Original Halo developer calls out ‘lame’ changes as more remakes rumoured

The extended gameplay demo for Halo: Campaign Evolved has been picked apart by one of the original developers, as he laments some of the changes in the remake.

Halo: Campaign Evolved’s announcement has become an unexpected focal point for the industry over the past week, between those upset at the lack of multiplayer, declarations that it’s ended the console wars, and those disgusted by its use in ICE marketing.

One of the more interesting responses, however, has come from former Bungie developer Jaime Griesemer, who was a design lead on Halo 2 and Halo 3, but also served as a designer on 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved.

After Microsoft announced Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the original game coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S next year, Griesemer outlined some of his grievances with the title based on an extended 13-minute gameplay demo.

In a post on X, the designer noted how some seemingly minor changes have been made to certain encounters, which may reflect wider design decisions elsewhere.

‘You aren’t supposed to be able to take the Warthog up to steamroll the Hunters,” he wrote, in relation to the way the vehicle can now easily bypass crates in the opening section. ‘I intentionally placed rocks in the way so you had to fight them on foot. When you can just smash the crates out of the way it wrecks the encounters.

‘But the worst part? They put trees in the landing area of the WooHoo Jump. Lame.’

While players pointed out that you could squeeze the Warthog through with some force in the original, it was intentionally designed to be difficult. ‘Yes, everybody,’ he added. ‘I know you can FORCE the Warthog through the gap in a variety of ways. I literally spent most of a day making it discouraging and difficult but not impossible. You’re welcome!’

Griesemer goes onto speculate that vehicles take damage in the remake, which could change the game dramatically. ‘On further analysis I’m sure it’s because the vehicles take damage and so you’re just as likely to destroy the hog as get it over the rocks,’ he added. ‘If anything that makes it -worse- because -none- of the vehicle tricks are going to work anymore.’

While we won’t know the full extent of the changes in Halo: Campaign Evolved until it launches next year, it is indicative of how many remakes can sometimes miss the point by trying to modernise the gameplay away from its original design – which are often a unique result of the hardware’s limitations at the time.

Not having the original developers work on the game is also always a risk, as purposeful design decisions are mistaken for problems to be fixed, as in Griesemer’s examples.

One controversial change we do know about in the remake is the ability to sprint, which has become one of the most divisive additions to Halo over the years, after first being added in 2010’s Halo: Reach. According to Griesemer, sprinting can work in a Halo game, but any new system is ‘always a trade-off between positive and negative consequences’.

If a debate around Halo: Campaign Evolved’s changes is already brewing, the conversation will likely only get worse in the years to come. According to insider Halo Leaks, this is only the first of many planned remakes.

‘Halo 2 & Halo 3 are being remade, yes they will have sprint,’ they wrote in a post on X. ‘No multiplayer, only campaign. Full remakes. Multiplayer is going to be Halo 7.’

The insider doesn’t have a date for when these could be announced, and it’s unclear if they are actually in active development or not, but considering Halo: Campaign Evolved isn’t due until next year, it’s likely their fate will be dependent on the first remake’s success.

Meanwhile, Halo Leaks goes onto claim ‘Halo 7’, an unannounced sequel to Halo Infinite, will feature both multiplayer and single-player components, but he doesn’t ‘believe they’ll be launching together based off what my sources have told me about it’. That sounds similar to Halo Infinite, where the multiplayer was also released separately and launched before the full game.

The lack of multiplayer in these remakes is said to be because developer Halo Studios wants the sequel to Halo Infinite to be the predominant focus for multiplayer – which does make sense, as it means they aren’t splitting the fanbase, like they did with Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is one of many titles being primed to celebrate Xbox’s 25th anniversary next year, alongside Fable, Gears Of War: E-Day, and Forza Horizon 6.

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