“I did it right and they broke it for no reason” – A key member of the original Halo development team doesn't sound excited about Microsoft's Halo: Campaign Evolved
Blog Andrew Joseph 27 Oct , 2025 0
Microsoft finally reveals Halo: Campaign Evolveda remake of the campaign from Bungie's beloved Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo fans spent much of the weekend discussing the changes Halo Studios is making to the upcoming 2026 shooter, from adding dash to a more original art style. But what do the developers of Halo: Combat Evolved themselves think of the remaster?
Jaime Griesemer is one of the main developers of Halo. He was largely involved in designing Halo's famous “30 Seconds of Fun” gameplay loop, as well as designing much of the campaign itself. Currently the creative director of Highwire Games (Six Days in Fallujah), Grisemer posts on X/Twitter Make a preliminary judgment on the gameplay footage in Microsoft's Halo: Campaign Evolved reveal.
He didn't sound impressed.
“You shouldn't be able to drive a Warthog over the Hunters,” Grisemer said. “I intentionally placed rocks in the path so you have to fight them on foot. It ruins the fight when you can smash the crates open.
“But the worst part? They put trees in the landing area of WooHoo Jump. Lame.”
Let's unpack this a little bit. Grisemer criticized a key part of the iconic campaign mission “The Silent Cartographer”: the first encounter with two hunters. In the original Halo, this fight was fought by the Master Chief on foot (players soon discovered that the Warthog could be forced into the arena). But in Microsoft's remake, players are free to bring the warthog to the hunter and rough up the unfortunate victim. I imagine the hunters grunting with their dying breaths, “No fair!”
(Oh, and that WooHoo Jump? Grisemer explains: “The landing site should have a ramp with a pack of jackals. Your gunner will always say 'Whoa!' when you get airborne.”)
To be fair, Griesemer's tweet, which has been viewed 2.3 million times, sparked reactions online, with some fans insisting that the change in level layout disrupted the flow of the game, others saying that the change, and others liking it, would make the game more fun. As for Grisemer, in a subsequent tweet, he explained that if Microsoft is going to make Halo's chests dynamic, then they should also redesign encounters that use them as permanent cover. “
he continues: “Most people force the Warthog through because of the Hunters. The introduction of the Hunters is supposed to be intimidating and difficult, but in the light you can understand them. Then you encounter them in an enclosed dark area and they're harder. But then you get rockets and vehicles and turn the tables. It's a three-act play of enemy design that you want to throw into a blender. Well, it'll be easier to go down, but it won't taste as good.”
and: “It’s like a dance remix of a classic song, skipping the intro and bridge and just hitting the chorus over and over again.”
Grisemer later provided One possible explanation for the change: “Upon further analysis, I'm convinced it was because the vehicle was damaged, so you were just as likely to destroy the pig as to get it off the rocks. If anything that made it worse, as all the vehicle tricks no longer worked.”
“Make it an option” is the biggest red flag of dysfunctional design. We don't have a vision of what this should be, here are some tools that will allow you to fix it yourself.
— Jaime Griesemer (@32nds) October 25, 2025
Another issue Griesemer has with Halo: Campaign Evolved is the addition of an optional infinite sprint button. Sprint seems to be the biggest talking point in Halo: Campaign Evolved; while you can choose not to sprint, some say using it would ruin Halo: Campaign Evolved's classic, well-thought-out gameplay pacing, thereby ruining its sense of wonder. Others believe it is essential to fun.
Griesemer also sounds like he doesn't like sprinting in the Halo remake. in another tweethe noted that players were able to rush into Silent Cartographer's axis illustrations so quickly that it ruined the musical transitions. “Who is this for?” he asked.
Then: “If the world isn't suitable for sprinting, you'll be able to easily skip encounters.”
Halo: Campaign Evolved's Stinger also caused quite a bit of confusion. This iconic Halo weapon fires deadly needles at enemies, then explodes after a cool-sounding charge. Needle guns are striking because the ammunition—the needle itself—extends out of the top of the gun, so you can easily see how much ammo you have at any given moment. Still, Microsoft saw fit to add an ammo counter to the needle gun, just in case.
The change caused some ridicule online, and Grisemer clearly didn't like it. “By far the funniest, unnecessary embellishment of the entire announcement,” he said. “I'm not sure that wasn't intended to be sarcastic.”
Then: “But why would you add an ammo counter to a weapon that already has an ammo counter?”
By far the funniest, unnecessary embellishment of the entire announcement. I'm not sure that wasn't intended to be sarcastic.
— Jaime Griesemer (@32nds) October 25, 2025
In response to Griesemer's original tweet on Halo: Campaign Evolved that has now gone viral, one user accused the veteran designer of “crying” over nostalgia. he responded: “Because I did the right thing and they ruined it for no reason.”
he continues: “…I think there are dozens of changes (reload speed, no health packs, drop damage, etc.) that make the game 'smoother', but ultimately less fun.”
After Bungie abandoned Halo to develop Destiny, Microsoft continued to launch Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and 2021's Halo Infinite through 343 Industries. The internet suggests that with these games, Microsoft has been trying to recreate the “magic” of Bungie, for lack of a better term. Of course, Bungie's Halo game will be missed more than Microsoft's. But why is Microsoft struggling so much?
Griesemer was asked this question, and in his answer he revealed his thoughts on remaking Halo and continuing to make new Halo games nearly 25 years after Combat Evolved came out.
“This is no longer the early 2000s.” he said. “Halo fits its era perhaps more than any other game series. So they keep trying to either take Halo away from 2001 and modernize it (which breaks it) or send players back to 2001 with nostalgia (which is impossible).”
“Keep giving them a check.” Remasters and remasters are soul destroying and I feel the same for any developer working on remasters. They can't win, and even if they win, they won't get the credit. It's a bad situation unless you get paid.
— Jaime Griesemer (@32nds) October 25, 2025
Probably not. But anyway, I'm not sure what “remake” means. Nostalgic? A new generation of fans? Have a big art team and you're wondering what to do?
— Jaime Griesemer (@32nds) October 25, 2025
It looks like their music and artificial intelligence remain unchanged. I'm excited to play it on a Sony system.
— Jaime Griesemer (@32nds) October 26, 2025
One of the members of the original Halo team excited about Halo: Combat Evolved is Marcus Lehto, who was the art director on Combat Evolved and thus heavily involved in the iconic look of Halo itself. Lehto recently left now-shuttered Battlefield 6 developer Ridgeline Games.And slammed EA for not properly evaluating former employees), gave a positive review to Halo Studios' work.
“Here's my honest impression of the new Halo campaign evolution,” he said on X/Twitter. “I really like the direction it's going. The game looks and feels authentic. It's gorgeous and I wish we could have originally built it in 2001. It warms my heart to see Halo CE looking like this.”
Halo: Campaign Evolved won't launch until 2026 (probably closer to the game's 25th anniversary in November), so Halo Studio has time to react to some of the feedback it's seeing and make changes – if that's what it wants to do, of course. It might hold its own against things like sprinting, rocks, and the needle gun's ammo counter. Meanwhile, the Halo community is still debating the changes, fussing over every detail and what it means for the tone, feel, and gameplay of Bungie's groundbreaking shooter. I suspect this will be a continuing theme in 2026.
We've got more to come about Halo: Campaign Evolved, including Why this is the final nail in the coffin of Xbox exclusives.
Wesley is IGN News Director. Find him on Twitter: @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or privately at [email protected].