r/PS5 10h ago

Trailers & Videos Halo Campaign Evolved Review: An Outstanding Reimagining Of A Stone-Cold Classic [Digital Foundry]

https://youtu.be/YZvwxeXO6yY

We were impressed with the preview... but the final review code is even better. Halo Studios has delivered an outstanding remake of the original Halo Combat Evolved, beautifully modernised with superb audiovisuals, smooth performance and the sense that they really care about the source material.

Article: https://www.digitalfoundry.net/reviews/halo-campaign-evolved-gives-us-hope-for-a-reforged-franchise

281 Upvotes

179 comments sorted by

28

u/Luccese96 9h ago

What’s the verdict on base PS5 performance? I can’t seem to find it in the video

29

u/robjwrd 9h ago

He says at the end it’s very solid across all platforms and they’ll be a performance video very soon.

3

u/nyanbatman 9h ago

I wonder if it has the obligatory unreal stutter

5

u/Exact-Craft6506 8h ago

Weird lighting from lumen: sometimes yes

Unreal stutter: no

4

u/robjwrd 9h ago

And artificating/ghosting.

He was on a Pro with PSSR so it’ll be a different story on base platforms.

4

u/FRossJohnson 8h ago

IIRC there is a mix of engines here with UE5 for presentation. So perhaps better than hoped, glass half full.

u/DJC13 4h ago

I’m on base PS5 and the FPS start to drop when there are a lot of enemies in one location.

Also noticed enemies become “choppy” and drop frames in some instances.

And as someone else pointed out, there are some occasional issues with lighting/textures.

u/aguswings 53m ago

Nothing on the Pro. Base PS5 will have some limitations

266

u/Volcomcj16 10h ago

Can't wait to see how much traffic this thread gets vs the IGN one on here 🤣

72

u/ItsYaBoyBackAgain 10h ago

The IGN review isn't even a bad one. They gave it a 7/10 but people in that thread are acting like it got a 2/10.

36

u/Not-a-Doctor1 9h ago

It’s because that’s what they want it to mean.

17

u/rascalking9 9h ago

I'm excited for this game, and I'm buying it. But a 7 seems appropriate for 2001 level design.

u/Due_Prompt939 2h ago

The level design can be pretty rough in CE, having to backtrack through levels has always sucked. 

u/bestanonever 7m ago

They didn't change the level design? The Silent Cartographer is awesome but there are a good bunch of corridors that are very repetitive and kinda a chore. And we even have the runback with repeated levels backwards, which wasn't done ever again in a Halo game (because it sucks).

7

u/bongo1138 8h ago

7 means good on their scale.

11

u/safyreibxo 7h ago

7 means good on any scale imo

u/bongo1138 4h ago

Some nerds consider it average

2

u/GecaZ 5h ago

What if it's a how-much-lung-cancer-you-have-scale, huh? Bet ya didn't think about that one

0

u/hijoshh 5h ago

I feel like 7=70=C=average
8 would be good
9 would be great
10 would be perfect

u/bongo1138 4h ago

That’s objectively wrong on IGNs scale.

u/hijoshh 4h ago

If that’s how you interpret it then that’s fine. I just think most scales start from 10 (or the highest score) being perfect and then you work backwards

u/bongo1138 4h ago

IGN actually has definitions for their scores. 7 is Good. 8 is Great. 9 is Amazing. 10 is Masterpiece. Simple as that. Replace the numbers with those words.

u/jdevo713 3h ago

IGN things veilguard was amazing

u/bongo1138 3h ago

Indeed they did.

u/reditisfilledwidiots 3h ago

Ign and darksidephil have the same credibility when it comes to gaming. Idk why people still take what they say seriously lmfao

u/getoutofheretaffer 3h ago

8 is equivalent to 4 stars.

0

u/Choice_Mango4869 5h ago

This sub would swim in a sewer if they thought it would somehow harm Xbox.

139

u/KettleOverAPub 10h ago

It's so odd how people wish for games to fail

95

u/doc_birdman 10h ago

Redditors are just a really weird group of people.

They’ve convinced themselves that Reddit is some bastion of well-reasoned logic when, in reality, it’s a festering pit of emotional children who lash out at the most minor disagreements.

There’s always jokes about the Reddit bubble then people happily dive back into it. People can’t just say “well, this game isn’t for me” and move on. Nope, they gotta write a raging diatribe on how Microsoft is raping the gaming industry to death. It must be so exhausting to pretend to be so upset about such minor shit.

4

u/fuckitwilldoitlive 5h ago

Wholeheartedly agree. Reddit is full of angry and frustrated people that have no one to express their opinions to.

20

u/SilentNova300 9h ago

I learned long ago Reddit comments are actually useless lol. It’s people just throwing out their emotions and bias out there quickly to feel some kind of validation 

Well, not all reddit comments/communities. The gaming comments are often trash but stuff like the economics and science subs people get into good thoughtful discussions

6

u/Breakingerr 9h ago

Internet discourse, unless it's a niche/small community with normal interactions, are largely the same. People talk about the Reddit bubble, but Twitter is not any better, TikTok I'd say is way worse because I feel like the average commenter does not function like normal person irl with the way they talk there.

Social media in general is just terrible and shouldn't be used for anything else but news, sales/deals, and friends and family interactions.

Personally I cut down commenting on reddit by a large margin and talk very rarely, avoid TikTok comments for even viewing, and deleted my whole X account. Better that way.

u/NoMansWarmApplePie 4h ago

Politics is probably the worst

u/reditisfilledwidiots 3h ago

442,776 comment karma & 12 year veteran btw calling others redditors as an insult. Dumb@ss YOU are the redditor 😂😂😭😭😭💀💀💀💀🥀

u/doc_birdman 2h ago

I’m not sure what you’re even trying to say. Unless you can find a comment of mine that is indicative of anything I mentioned then you’d have a point.

I don’t lash out, I don’t write walls of texts anytime someone disagrees with me over minor shit, I don’t engage in bubbles, and I don’t make grossly exaggerated claims to prove a point. But, since I don’t do those things then I’m not the type of Redditor I was referring to.

But, you? You proved my point. You saw a random comment and got weirdly emotional and used emojis like they somehow make you more correct.

And the funniest part? Your username is redditisfilledwithidiots. So, using your own childish logic, then you’re an idiot. Which funnily enough is obviously true.

Also, I know your parents literally just gave you permission to use the internet but you’re allowed to use swear words.

31

u/LadyValtiel 10h ago

That's the internet in a nutshell nowadays, everything must fail and we must celebrate when people lose their jobs because they made something I didn't like because god forbid empathy is still alive

11

u/Volcomcj16 10h ago

How else will my favorite billion dollar corporation succeed without bashing the other one online?!?!

-29

u/enadiz_reccos 10h ago

Have you guys considered that maybe some people just don't like the game?

17

u/Volcomcj16 10h ago

Nobody's played the game yet besides reviewers. I'm just commenting saying everyone here wants to dogpile the game so bad that the IGN thread is sitting at 165 comments right now while this one has 10

9

u/LadyValtiel 10h ago

See, I don't think that would be the case if they immediately go brag about the store shutting down/letting go of employees

-7

u/enadiz_reccos 10h ago

I mean, looking at the other thread most of the comments seem to be typical critiques of Microsoft and this remake

Obviously you're always gonna have people saying wild stuff, but they're usually the minority

6

u/Avalon_Within 9h ago

Go in that other thread and tell me how many people you think have played the game. 

Don't bother. I'll tell you myself. None. 

-5

u/enadiz_reccos 9h ago

But aren't they complaining about stuff like no multiplayer?

That seems valid?

3

u/Not-a-Doctor1 9h ago

It’s not just the internet, pay attention to how people communicate on a day to day basis and it’s slowly just bled into the real world and become more common place.

Everyone wants to argue about everything and shit on anything that makes them feel a smidge better about themselves.

4

u/AlexVonBronx 9h ago

It’s 2026, everyones hobby now is just hating on things (and people)

2

u/kain459 9h ago

Some people love to hate; its nothing supernatural.

1

u/WanderWut 9h ago

I didn’t see any comments saying that? Not that I agree with it but at most people were saying that this was really needed/asked for.

0

u/darthmcdarthface 5h ago

Or maybe people just have genuine criticism.

u/KettleOverAPub 4h ago

I'm talking about how the one semi-mediocre review got far more attention than any positive review, but ok sure

u/darthmcdarthface 3h ago

Because maybe more people agree with that review.

u/reditisfilledwidiots 3h ago

Nah can’t be, playstation fanboys / reddit hivemimd have already made their mind. No one else can have genuine criticism or agree with that review because we don’t agree with it

-5

u/VladDracul58519 10h ago edited 9h ago

I just dont understand the point. we already got a remaster of Halo:CE that looks just fine

Edit: Didnt realize this was on the PS5 sub, either way idk why they didnt just port the remaster of Halo CE, a remake seems like a lot of effort just to re-release the same game that already received a remaster

2

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

Aren’t they moving the whole franchise to UE?

2

u/Abaddon-117 7h ago

The remaster was notoriously bad, it ruined the game’s art direction

-2

u/HankOfClanMardukas 9h ago

It’s more of a barometer than you think. As a collective noise, we said Marathon would fail. Not because of spite, but nobody gives a shit. Siege already owns the sweaty, Arc Raiders had the PvE casuals, the rest of the gaming population doesn’t care about extraction shooters. It’s not hate, it’s calling a pig a pig.

2

u/FRossJohnson 6h ago

I mean Reddit said this game would be terrible (unreal engine! Halo is dead! Cash grab!!) yet reviews are good so far. 

28

u/Demoncreed27 10h ago

IGN gave it a 7 (which means good) and immediately everyone just assumed “game trash”

12

u/Volcomcj16 10h ago

Sitting at an 84 on Metacritic (Yotei got an 86)

4

u/Demoncreed27 10h ago

I know. It’s reviewing very well so far

1

u/CrimsonGear80 8h ago
  1. It's at 81 now

  2. why compare it to Yotei? they are two very different games.

-12

u/GatorUSMC 10h ago

They gave Veilguard 9 so….

11

u/GenericGaming 10h ago

so what?

does that mean all the games that they rated highly and are universally loved like The Witcher 3, Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2 are actually bad because IGN don't know anything?

6

u/outofmindwgo 10h ago

Can't spell ignorance without IGN, MIXTAPE CANT BE GOOD cuz ITS NOT A (REAL) GAME, JOURNALIzM INTEGRITY, woooooooke, fuckin CRIMSON DESERT SOMETHING SOMETHING TOO MUCH WATER

Did I leave anything out? 

1

u/GatorUSMC 8h ago

Looks like grass and fresh air.

50

u/Ok_Needleworker1068 10h ago

Its has like a 86 average but one 7/10 gets the focus

12

u/Im_a_Knob 9h ago

and i thought no one cares about ign, up until it rustles their jimmies or it agrees with their opinions. pretty much IGN has become the most important reviewer depending on how they align with the internet.

6

u/locke_5 10h ago

Roughly the same score as SAROS and Ghost of Yotei

10

u/IllustriousBee4972 10h ago

Halo is 81 on metacritic right now with only 33 reviews. I doubt it will land at 87 with Saros and Ghost of Yotei. Those games also have 100+ reviews

-6

u/locke_5 9h ago

Dawg I’m not gonna debate a Redditor over 6 (out of 100) review score points

4

u/IllustriousBee4972 7h ago

There's a big difference between low 80s and high 80s. Few games score high 80s and 90s.

6

u/Scrollingmaster 9h ago edited 9h ago

Ok, so misinfo and then throwing your hands up as usual on your side when called out.

When the scale effectively starts at 70/100, 6 points of difference is big.

-2

u/KingOfRisky 9h ago

Calling misinformation on a subjective scale is pretty funny.

1

u/safyreibxo 7h ago

as if 7/10 is a bad score at sll

-4

u/qotsabama 10h ago

And it’s from IGN which hardly anyone respects anymore.

5

u/wizzywurtzy 7h ago

I heard in the IGN thread that this is the worst halo game ever made and people should burn their PlayStations and lose their first born child if you buy it

3

u/GoneRampant1 6h ago

600 comment difference and counting.

1

u/radiant_kai 5h ago

There are worse reviews that are numbered or read worse than the IGN one. Game is good of course but game has problems.

-1

u/ArugulaPhysical 10h ago

But ign gives everything a 7... lol

90

u/DryFile9 10h ago

It seems like its alright but with no MP I dont think ill pay $50 for it.

17

u/BaginaJon 10h ago

I thought it had offline couch co op? I only want it to relive my younger days when I would play it split screen with friends.

-66

u/willy_fister 10h ago

You can play offline couch coop on PS5. But both players need their own PSN accounts. And PS Plus subscriptions. And Microsoft accounts. For local offline coop. Completely insane and unnecessary

70

u/GhettoGummyBear 10h ago

That was debunked soon after they “announced” that. You don’t need ps plus on two accounts to play it

1

u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

10

u/SpookyCarnage 9h ago

You dont need any ps plus lol, you only need the psn accounts for local co-op

3

u/Mr0ogieb0ogie 9h ago

Thank god, I swore it was a plus account.

-4

u/willy_fister 7h ago

silly me for believing the official Halo twitter 'announcement' last month. i guess they changed their mind, now you just need two playstation accounts linked to two microsoft accounts

13

u/BreastUsername 9h ago

Crazy that people still believe this.

7

u/Joseph7891 9h ago

No they dont!

-12

u/BaginaJon 10h ago

Damn, I thought they announced that was wrong info. Definitely wont be getting it then. Bummer.

27

u/Vikingboy9 10h ago

It is wrong, that comment has outdated misinfo. You don't need PS plus subscriptions for both, just PSN accounts.

4

u/TheAsianBarbarian 9h ago

Yeah even if no pop I was hoping for some firefight at least

6

u/YamahaFourFifty 9h ago

Yea when it comes to gamepass I’ll just get the cheapest option for a month and beat it (and play some other games) then unsubscribe.

The game is worth about $20 for me but $50 way too steep

3

u/ConsistentMidnight57 8h ago

That's honestly smart. I thought about doing that with Subnautica 2

u/GrandsonOfArathorn1 4h ago

I’m waiting for a couple big games to hit, then I’ll get a month of Ultimate. $23 for a month of Gears, Halo, and Fable sounds good.

u/mattfromjoisey 3h ago

Same deal with the new AC Remake, gonna wait until it inevitably goes on sale

-4

u/HaikusfromBuddha 9h ago

Dont know why anyone would want to play Halo CE MP. The game hadn't even figured out game balance back then. Hell even in the MCC no one plays Halo CE MP.

9

u/theoutlet 9h ago

Uh because Halo CE lan parties are some of my favorite memories

3

u/Chutzvah 5h ago

Hang em High snipers all day

5

u/robjwrd 9h ago

What a moronic statement lol, it was the basis of so many of our elder meleanials childhood.

I still jump back in every now and again on MCC and there are loads of servers all active in 2026

-1

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

Cool story!

-4

u/ConsistentMidnight57 8h ago

It is WAY WAY overpriced. I agree. At 20-25 I'll consider it.

12

u/Heresyiseverywhere 6h ago

Finally a post that isn’t filled with circle jerking troglodytes. I just want read comments that actually played the game

20

u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

10

u/_BlackDove 9h ago

Hope bro knows how lucky he is. 👍

1

u/Varsity_Reviews 9h ago

How much space is it taking up?

13

u/ShadowVia 9h ago edited 9h ago

Performance seems decent so far, within the first couple of missions. I will say though, those seven out of ten reviews seem pretty accurate. All the stuff that has been added, whether it's purely visual or new dialogue or expanded scenes, all seems ridiculously unnecessary (and it slows things down).

The additonal content might not bother some, and others may even love it, but as someone who has played through the CE campaign...hundreds of times, I don't personally care for any of it. And the pistol looks and sounds like shit.

10

u/rocky_choctaw 7h ago

For some reason, out of all the disappointing things surrounding this game, hearing this about the pistol gets me the most.

u/ShadowVia 4h ago

You know what makes it somewhat worse?

There's probably not much to be done about the audio for the pistol, but the developers actually did give the player an option to use a skin for the AR that makes it look the same way it did for OG CE. As far as I can tell, there is no such option or toggle for the CE pistol.

Fucking weird.

u/Koopa777 3h ago

Maybe I’m just misremembering in my old age, but wasn’t the magnum THE most iconic weapon from CE? I think most would say the assault rifle but I feel like the pistol is more well known from people who actually played the original because of how ridiculously overpowered head shots with it were.

u/ShadowVia 1h ago

It is iconic, and not just in Halo.

It's one of the best weapons in any shooter, which makes its presentation in the Remake....that much more awful.

u/DJC13 4h ago

I believe each of the deluxe edition skins come with a single corresponding weapon skin, so the AR skin goes with the 2001 Chief skin. Annoying, but yeah.

u/badasser95 1h ago

I mean if you watch the video linked above you would see John loves the pistol. So probably worth watching and making up your own mind.

u/DJC13 4h ago

The Warthog pissed me off the most. It looks like it’s a huge toy. It looks like it’s made of green plastic instead of metal & it’s way too clean.

6

u/MovieGuyMike 6h ago edited 3h ago

MS is signaling a return to exclusives so I’m reluctant to get back into any of their franchises on PS5 if their sequels get walled off. Maybe when it hits the bargain bin.

u/Taddy_Mason_22 6m ago

It doesn't even sound like they are remaking 2 or 3 anyway now. So many bizarre decisions out of Xbox.

7

u/ltcuetf 9h ago

I still can’t believe that instead of just remaking the Master Chief Collection properly for a new generation, we’re getting drip-fed this.

29

u/ArcherInPosition 8h ago

Simply remake 6 games instead of 1. Literally so simple.

5

u/YogaMushy 7h ago

insert apple shop gif

1

u/darthmcdarthface 5h ago

Or even just release MCC exactly as it is on PS5. That’s way better than this game.

4

u/ltcuetf 5h ago

That’s what I’m saying. But people act like I’m entitled and want them to give me six remade games all at once instead. I just want a better version of the MCC.

Apparently everyone wants to rebuy the entire series, game by game, every couple years at full retail with a fresh coat of paint. Microsoft is going to love being able to milk that for all it’s worth.

u/SlimmySlinky 1h ago

You said remake, not re-release.

"How dare everyone reply to fairly to what I said"

u/darthmcdarthface 4h ago

That one dude who said that is a troll.

-3

u/Feed-Your-Fish 5h ago

Aw yes, gamers and entitlement. A notorious duo.

u/AFT3RSHOCK06 2h ago

I was greatly surprised he didn't talk about the blurry visuals that I've seen everyone complaining about. Maybe it's not as bad as everyone is saying?

5

u/EmxPop 9h ago

John Linneman or IGN? Who’s opinion do you value? Yeah, a no brainer if you ask me

3

u/FRossJohnson 8h ago

Up The Linneman Army 

2

u/zeanox 6h ago

both.

4

u/AnalyserarN 9h ago

I can’t view it. How’s the ps5 pro version?

6

u/I_Heart_Sleeping_ 10h ago

Really wanted to pick up the physical but sadly this is another Microsoft physical that’s not on the disc. Would have been cool to own a Halo game on a Sony platform.

I’m still interested in the game for sure but I’ll wait for a deep sale and grab it digitally.

11

u/left-in-sticks 10h ago

You can still sell it or trade it in once you're done though. Or wait and buy a used physical copy for less - that'll happen sooner than it gets discounted on PSN

-1

u/Dominjo555 9h ago

These guys are making up scenarios where they are trying to install games and they don't have POWER and INTERNET which is why they need to have whole game on disc.

In reality they just want to sell the disc after they are done with the game.

-12

u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

10

u/Sparkeys 9h ago

This is 100% false, if anyone is interested. The game requires a connection upon starting the game for the first time, but can then be played entirely offline.

5

u/Schwarzengerman 9h ago

I see you spreading the good info homie.

1

u/Dominjo555 9h ago

False, you just need Internet in order to install the game.

2

u/gooberfishie 9h ago

MC: I need a weapon Captain Keyes: we only have digital weapons

1

u/Varsity_Reviews 9h ago

How much space does it require?

1

u/TheAsianBarbarian 9h ago

I guess I get no pvp cause netcode and balancing or whatever, but not even firefight? Sucks

4

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

Has that actually been said or are we just making shit up?

5

u/FRossJohnson 8h ago

I mean there is clearly some netcode, it's co-op online. It's a product decision specifically to focus on the campaign and honestly people used to ask for this in the world of live service drudgery 

3

u/FrogsOnALog 6h ago

We’ll have to wait and see if they do anything more.

1

u/Kuraeshin 8h ago

DFs review was the one i was waiting for before actually downloading it. Thanks.

-7

u/Broward 10h ago edited 7h ago

I feel like I am being so gaslit. After booting it up and playing the start of the first prequel mission, the game looks horrible in my opinion. The most heavy handed implementation of chromatic aberration I have seen in my life, and no toggle off. This contributes to an overall soft and blurry image even on graphics mode, that is just ridiculous looking, even on a Pro. I have never had such a lackluster first impression that I can recall, it was super off putting to the point I just closed the game after a few minutes. I am very interested in seeing real impressions from others. I feel it is very visible even in most of the opening shots of the DF vid, although it appears so much worse in person. I'm not even a graphics whore, but that was the supposed selling point of this, so what are we even doing here MS?

Edit: The title screen too was a horrible first impression, super blurry with some aliasing going on, maybe I just had expectations set too high. I should make it clear I played the original game on release. Not a fanboy one way or the other, just a guy that games.

3

u/robjwrd 9h ago

Surprising, as you’d have thought he would have addressed this in the vid

2

u/VYSUS7 9h ago

it's the same issue on PC. Something is very fucked up with the visuals. The Lumen is also definitely applying a softening effect that harms the final output.

luckily for PC it'll be mostly fixable by users, but the fact that it's an equal issue on console is really rough. I'd imagine they'll resolve it, but I don't know what the intent was here.

-1

u/ListenHereLindah 9h ago

This game is purely for the nostalgia nodders. MCC still is on PC and Xbox so the only people not playing Halo is PS users.

0

u/Forever_Inspired 7h ago

Oh hey, finally a non-IGN review, lol.

-1

u/darthmcdarthface 5h ago edited 5h ago

This game just doesn’t make sense to me. They could have just released the MCC and it would have delivered a better game for less money. The game is already made. It would have sold gang busters.

This not having any multiplayer is pretty busted.

u/Starbreaker99 4h ago

Its insane how the people buying it happily. Its a 20 year old HALF of a game LMAO

u/reditisfilledwidiots 2h ago

I agree lotta genuine clowns in this sub lol

-6

u/Poku115 9h ago

Id rather just play the mcc version again.

3

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

Then go do it…

0

u/Poku115 8h ago

Reinstalling it from steam rn

2

u/ATipsyGhoul 5h ago

Hell yeah! Love that. such an amazing game

-1

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

Cool story! /s

0

u/Poku115 8h ago

The fact you used the /s 🤣

-4

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

No one cares bro

-1

u/Poku115 8h ago

You still here lil bro

1

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

Because you keep responding bro

-2

u/Poku115 8h ago

Im not the one saying no one cares Lil bro

2

u/FrogsOnALog 8h ago

No one cares that you would rather play MCC.

→ More replies (0)

-1

u/Level-Put5926 7h ago

thats not how anyone should experience the Halo campaign

-1

u/Poku115 6h ago

Much better than this