Halo: Combat Evolved Remake To Overhaul Game's Worst Level

The devs behind the newly announced Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the 2001 release of Halo: Combat Evolved, have already revealed that they have plans to overhaul the worst mission in the original campaign. And there are no prizes for figuring out which one they’re referring to.

I don’t think there’s any debate as to which mission in Halo: Combat Evolved is the worst; it’s The Library.

Much like a real library, it’s confusing to navigate and full of weird, creepy lifeforms. The Library is so infamous that many consider it to be one of the worst missions in video game history, but I think that’s a bit of a stretch.

Personally, it’s just a slightly bad level in an otherwise brilliant campaign, although the quality of the missions that precede it might explain why it sticks out so much.

When remastering the original campaign in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the devs at 343 Industries opted to make some light, yet faithful changes to the level for its Xbox re-release. Nothing too big, just a few tweaks to the lighting and textures to make finding your way around simpler.

It certainly helped make navigating The Library easier, but it unfortunately didn’t change how overly long the mission is. Still, it was an admirable effort.

Halo Campaign Evolved official image from the Xbox Wire blog, Microsoft

However, in contrast to 343 Industries’ approach, the devs behind Halo: Campaign Evolved are instead choosing to get drastic with their alterations.

As detailed in a post over on the official Xbox Wire blog (thank you to Kotaku for the source), Microsoft has revealed that the “seventh campaign mission is a key example of where it felt right to make tweaks” in a bid to “create a new experience that balances nostalgia with the expectations of today’s gamers”.

“We learned from Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary that there was still an appetite for things like better wayfinding, navigation, and diversity in enemy encounters,” stated Max Szlagor, Creative Director.

“In The Library specifically, which features several Flood encounters, we wanted to reevaluate the pacing and enhance the environmental storytelling. We’ve added new lines to Guilty Spark, which guide players through the level, and there’s new dialogue that gives more insight into the narrative as it plays out.”

Now, before you get too worried, Szlagor outright stated that they’re “not changing the stories” in Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign, and that they’re only focusing on “refining and adding context”.

However, they did also state that “other levels” are getting some tweaks too… which does make me a little concerned, because I don’t think there’s much outside of The Library that needs changing.