Jaime Griesemer, level designer on the original Halo: Combat Evolved, has criticized the upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolved for some of the design decisions in the remake. Early gameplay of Halo: Campaign Evolved has left Griesemer frustrated enough to voice his opinion on the remake’s choices, specifically surrounding some of the work he did on the original almost 25 years ago.
It feels as though Halo: Campaign Evolved is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Modernizing a game originally released almost 25 years ago is pretty much a necessity in a remake of this scale, which could lead to some decisions that players find unpopular. It was already confirmed that Halo: Campaign Evolved is adding sprint, a feature that has always been controversial in this franchise. It’s a delicate balance for Halo Studios to strike.
Halo: Combat Evolved Level Designer Criticizes Upcoming Remake
In the wake of Halo: Campaign Evolved‘s reveal, level designer on the original game, Jaime Griesemer, shared his thoughts in a thread on X. He took particular issue with one area of The Silent Cartographer in particular, pointing out that “you aren’t supposed to be able to take the Warthog up to steamroll the Hunters,” claiming he “intentionally placed rocks in the way so you had to fight them on foot.” When questioned about his frustrations, Griesemer said, “Because I made it right and they are breaking it for no reason.”
In the original, players could perform some trickery to get the Warthog into the Hunter fight, but it took a lot of work, which Griesemer says he “literally spent most of a day making it discouraging and difficult but not impossible.” In the remake, players can simply drive up to the Hunters and easily beat them with the back turret.
The extensive thread had plenty of thoughts about the Halo: Combat Evolved remake, very few of them positive. Griesemer raised the point of Halo‘s broader struggle to find its place in modern gaming, suggesting it “needs to be left fallow for a generation. Then total reboot.” With Halo: Campaign Evolved and its PlayStation debut seemingly representing a renewed commitment to the franchise from Microsoft, it feels unlikely that Halo is going anywhere anytime soon.
It has already been confirmed that Halo: Campaign Evolved will be making some changes to level design, particularly areas where Halo Studios believe there is significant room for improvement (The Library). But the extent of these changes throughout the broader campaign remains to be seen, and equally, it’s difficult to predict whether they’ll be well received or not.
- Released
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2026
- Developer(s)
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Halo Studios
- Publisher(s)
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Microsoft Studios
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op
