Halo Upgrades to Unreal Engine 5 with Stunning First Footage

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. However, things are changing, and the studio is now shifting to Unreal Engine 5.

A New Era for Halo

The shift to Unreal Engine 5 has caught our attention, as the series has used its own technology for decades. The existing Slipspace technology is up to 25 years old, dating back to the development of the original Halo: Combat Evolved for OG Xbox. This change could bring a seismic shift in presentation and development.

Benefits of Unreal Engine 5

By shifting to Unreal Engine 5, Halo Studio benefits in several 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. This could solve limitations of Slipspace, such as unconvincing indirect lighting, shadow quality, and level of detail.

Project Foundry Tech Demo

The Project Foundry tech demo presents classic Halo imagery as viewed through the lens of UE5. 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.

Challenges Ahead

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. UE5 is also very heavy on the CPU, especially when ray tracing features are used. However, the tools are there, and on the PC side, there is support for the latest RT, frame generation, and upscaling technologies.

The future of Halo looks promising, and we’re rooting for the team. With the reset button pressed, we’re genuinely looking forward to what the future holds.