I was pleasantly surprised by the Xbox Showcase overall this year. Seeing Marcus in normal clothes was rather funny, but Gears of War E-Day looks as gnarly as ever. Clockwork Revolution is a very promising time-bending steampunk RPG, and a hit of Bioshock nostalgia. I’m already sold on Vivarium, the most charming Ghibli-esque life sim I’ve ever seen.
Of all the games that Xbox showed off, I’m sad that I was most disappointed by Halo. We got a fresh look at the creatively named Campaign Evolved during the showcase, and it looks fun—I like Combat Evolved. More specifically, we got a look at Operation Meteorite, three brand-new missions featuring the Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson, set a year before the main story. I’m looking forward to playing through Operation Meteorite, and I’m glad there’s something actually new coming with the remake.
However, Xbox’s mascot has been treading water essentially since Microsoft set up 343 Industries to shepherd it into the future after Bungie’s departure. That was almost 15 years ago, by the way. Halo 4 was alright. Halo 5’s campaign was terrible, but I enjoyed the (controversial) multiplayer quite a bit.
And the promised next evolution, Halo Infinite, was actually very finite it turns out, after the team announced at the end of 2025 that it would shift focus from live-service support to creating new games. That’s for the better though, honestly.
In 2024, Xbox even rebranded 343 to Halo Studios, which I thought would finally put the series on track and usher in a second golden age for everyone’s favourite green, gun-toting spaceman. But so far, all we’ve got is yet another rehash of Halo Combat Evolved.
If there’s anything the Xbox Showcase was missing—apart from the awkward elephant in the room that is The Elder Scrolls 6—it was a clear plan for Halo. I’m sure Halo 7 is coming at some point, but there are a lot of questions and, personally, a lot of doubt. Perhaps it’s time we moved on from the Chief, dare I say it, and told some new stories that didn’t feel so tethered to a past that it can’t live up to.
While Xbox is in ‘the future is going backwards’ era—with all-caps XBOX rebranding, a classic (albeit beautiful) transparent special edition console, and console exclusives (sometimes)—it’s such a shame that Halo’s stuck in the mud.
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