Halo just hit 25, and to celebrate, the series is going back to where it all started. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a full Unreal Engine 5 remake of the original campaign, due in 2026. It looks big, shiny, and very 4K. It also has fans asking a very 2025 question: how much of this was made with AI?
What the remake actually is
Despite the familiar name, this is not a simple remaster. Halo Studios is rebuilding the classic campaign in UE5, adding new prequel missions, and rolling in modern features. The official Halo account teased it during a Roundtable Reveal on October 24, 2025, and confirmed it is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC in 2026. For the first time, the campaign will support full cross-platform play across those systems. It will also be on Game Pass day one.
- Full Unreal Engine 5 remake with 4K visuals and enhanced gameplay
- New prequel missions in addition to the original campaign beats
- Cross-play across Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC
- Launches in 2026, available on Game Pass at release
So…did they use AI to make it?
The short version: yes, but not the way you might think.
Executive producer Damon Conn told Rolling Stone that the team used AI to speed up work, not to generate the game for them.
"People are creative. People make games. AI can improve workflows. But I want to be very specific and clear that the people are the ones who are creating the game... It [AI] really should be additive to the creation of a game."
Game director Greg Hermann added that this gets tricky to talk about because AI is increasingly baked into everyday tools. Think Photoshop with generative fill. In his words, it is a tool in the toolbox, the focus still being the human spark and speeding up the repetitive stuff.
Microsoft’s stance is in the same lane. An Xbox spokesperson says there is no mandate to use generative AI in game development, including Halo: Campaign Evolved. Could that phrasing be lawyerly? Sure. But everything they are describing points to AI as a helper behind the scenes, not something replacing artists or writers.
What "AI use" actually means here
Part of the confusion is vocabulary. For decades, games have had AI that makes enemies patrol, flank, and panic. That is not the same as today’s generative AI that can spit out images or lines of text from a prompt.
Veteran artists have been flagging this gap for a while now. Tools like Substance Painter and Houdini have used procedural and generative systems for years. The distinction that matters: procedural tools respond to the artist’s inputs and rules, while modern generative models try to imitate the artist outright.
Halo Studios appears firmly in the first camp. Using AI-assisted features to autofill a texture seam, catch a bug, or batch-process assets does not remove the artist from the loop; it removes drudgery. When developers say it "improves workflows," that is accurate, even if it sounds slippery to people worried about creativity getting automated away.
The bottom line
If you are keeping score: Halo: Campaign Evolved is a human-made UE5 remake with new prequel missions, 4K shine, and full cross-play across Xbox, PS5, and PC, landing in 2026 with Game Pass on day one. AI is in the mix the same way it is in most modern pipelines: as a speed boost, not a ghostwriter. The bigger question is whether the remake itself lands. We will know soon enough.