The Halo franchise has endured a tumultuous decade under the stewardship of 343 Industries – the studio purpose-built to shepherd the series forward in the wake of Bungie’s split with Microsoft. While 343 has delivered new Halo entries and remasters, it’s fair to say that it’s been a bumpy ride, culminating in a late launch for Halo Infinite and questions surrounding the game’s content and delivery. Things are changing, however. Radically so, perhaps. 343 Industries is now Halo Studio, while 343’s bespoke Slipspace engine is giving way to Unreal Engine 5. A ‘Project Foundry’ demo gives us some idea of the ambition ahead – and we’re optimistic.
It’s the shift to Unreal Engine 5 that has really caught our attention as the series has used its own technology for decades. Indeed, it’s said that some code within the existing Slipspace technology is up to 25 years old, dating it to the development of the original Halo: Combat Evolved for OG Xbox – so we can perhaps expect a seismic shift in presentation and development.
Perhaps that is for the best. Slipspace debuted in spectacular fashion with the initial Halo Infinite engine trailer, with legitimate questions about how the technology would scale over Xbox One and Xbox Series generations. 343 delivered on cross-gen, but it’s safe to say that the full scope of the original vision didn’t make it to the final game – indeed, only one of the demonstrated biomes made it to the shipping game.
By shifting to Unreal Engine 5, Halo Studio benefits in a number of ways. It has access to a state-of-the-art current generation renderer that scales to whatever hardware is demanded of it. It also has access to the incredible work on the engine carried out by partner studio, The Coalition, one of the acknowledged masters of the technology. And that will be needed, bearing in mind the many troubles the engine has – particularly on the PC side. Limitations of Slipspace – such as unconvincing indirect lighting, shadow quality and level of detail could and should be solved by UE5’s Lumen and Nanite. There are production advantages too. Microsoft’s controversial approach to contract workers is challenging when working with custom engines, while familiarity with UE5 should come with the territory at this point.
While access to key rendering features like Lumen, Nanite and virtual shadow maps should be game-changing for Halo Studio, there are other advantages too. While Halo 5’s character rendering was first class, something went badly wrong with Halo Infinite, where in-game characters looked considerably less impressive. A shift to UE5 brings with it Metahuman technology and routes forward for more custom solutions, with the astonishing Hellblade 2 giving some example of what’s possible there.
There are challenges ahead though. Unreal Engine 5 has significant issues, especially on PC, where shader compilation and traversal stuttering never seems too far away – even on the most ambitious, mega-budget triple-A fare. UE5 is also very heavy on the CPU, especially when ray tracing features are used – and they’re definitely in play within the Project Foundry footage. There may also be the temptation to use stock Unreal Engine effects, many of which would be at odds with the visual aesthetic of the Halo games. Still, at the very least, the tools are there and on the PC side, there is support for the latest RT, frame generation and upscaling technologies – areas where Halo Infinite definitely let the side down.
All of which leads us to the Project Foundry tech demo, which presents classic Halo imagery as viewed through the lens of UE5. Where Slipstream’s lighting felt quite basic, Lumen is potentially a game-changer, with more natural-looking indirect light spilling around characters and surfaces in a much more authentic manner. Reflections are more realistic thanks to RT, as seen in the Master Chief’s visor, which doesn’t just reflect the ‘horns’ of his helmet, but the surrounding environment too. Lumen’s ability to handle shadow casting from multiple light sources could also be a good match for Halo’s atmospheric lighting, enhancing immersion and mood.
Nanite micro-geometry could potentially eliminate pop-in completely, with the Project Foundry footage looking stable and consistent, while there’s scope here for increased environmental density – the caveat being that current UE5 titles with Halo-style ‘open worlds’ are plagued with traversal stutter, something that must not be a part of any future game in the series. Again, we’d hope to see cross-pollination of UE5 customisations and best practices across the stable of Microsoft studios – with all eyes on The Coalition’s Gears: E-Day as the exemplar.
Attribution
All of which brings us to the big multi-platform question, something we tried to address in a Eurogamer post earlier this week. The Project Foundry footage – and indeed everything shown on the developers’ monitors within the surrounding video – presented as quintessential Halo. With over 20 years or lore under its belt, perhaps there is an argument that moving the series to all systems that can support it should go hand-in-hand with a reboot of some description. We don’t know, but with multiple Halo projects in development, multi-platform may make sense for Microsoft and UE5 is certainly an enabler there.
Could the outgoing Slipspace technology come to PS5? Well, it would be no more challenging than other bespoke engines that have straddled multiple systems and if Halo Infinite (or even just the multiplayer component) comes to PS5, Halo Studio may be porting the technology to PS5 anyway. Whatever’s happening at Halo Studio looks like a serious investment – one that Microsoft would want maximal return on.
Whatever shape or form the projects take, we’re rooting for the team. The last few years have been challenging for the developers and a bold strategy was needed – and this is it. Halo deserves its comeback, becoming relevant and interesting again. And we just hope that this includes embracing the importance of the campaign – in both single-player and co-op forms – as well as the large-scale live service offering that Infinite tried to be. The reset button has been pressed and we’re genuinely looking forward to what the future holds.