Halo A New Dawn officially announced in jawdropping Unreal Engine 5 trailer

Halo as we know it is getting a rebrand, as 343 Studios has been renamed to Halo Studios, and the future of the franchise now lies with Unreal Engine 5.

As Xbox’s former flagship franchises there was once a time when the announcement of a new Halo game was a worldwide event, but unfortunately the last few games have failed to garner the hype required to keep the series going.

Halo: Infinite was a great return to form, but wasn’t enough to save 343’s version of the universe

Fear not though Halo fans, as it’s been confirmed all future titles will now be made with Unreal Engine 5, and Halo Studios is in the process of hiring fresh talent to make it happen.

In a post on X the Halo brand described the shift as a “New Dawn” and confirmed it’ll be “changing the recipe” for how Halo games are made.

The post continued “we’re looking for teammates to help us bring the next generation of Halo games to life.”

A blogpost and teaser video for Halo in Unreal Engine 5 were also shared, showing us the Master Chief in his Mark V Mjolnir armour from Halo: Combat Evolved.

Chief lights up an Elite’s energy sword with a lovely little crackle and light effect, and we were also treated to some open-world environment shots of what’s presumably Alpha Halo.

All of this seems to be building towards a remake of the first Halo game, rather than a continuation of Halo: Infinite’s story, a shame because some of the story choices they made for that game weren’t half-bad.

It truly sounds like a new beginning for the Halo franchise, and hopefully one that grounds itself in what made the first few Halo games such a global icon, new worlds, lovable characters, and arcade-shooting fun.