It’s official: 343 Industries is no more. No, it’s not the latest Microsoft studio to feel the axe. Instead, it’s getting a full rebrand as ‘Halo Studios’, and we’ve just learned a heck of a lot about what the team has in the pipeline.

Halo’s Had a Makeover

First off, we got an exciting trailer showcasing scenery from Halo looking far more detailed than we’ve ever seen before. How did the team achieve this? Well, with the power of Unreal Engine 5. In its first order of business, Halo Studios has announced that all future projects will use the engine.

The move was necessitated so the team could move away from juggling development of Slipspace, the proprietary engine, and actual Halo gameplay content. While it’s a shame to see any engine fall by the wayside, we’re pretty excited to see what the team can achieve with its full focus on Halo.

We’ve already had a taste of that, courtesy of its first Unreal Engine project, ‘Foundry’. This isn’t a game – it’s more of an opportunity for the development team to see what it can achieve within Unreal Engine 5. It answers several questions: will Halo still look and, more crucially, feel like Halo?

Unreal Engine 5 Introduces More Options

Looking to the future though, what can new Unreal Engine-powered technology bring to the series? Well, it seems the team is excited to use technology like Nanite and Lumen.

Foundry showcases Halo Studios’ achievements so far, and it’s impressive stuff. Every single screenshot on this page is taken from the Foundry project, and it both looks comfortingly familiar yet progressive.

You can 100% take this as an indication of where the franchise is heading visually, as Halo Studios was keen for Foundry to represent what a future Halo could look like.

The Future of Halo is as Bright as Lumen

But let’s talk about the future of Halo. In the immediate aftermath of these announcements, work on Halo Infinite will continue. We didn’t get the impression that it will get an Unreal Engine 5 update though, sadly. That’s sticking with Slipspace Engine for now.

What we do know though, is that several Halo games are currently in development. This ambitious undertaking was made possible thanks to internal restructuring, which saw several teams set up to work on different games, rather than putting all eggs in one basket as it did with Halo Infinite.

You can read more about the huge changes coming to Halo on the official Xbox site. If you’re in the mood to play, go ahead and grab Halo Infinite for free on Steam or Xbox.

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