It’s been an interesting launch period for Halo: Campaign Evolved. Despite reviewing well, the game has failed to sell particularly well on PS5, where the low-effort Black Ops 1 and 2 ports seemingly outsold the Microsoft title 16-to-1. After the game shipped, multiple contract positions were terminated, and players have been taking umbrage with some of the mechanical and artistic changes to the game.
The latest criticism for Campaign Evolved comes from Halo co-creator and ‘father of Master Chief’ Marcus Lehto, who seems irritated by the changes developer Halo Studios has made to the ancient Forerunner technology that so much of the game is based on. Quick primer: the Halo ring you land on is actually one massive technological construct, created by a now-extinct species of alien. Lehto, it seems, is unimpressed by the changes Halo Studios has made to how we view their physical legacy.
“While Forerunner tech was metal (not stone), it was also ancient, vast, alive, and a tomb to the horrors that lurked within.” he writes in a tweet. “It had seen hundreds of millennia of conflict. Yet the game shows it as shiny metal that looks like it was built a few years ago.” He posts a comparison image, which you can see below.
This ring – or, well, Halo – is pretty iconic for anyone that knows the series: it’s the first thing you see when you boot up the main game, as that imposing choral melody plays in the background of the main menu. Given the intentionality of this, how it sets the scene and communicates a lot about what’s to come to a new player, Lehto is unimpressed: “The main menu ring is the most offensive thing we see every time we boot up the game. It should feel massive, dark, mysterious, sinister, but also full of wonder. This new ring looks like a shiny new toy – out of scale, no mystery, damn ugly.”
He goes on to note that the background the ring is set against (originally moody, unremarkable space) is different, too: per Lehto, in the lore, the Halo ring that Chief sets foot on in the first Halo game resides far out on the fringe of the Milky Way galaxy – in Campaign Evolved, we see that in the background.
Lehto concedes that the original team at Bungie was “all over the place back in 2000” when it came to the art direction of the Forerunner species, but that “Halo Studios went too far in the wrong direction.” I’m willing to take Lehto’s complaints somewhat seriously; he’s not just been popping off random criticism at the game from the start. Before launch, he was actually enthused about the whole project. Clearly, the final product has left him a little sour.
Will Halo Studios make any changes for the almost-confirmed Halo 2 remake in the future? Lehto has not worked on the Halo series since 2011, but given that he is an instrumental figure in the series history, you’d think Xbox and Halo Studios would pay attention to his grievances.
