Halo content creators speak out on Unreal Engine, Combat Evolved Remake, and the worry of starting over

343 Industries is dead, Halo Studios emerges from the flames. A revised development team, a move to Unreal Engine and multiple new projects in the works, the future looks bright for Xbox’s flagship game series. However, with a fanbase as vocal as Microsoft’s Xbox icon, we took to the community to determine how the series’ biggest voices feel about Halo’s latest announcement and the future of the series.

The shift to Unreal

Halo Infinite’s Slipspace Engine was a huge advancement over the series’ traditional Blam tools that allowed for a huge open world on the extremely dated Xbox One. While the technology was a pretty strong piece of kit, its proprietary nature and Microsoft’s historic love for short-term contractors hampered development.

Content creator and modder GeneralKidd, known for revealing cut content and quirks of older Halo games, explained that the shift to Unreal is incredibly exciting. While modding for Unreal Engine 5 titles is rather lax right now, the current mod tools’ technical quirks have made fan support for Halo an exercise in frustration.

“I’ve been modding Halo for quite a while now, so I do have a pretty good idea of some of the ins and outs of it,” we were told. “It really took a lot of community effort and community projects to get [the current mod] tools into a state where people could actually use it. They’re really good once you get used to them, once you learn all the ins and outs. But that’s kind of where the issue lies, that it takes some time to familiarize yourself with them. People who are experts on the Blam engine and stuff like that, they’re not really common on the industry.”

While most Halo content creators are well-vested in the intricacies of the Blam Engine, and therefore the massively updated Slipspace Engine used for Infinite, there is the common knowledge that the move to Unreal is easier for developers. As GeneralKidd explains, no one knows how to use Halo’s internal tools, and simple things like importing weapons or textures is harder than many realise.

“It really takes some time to learn it,” they explained. “Whereas, a lot of people may have learned Unreal or Unity engines as their first game engine. There’s a lot of people who are very familiar with those engines. But you’re not going to find too many people familiar with the Halo engine. It really takes time to get people up to speed.”

Halo Combat Evolved Remake

Early leaks revealing Halo’s move to Unreal Engine also revealed that the newly-renamed Halo Studios is working on a full remake of the series’ debut release, Combat Evolved, for new systems. While unconfirmed, the Halo Unreal reveal did heavily tease this project, showing a gorgeous Mark V Master Chief and multiple biomes reminiscent of the original game.

In our talks with Halo content creators, the idea of a full-on remake is exciting, but also worrying. As a universe with deep, beloved lore, there is a chance to make the original story fit better with sequels and extended universe materials. We could see Brutes on Alpha Halo, they could fix the fact that The Covenant don’t know Halo is a weapon in the second game but do in the first, they could introduce the adorable Huragoks.

For TikTokker and Halo lore expert Kammyshep, this is the right move, allowing Halo’s original story and mystery to shine in a new light similar to Capcom’s slew of Resident Evil remakes.

“I don’t want a Halo Anniversary 2,” the lore expert explained. “I think we’ve already done that. What I want is is basically the Resident Evil style, a huge graphical update and then updating the story for what it is today. Because really, Halo CE, Halo 2, they’re both very outdated games, and if you just bump them up graphically like the Anniversary Editions did, that doesn’t really add much in my opinion.”

Kammyshep explained a CE remake should keep the framework of the original game’s story while updating certain elements. Give players a look at what Halo 2’s Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam is doing as he fails to protect the ring and accidentally unleashes The Flood, show the relationship between Brutes and Elites before the events of The Great Schism and more.

“Halo is over 20 years old and the problem with the franchise is it needs to onboard new fans.”

HALO YOUTUBER LATENIGHTGAMING

YouTuber LateNightGaming, aka LateNightHalo, also expressed a need for Halo Studios to bring the story of Combat Evolved back to modern gamers. As the content creator explained, fans that have complained about the still-yet-to-be-confirmed remake concept aren’t the target audience, but as Halo’s popularity declines, there is credit to the idea of a proper remake.

“If it’s true, if it is happening, for us Halo fans, we’ve been here for the ride for over 20 years and so we’re viewing the promise of a Combat Evolved remake through the lens of like more Halo. “A lot of people are like, ‘But I’ve already played Halo 1!’ Yeah, yeah, but it’s not for you this time.

“Halo is over 20 years old and the problem with the franchise is it needs to onboard new fans. And, you know, when you when you jump into like a new franchise, like get a kid to play Halo Infinite for the first time, they’re not going to know what is going on… at a certain point, like franchises do need to kind of slow down and catch everyone up to speed, like a refresher on what’s going on for the new potential new gamers.”

The Course Correction

While the news that multiple Halo games are in the works is exciting for fans, the big worry is that the next mainline title will be another course correction. Since the release of Halo 4, every mainline game has been a massive correction to the complaints of fans. Halo 4’s Didact was wiped out in a comic after fan complaints, leading to the creation of a villainous Cortana in the sequel, a villain that was wiped out off-screen between 5 and Infinite.

This mass of course correction has angered fans, but Infinite’s setup for the future of the franchise has been interesting. The Banished are an intriguing new Covenant force, and the prospect of The Endless as a new faction teases brand-new gameplay and lore… if the next game doesn’t abandon this plot thread again. While Halo Studios has announced more books in this part of the universe, there is still a fear that Halo 7, or whatever its called, will move onto something different.

“If they don’t continue that story again. it’ll be a huge disappointment for me.”

HALO LORE EXPERT KAMMYSHEP

“I was curious to see what was going to happen with the Endless,” LateNightGaming told us. “I maybe was hoping that things stabilized a little bit, that the universe found a direction to go in because it kind of feels like the last 10 years has just been constant course corrections, readjustments, new things introduced then dropped.”

The YouTuber explains that it’s become harder to “get a pulse on” where the series was going, and the worry that another course correction is coming is a very real possibility.

“I definitely suspect that there’s another course correction on the way,” the YouTuber continued. “They got rid of like basically their whole campaign team. So, whatever story comes next, it’s going to be with a completely new narrative team, completely new campaign designers and everything. Even if it isn’t intentionally a course correction, it’s a completely new creative team, so it is gonna feel different from what came before.”

“I’ve liked all of the story going coming up to this point and every time that the fan base has gotten upset about it, they’ve had to sort of pivot in a different direction, that was a disappointment to me,” Kammyshep told us. “I think Halo Infinite is the strongest story that they’ve made since Halo 4—obviously I mean that’s low-hanging fruit with Halo 5—but I think The Banished are a fantastic enemy, the setting of Zeta Halo has so much potential, and I think Master Chief, The Weapon and The Pilot are such a great team. If they don’t continue that story again. it’ll be a huge disappointment for me.”

Nevertheless, if there is a full reboot, the current Halo universe still has its place. There’s been over 20 years of amazing sci-fi, albeit with some rough spots, and all of that content still exists.

“Personally, I don’t want a full hundred percent reboot,” Kammyshep explained. “If that does happen, that doesn’t mean that the books that I have sitting behind me aren’t real books. There’s still books that I love and I want to read and I’ll continue to read if if the story going forward changes. I don’t think that takes away from what the story is today.”

Realistically, with multiple Halo projects on the horizon, Halo Studios and Xbox could do exactly what Capcom is doing with Resident Evil. The studio could revisit older games with new remakes that tighten up the lore and expand on decades-old concepts while continuing the mainline story in new sequels.