Halo: Campaign Evolved strongly hints that another Halo remake could be on the way.
Rumors have been swirling for a while that Halo Studios is planning to remake Master Chief’s entire original trilogy – Halo CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3 – in the same style as its newly-released revamp, Halo: Campaign Evolved. That means yes to sprint, no to multiplayer, and sweeping changes to the rest of the game (new levels, weapons, updated visuals, etc.)
For anyone crossing their fingers for Halo 2 and Halo 3 to get the same treatment, good news! Halo: Campaign Evolved rather explicitly pours fuel over the fire of those rumors in its secret ending, unlocked by completing the game on Legendary difficulty. (Don’t worry, there’s no hard spoilers here.)
Finishing the fight on the game’s toughest difficulty rewards you with an alternative ending that’s surprisingly different to Bungie‘s 2001 shooter. The part that’s important here is a line uttered by our good old Sergeant Avery Johnson, who caps off the entire game with: “See you in the sequel!”
While that’s not hard confirmation of a Halo 2 remake in itself, the implication is crystal clear since an inevitable Halo 7 isn’t exactly a sequel to Halo: Campaign Evolved, and I doubt HD Johnson is telling folks to go back and play the original Halo 2 after the series’ latest remake.
Halo 2 has also actually been remade once before in Halo 2 Anniversary, which came bundled with The Master Chief Collection, but that was the case with the series’ first game too, so it’s not exactly a deal breaker for Xbox Game Studios.
The iconic Xbox sequel was also infamously a victim of a turbulent development cycle that left tons of content on the cutting room floor. The “finishing this fight” line became so recognizable in the first place because Master Chief did not, in fact, finish the fight until an entire game later when Halo 2’s cliffhanger ending was finally resolved.
My point is, Halo 2 perhaps stands to benefit more than its older sibling should it get another, more comprehensive remake. It’s also worth nothing that Halo 2 Anniversary was beholden to the source material’s exact level layout since you could switch between both graphical options on the fly – a Campaign Evolved-style remake would presumably allow for more dramatic changes.
Our Halo: Campaign Evolved review calls it a “faithful remake of the 2001 classic that highlights exactly why the original Halo holds up so well 25 years later,” even though Halo Studios could’ve done more to put its own spin on the classic game.