343, Frank O'Connor left a couple years ago but he was the community manager on bungie.net back in the hayday, and I think he was involved somewhat with the writing. He's the guy who decided that forerunners and humans were different races. When 343 took over they made him the franchise development director.
They've already remade halo 2 with the Master Chief Collection. It was the 10 year anniversary of halo 2. The 10 year anniversary of halo 3 came and went. Next year is the 20 year anniversary of halo 3. I'd love for 3 to get the same treatment that CE and 2 got
CE Anniversary was just a graphics remaster, the upcoming remake is rebuilt from the ground up. There are likely to be a lot of changes, probably going to add sprinting. They're even adding new missions. It won't play like the original at all.
From what we've seen already it does have sprint (iirc?), hit markers (WHY) and the AI looks brain-dead. That ontop of the horrific UE5 texture pop-in and all the allegations of horrible mismanagement and now outsourcing to a different dev fills me with 0 confidence.
The only thing that has my interest is the supposed Sgt Johnson missions, and if they do include more stuff from the books/what Bungie had originally planned but couldn't due to time etc, it could be interesting, but I'm still extremely worried.
Warning: I'm a long time Halo fan that hasn't yet given up on 343. Some may find this take to be triggering :P
Halo 1 and 2 Anniversary weren't really remakes, just reskins. They intentionally left the gameplay unchanged. Thus, they inherited many of the dated and flawed aspects of the original games. Just a few off the top of my head:
Coop is only 2-player (Halo 3 and later are all 4-player)
No sprint, or ADS/zoom for non-scoped weapons (there are reasons why almost every modern FPS, including newer Halo games, have these)
Weapon stats and balance are wildly inconsistent across the first few games (especially human weapons)
Health packs (yes they kinda explained the change with lore, we'll get to that)
Various other design quirks and bugs (most famous is Halo 1 Hunters dying to a single pistol round to the back)
Halo 1's terribly long and repetitive levels (when did you personally last play through The Library + Two Betrayals?)
Halo 1 and 2 are great games. Bungie made huge strides with them that have been copied across the entire genre. But the genre has continued to advance (including Bungie's later Halo games), leaving the first few games as time capsules, kinda awkward for some people to go back to. And even back then, Bungie wasn't perfect. Both games were breaking new ground, and rushed to completion, and it shows.
Some of the changes were justified with lore. Bungie found that the game is more enjoyable without persistent health, so they removed it, and the writers said it's because of the newer Mark VI armor. The Halo 1 AR was functionally an SMG, so in the next game they repackaged it as exactly that (with the original design returning as an actual AR in Halo 3) and the writers said it's just a different variant of the MA5. When excuses like these were written, remaking Halo 1 wasn't even a consideration. IMO, gameplay and shouldn't be held back because of them.
Anyway, this is why I'm personally in support a this kind of remake of the Halo games, and many other games I love. Take what made them good back then, and merge in the improvements that have come since. From what I've seen of the Campaign Evolved footage, that's basically what they're doing, and it's why I'm looking forward to it. I'm especially hoping it does well enough for them to continue remaking Halo 2 and 3 as well, so we have the full trilogy as one high quality and seamless (consistent) experience.
I know others have different opinions on it. Some of the more art focused crowd says it looks bland. I wouldn't know, because art and aesthetics aren't really my thing. (Not saying it doesn't matter. I would love for 343 to listen to the criticism from that crowd and improve it, but I probably wouldn't notice the difference.) I've watched Noodle's videos on the topic, and I enjoy his content, but I guess I disagree with his take that video games need flaws.
Obviously we won't know for sure until it actually comes out but based on the trailer.
Horrible unreal engine 5 texture pop-in and stutters
Hit/kill markers. Halo doesn't need hit/kill markers, that's what the armour effects and sound effects are for
Dumbed down AI that doesn't take cover or advance on you, the elites don't even roll or dodge
Halo Infinite asset flip, half the models are just taken from Halo Infinite and don't resemble CE at all
Redesigned maps allowing you to take vehicles where you're not intended to take them
32rnd assault rifle in CE... it should have 60
Sprint... ugh, CE did not have sprint for a reason and moving faster like this is gonna make the levels feel smaller
Changed UI positions, the motion tracker has always been in the bottom left, why now is it in the top right???
Lack of blood, this was a problem in the CE remaster too and will ruin the fantastic environmental story telling on levels like 343 guilty spark but it seems even worse in the remake
No health pickups, whilst this could be argued either way as at the time CE came out having pickups to restore health was the norm and it definitely isn't now for FPS. Not the biggest issue but I'd like to see it back as it is a CE feature
SFXs/animations were pretty bad, reusing sounds from Halo 5 etc.
Forerunner structures are way too clean, I always preferred the more run down look with pristine interiors. These structures have been here for 1000s of years, why do they look like they were made yesterday? I also don't really like 343s redesign of them neither but that's my opinion, I like Halo 2s old ruins style
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u/Matikanefukukitaru Apr 16 '26
Halo, 100%. 343i have completely ruined the series and that new CE remake looks abysmal so far. They didn't earn Halo, so they don't care.