Halo: Campaign Evolved, out now for those who paid extra for “early” access, has two hints at the end of the game that Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) is likely working on a similar remake of Halo 2. One of these hints is subtle. The other is literally a character looking at the camera and directly referencing a sequel.
As with past Halo games, completing Campaign Evolved on its hardest difficulty, Legendary, unlocks a special ending cutscene. This time around, completing Halo: Campaign Evolved on Legendary unlocks a new scene during the finale that shows Sgt. Johnson watching the original game’s Legendary ending while chilling on a beach. Off in the distance, the ring begins exploding, and Johnson gets up and gets ready to board a Pelican aircraft. But first, he turns around, looks at the camera, and says, “See you in the sequel.”
The other, more subtle tease directly connects to Halo 2. After the credits roll, on any difficulty, you’ll be treated to one final post-credits scene. It shows 343 Guilty Spark flying through space and eventually making his way to a large gas giant with a facility hanging from a cable in the distance. If you’ve played Halo 2, you’ll know what this is hinting at. For everyone else, this is directly showing us how 343 will end up with the Heretic as seen in Halo 2‘s first Arbiter level.
Both of these teases seem to point to the obvious: Halo Studios is making a Halo 2 remake. But even without these teases, I got the feeling the team had plans to remake Halo 2. That’s because Campaign Evolved contains numerous guns from Halo 2, like the SMG, while also adding the ability for the Master Chief to board and steal vehicles, a feature first added in Halo 2. It also contains Brutes that you can fight in the bonus missions, and those big gorilla-like enemies don’t show up until, you guessed it, Halo 2. There’s quite a bit of Halo 2 content in this Halo remake, almost like the team working on it is building assets for future games. Hmmm.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is out now on PS5, Xbox, and PC if you pay extra for the special edition. It releases for everyone else on July 28.