Halo: Campaign Evolved, Halo Studios’ remake of the first Halo game, is in the wild and already setting up a possible Halo 2 remake in the same style. That’s probably not a surprise, given that Halo is one of Xbox’s marquee franchises and remakes tend to be quite popular. Games get sequels and Halo’s had plenty of them.
But a new version of the original game’s ending does offer something new to longtime Halo fans. An alternate ending in Halo: Campaign Evolved appears to finally address a major in-game plot hole in the Halo game franchise that’s been bothering some fans for nearly 25 years.
Halo: Campaign Evolved, just like the original game, features a special ending sequence for players who complete it on Legendary difficulty. In the original game, that ending inclde a scene in which Sergeant Avery Johnson is wrestling with an Elite, just as explosions on the Halo ring start to destroy the structure. Johnson says to the Elite, “This is it, baby. Hold me.” They embrace. Master Chief and Cortana are safely on board a Longsword ship, having escaped the exploding ring.
In 2004’s Halo 2, Johnson is alive and well, with no real explanation as to how he survived what appeared to be certain death. He appears completely unscathed, leaving many Xbox fans confused. Johnson’s fate after the events of Halo: Combat Evolved is actually addressed elsewhere in Eric Nylund’s 2003 novel, Halo: First Strike. That book explains that Johnson and a handful of other survivors escaped the ring’s destruction in a Pelican.
In Halo: Campaign Evolved‘s version of the original Legendary ending, we see Johnson and the Elite wrestling, only for the camera to pan out and show that Johnson is actually watching the original cutscene on a handheld device. “Those were the days,” he says. In the remake’s ending, Johnson is shown relaxing on a beach, enjoying a cigar and a sandwich until the reactors start blowing up. “Oh, shit,” he says when one does. “Well, that’s my cue.” A Pelican then flies overhead and lands nearby, and Johnson starts heading toward it, making his escape canonical in-game.
Then, in a cheekier change to that ending, Johnson then looks to the camera and says, “See you in the sequel.”
While that would appear to confirm a Halo 2 remake is on Halo Studios’ minds, we’ll probably have to see how well Halo: Campaign Evolved does for the studio — and whether future Halo remakes come to anything other than Xbox platforms under Microsoft’s new exclusivity rules.
Halo: Campaign Evolved officially launches on July 28 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game entered early access on July 23 for players who pre‑ordered the premium edition. In our review of Halo: Campaign Evolved, we called it “one of the best remakes of all time.”
“If you’ve never played a Halo game before, but you know you enjoy shooters, Halo: Campaign Evolved is the perfect place to start,” reviewer Ford James said. “If you’re a Halo fan, but it’s been a few years since you’ve played Combat Evolved, Campaign Evolved does just enough to feel like an entirely new game. And if you’re a Halo diehard, this really is as good as it gets. Remake or not, if this is the start of Halo’s new era, the future’s bright.”
