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Gaming Halo: Campaign Evolved

The Halo: CE remake will feature the ‘most skulls’ of any campaign

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The Halo: CE remake will feature the 'most skulls' of any campaign
The Halo: CE remake will feature the 'most skulls' of any campaign

In many regards, Halo: Campaign Evolved is a one-to-one remake of 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved. But there’s one way in which this latest iteration is shaking things up: According to its developers, the remake will feature more skulls — gameplay modifiers that increase the challenge — than any previous Halo game.

Skulls, collectibles that are quite literally shaped like human skulls, are tucked away in hard-to-reach or easily missible segments of Halo campaign levels. Once you find one, you unlock it permanently, and can then apply its effect the next time you load up a campaign level. (Skulls are also used in Firefight, Halo’s horde mode.) The intent here is to encourage players to replay campaigns: When you go to play a Halo level a second time with a skull activated, you’ll get a different experience than you would have the first time.

“I love the replayability that skulls bring to a campaign, and there’s almost endless variety,” Brian Jarrard, community director at Halo Studios, said in an October video roundtable about Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Image: Halo Studios/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon

Historically, skulls have heightened the difficulty of Halo campaigns. The Famine skull, for instance, reduces how much ammo appears in weapons you pick up. Catch causes NPCs (friend and foe) to throw more grenades, while Blind removes your HUD. But some are more innocuous. The IWHBYD skull — which stands for “I would have been your daddy,” a reference to a famous one-liner from longtime Master Chief ally Sergeant Johnson — causes enemies to say rare, often humorous lines in combat. And the ever-popular Grunt Birthday Party skull makes it so, every time you land a headshot on a grunt, it’ll explode in confetti as a bunch of children scream “yay!”

The previous game in the series, 2021’s Halo Infinite, featured 12 skulls. There were 13 in 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians. After years of updates, Halo: The Master Chief Collection now contains 38 skulls across its four games. But Halo: Campaign Evolved will feature dozens at launch.

“I mean, [it’s the] most skulls we’ve ever had,” creative director Max Szlagor told Polygon in an October interview at Halo Studios. “We’re really trying to explore, make sure we bring over skulls that folks love, that we’ve had before, as well as pushing into some new territory with ’em.”

Szlagor declined to say which skulls will be in Halo: Campaign Evolved beyond broadly noting they’ll “offer some new visuals, some new gameplay options. We’re pretty excited about ’em. We’ll have more to share in the near future.”

Image: Halo Studios/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon

That said, some have been officially confirmed. In B-roll footage aired during the roundtable interview, you can see a developer designing a skull. Text on the screen includes phrases like “floor is lava,” “stun shield on touch,” and “stun body on touch,” implying there might be a modifier that forces players to navigate levels without touching the ground. Additionally, a representative for Halo Studios confirmed to Polygon in an email that Campaign Evolved will also feature a skull that makes vehicles invincible, allowing players to recreate the popular “Warthog jump” exploit.

“We’re always talking about new skull opportunities,” Campaign Evolved executive producer Damon Conn told Polygon in an October interview at Halo Studios. “As producer, I’m like, ‘OK, like, what? Max…’”

Conn declined to say which skulls Campaign Evolved’s creative team pitched that he had to shoot down as a producer. “No, no, no, I can’t do that,” Conn said, laughing. “You can ask me [for] that one after we ship.”

Regardless of which skulls Halo: Campaign Evolved has at launch, Halo fans will likely end up returning to their old tricks. One popular playthrough style is called LASO — or “legendary all skulls on,” a reference to playing through the campaign on the hardest difficulty level with every single skull turned on. It’s a feat in any Halo game, but speaking in the October roundtable video, lead game designer Dan Gniady expressed skepticism that anyone could pull it off in Halo: Campaign Evolved.

“I don’t think so. I mean, there’s a lot,” Gniady said. “So if you can do a true legendary all skulls on run, let us know, because I’d love to see it. I think that’d be really hard.”


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