Halo: Campaign Evolved is the Perfect Example of 'Soul vs. Soulless'

[Spencer Baculi (BIC EIC)]

I really don't even know how to open this post, so I guess I'll just start with: Halo: Campaign Evolved is EVERYTHING wrong with the modern video game industry.

Like none of this feels 'good':

1. It feels desperate, because Halo Studios/343 Industries hasn't really made a good Halo game in the entire time they've been in charge of the series (Halo: Infinite's multiplayer being an admitted exception, that was a step in the right direction that they screwed up with irregular content updates.
2. Like MGS: Delta, all the intentional art direction choices taken by Bungie - barrier placements to force specific encounters, specifically timed music cues that rely on the Master Chief's single-walking speed, and the brutalist design of the Forerunner's architecture - are thrown out for 'le graphical updates', all of which amount to the 'Nintendo, hire this man' meme.
3. Every gameplay addition/change seen thus far really feels aimed at the lowest, broccoli-haired common denominator that currently obsesses over games like Fortnite or Apex Legends - for example the addition of a sprint mechanic, the ability to aim down the sights on every weapon, and the Needler being given a damn numeric ammo display when its entire design was built around the fact that its loaded bullets can be physically seen on its model.

I mean, not only does the OG Halo still hold-up all on its own, but the Anniversary remaster from the Master Chief Collection does too!

Seriously, rename this release 'Halo: Zoomer Edition'.

 

[CiderHype]

Yeah, what kills me about this kind of remake is it feels less like preservation and more like brand maintenance. It’s not “we love this game and want to keep it alive,” it’s “we need Halo to stay marketable to the current trend cycle.”

At that point you’re not remastering, you’re stress-testing the IP until there’s nothing left to mine.

If they want sprint/ADS/F2P-era pacing so badly, cool build a new entry that owns those choices. Stop duct-taping modern shooter DNA onto something that was built around a totally different philosophy.

This just reads like fear of making anything original, not confidence in the franchise.

 

[Spencer Baculi (BIC EIC)]

BRAND MAINTENANCE! Yes, that's exactly the perfect term for it.

Like Infinite was doing exactly what you said - building on those new mechanics, and making them work for Halo.

Now it's just...It almost feels as sad as Sony re-re-re-releasing The Last of Us or Taylor Swift's 900000 album variants.

 

[alexj-12]

Exactly, if they believe in the modernized style they'd make a new title and let it stand on its own. But instead they're mining the same classic over and over while sanding off the identity that made it classic is just slow IP cannibalism. At some point they’re not preserving Halo, they’re just erasing the version of Halo that actually mattered to people in the first place.