‘Halo: Campaign Evolved’ Enters Early Access, Marking Franchise’s First PlayStation Release

Microsoft kicked off early access Wednesday for Halo: Campaign Evolved, a ground-up remake of the game that launched the Master Chief franchise back in 2001, giving Premium and Collector’s Edition owners a five-day head start before the wide release hits July 28.

Early access opened at 8 a.m. Pacific across every platform the title supports, including a historic first for the series: this marks the franchise’s debut on PlayStation 5 alongside its usual home on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Steam and cloud streaming, with the game also folded into Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft built in full crossplay and cross-progression support, meaning players can carry saves and squad up with friends regardless of which platform they choose.

Rebuilt from scratch in Unreal Engine, the remake goes well beyond a visual facelift. Reviewers who got early hands-on time noted the original two-player campaign co-op has been expanded to support four players online, and the developers folded in weapons and mechanics that didn’t debut until later entries in the franchise, updates aimed at making the classic campaign feel less like a museum piece and more like a modern shooter.

New content includes Operation: METEORITE, a three-mission story arc set a year before the original game’s events, following Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson on a covert UNSC mission aboard a captured Covenant research vessel.

Critical reaction so far has landed solidly positive, if not universally glowing. The game currently sits at 81 on Metacritic and 83 on OpenCritic, with critics broadly praising the faithfulness of the remake while highlighting how its subtler tweaks enhance rather than distort the original experience.

Some reviewers flagged the redesigned visuals as a mixed bag, noting the new environments sometimes read more like recognizable Earth locations or movie-set backdrops than the alien, otherworldly landscapes the original was known for. Others questioned whether the incremental changes justify the price tag for players who already own the game on Xbox platforms, since the PlayStation release represents the only genuinely new way to experience it.

Whether the mixed notes on value dent early enthusiasm remains to be seen, but for a franchise that’s spent over two decades tied exclusively to Microsoft hardware, simply landing on a Sony console marks a milestone in itself.