Halo: Campaign Evolved is getting a free update later this year that will add Firefight, the franchise’s popular wave-based horde mode, to the game. It’s likely to be the last bit of Halo content to be developed by what remains of Halo Studios as the series moves under Activision.
Earlier this year, Xbox launched Halo: Campaign Evolved, which is set to be the last major Halo game developed by longtime franchise stewards Halo Studios, formerly 343 Industries. While the remake was fine, the $50 price tag felt high considering it didn’t include any multiplayer deathmatch mode or anything else beyond the campaign and some bonus missions you could play alone or with pals. So when it was reported in October that Firefight was going to be added to Campaign Evolved, fans were hopeful. And now Xbox has confirmed that Firefight is indeed being added to the remake soon.
On November 12, Xbox announced via its official website that Firefight is being added to the remake as part of a free update planned to arrive this winter. Folks going to Halo Fest in December will get a chance to play it early before it’s added to the remake. Firefight in Campaign Evolved will support up to four players, just like the campaign’s co-op mode.
Xbox didn’t share any other details about what to expect, but hopefully this is a classic Firefight experience like what we had in Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST, the game that introduced the wave-based horde mode to the series nearly 20 years ago.
The previous report that claimed Firefight was in the works for the remake also reported that Theater Mode was set to be added as part of this free update. However, the report claimed the skeleton crew working on Campaign Evolved’s last big update might not be able to pull all of its plans off before the studio is fully closed up for good. So for now, we don’t know if Theater Mode, letting players look at past gameplay clips via replays, will arrive this winter. But at the very least, a pretty good remake will be even better with the addition of Firefight.
Considering it might be a while until we get a new Halo from Activision, now in charge of the series, this is likely the last bit of new Halo content fans will get for some time.