise in quality of the game’s visuals. Acknowledging the fact that he isn’t fully aware of the development processes at Halo Studios, Sankey noted that “it’s a game first and foremost,” which means that players need to be able to quickly see where their enemies are, and what their approach through the level might look like.
“I do question the readability of some of the battlefield,” said Sankey. “I think one thing that Halo, especially the first one, did a great job of is that you can read the battlefield; you can clearly see the enemies, you can clearly see your lanes.”
“It’s a game first and foremost,” he continued. “You need to see where your enemies are; you need to see where your lanes and routes are, and that’s what’s most fun, so you need to make sure that the game is readable in that regard. I don’t have insight into this process, but I get the sense that sometimes companies overlook that and instead are just trying to make the best graphics possible without considering the ramifications of what those fancy graphics might mean.”
Halo: Campaign Evolved’s executive producer Damon Conn and creative director Max Szlagor, however, have previously spoken about wanting to honor the legacy of Halo: Combat Evolved with the upcoming remake. In an interview back in January, the two spoke about how they want to bring Halo to an entirely new audience, while also making sure that older fans still enjoy the experience.
“We hope to bring along the series veterans who have been with us for the past 25 years and have them play with an entirely new generation,” said Conn. “There are people who have never been exposed to Halo. Maybe they’ve always been on Sony products, switched consoles at a certain point, or just missed it at the time. We want to bring players back together.”
“Halo is best played when we have a large, healthy community,” said Szlagor. “We see this as a way to grow, expand, and reconnect the Halo community.”
Halo: Campaign Evolved is slated to be a campaign-only remake of the classic Halo: Combat Evolved, and is being developed for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The title, for the time being, doesn’t have any release date, but rumors have indicated that it might come out on July 28th. The game is also slated to include 4-player co-op for its campaign, and will entirely skip the competitive multiplayer aspects of the 2001 shooter.
