The three new prequel missions
Halo: Campaign Evolved will include three new story missions set approximately one year before the events of “Combat Evolved.”
'Halo: Campaign Evolved' has reached gold status and will arrive on July 28 for PC, Xbox, and PS5
Halo: Campaign Evolved will include three new story missions set approximately one year before the events of “Combat Evolved.”
Xbox confirmed through social media that Halo: Campaign Evolved has reached “gold” status, meaning that the game's development is complete. The announcement came nearly two weeks before its release, scheduled for July 28.
The development team will continue to work on bug fixes over the coming weeks. Halo: Campaign Evolved is the first title in the franchise to arrive on a platform not owned by Microsoft.
The game was revealed in October 2025 during the Halo World Championships. Its release is set for July 28 on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.
Users who pre-order the Premium edition, priced at US$69.99, on Xbox, Steam, or PlayStation Store will gain access to the early access period starting on Thursday, July 23. Those who purchase the standard edition will have to wait until July 28.
The title will not feature PVP modes at launch. Instead, Halo Studios will include online and local cooperative modes, in addition to the single-player campaign.
The game is a recreation using Unreal Engine 5 of “Halo: Combat Evolved,” originally released in 2001. The new version incorporates updated graphics and additional modifiers to increase the difficulty of the campaign.
In the mission Operation: Meteorite, Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson team up to confront a Covenant research ship. During the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2026, Halo Studios hinted that these missions will prominently feature Sergeant Johnson, along with new enemies and weapons from the franchise. The mission will be available from the first launch of the game.
Before the launch, there were reports suggesting that the split-screen cooperative mode on PS5 would require two PlayStation Plus accounts. Xbox came out to deny that information.
According to the company, each player will only need a free PlayStation account to access the local cooperative mode on PS5. However, the online cooperative mode will require PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass, depending on the console. The game will also feature shared progress across all platforms.
The standard version of Halo: Campaign Evolved will be available from the day of its release on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
With development already complete two weeks before the premiere, the remaining time will be dedicated to fixing any outstanding bugs before the start of early access.