Halo Campaign Evolved's three new missions were inspired by Troy Denning's Halo books, but Halo Studios would recommend playing them after finishing the original story — 'It is meant to be played that way' | Tech Radar

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Halo Campaign Evolved's three new missions were inspired by Troy Denning's Halo books, but Halo Studios would recommend playing them after finishing the original story — 'It is meant to be played that way'

Exploring Sergeant Johnson and Chief's relationship "set the stage for us creatively"

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Halo Campaign Evolved's executive producer, Damian Kahn, says the team wanted to explore the relationship between Sergeant Johnson and Master Chief for the three new missions

The new missions were also inspired by Troy Denning's Halo novels

Halo Studios suggests players play them after the original story

Halo Campaign Evolved executive producer Damian Kahn and creative director Max Schlomberg have confirmed that the remake's three new missions were created with the help of Halo book author Troy Denning.

In an interview with Tech Radar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026, where we went hands-on with the upcoming game, the developers explained that the Halo universe has a lot to explore, but they wanted to explore the relationship between Sergeant Johnson and Master Chief in the missions of Operation: METEORITE.

"If you think about it, in the original game, you see Sergeant Johnson as such an important character in these original games, but you don't really get to know Sergeant Johnson that well, or his relationship with Chief," Kahn said. "That really set the stage for us creatively to think about, 'Hey, let's talk about a mission that they went on a year before the events of The Ring,' and then really to go into their relationship and how they fight alongside each other.

"Even beyond that, there's all this other universe. You've got Spartans and ODSTs. You've got the Brutes. You've got the Prophets. It's really just us leaning into these other elements of the story that we can tell more deeply, that then let you go back and appreciate more of the campaign and what's there."

Schlomberg added that Troy Denning, one of the authors who writes some of the Halo novels, like Halo: Last Light, Halo: Retribution, and Halo: Silent Storm - A Master Chief Story, also "helped with the story" of the three missions.

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"It's a lore-authentic story," he said, explaining that series veterans who have been fans for 25 years and played on Xbox or PC are going to get new bits of information that they've been wanting, allowing them to "piece more of the puzzle together," such as the Covenant War.

"It's really going to be fun for them," Schlomberg added. "But then also, if you're brand new to the experience, maybe you're a Play Station player, you've never played before, and this is going to be something that would be really good to play after you play the main ring storyline."

However, the creative director suggests that players play the new missions "after they've played and experienced the original."

"It is meant to be played that way, because we've made it more of an intermediate difficulty experience, it's a little bit progressed further along. You start off, and it's a little bit more challenging than the first mission of Halo," he said.

"But again, you can play it in any order you would like. We're not going to make you choose or anything like that, but we just suggest that you play it that way."

Halo Campaign Evolved arrives on July 28 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC.

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Demi is a freelance games journalist who helps cover gaming news at Tech Radar. She's been a games writer for five years and has written for outlets such as Game Spot, NME, and Games Radar, covering news, features, and reviews. Outside of writing, she plays a lot of RPGs and talks far too much about Star Wars on X.

Rob Dwiar Managing Editor, Tech Radar Gaming and Streaming

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Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards