Halo: Campaign Evolved introduces a special modifier that allows you to play the upcoming remake in third-person. That's a big shift, given the franchise is best known for its first-person perspective.

Campaign Evolved isn't third-person by default. Instead, players must toggle on one of the game's 42 gameplay-modifying Skulls to play in third-person. The specific Skull you need for third-person is called Perspective.

For anyone new to Halo, Skulls are collectibles that players can find during campaign missions that unlock modifiers. Exactly how to find the Perspective Skull, however, remains a mystery for now. Check out the new gameplay footage for the third-person mode below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woUnTCVv9JU

The Halo series has featured limited third-person gameplay before, as games like Halo 3 allowed players to briefly enter third-person when driving vehicles and after ripping off chainguns.

Campaign Evolved includes 26 legacy Skulls from past Halo games, along with 16 new ones, one of which is Perspective. Another new one is called Floor Is Lava, and with this one, players take damage every time they touch the ground. The Speed Limit Skull, meanwhile, prevents players from sprinting. The original Halo: Combat Evolved didn't have sprint, so you can use this Skull for an OG experience.

You can see a list of all the legacy and new Skulls for Campaign Evolved below, as shared by Halo Studios.

Additionally, Halo Studios announced a new Campaign Remix feature for Campaign Evolved. This is a new mode that lets players replay completed missions with randomized enemies, different weapon pickups, and new visibility effects. Players need to collect any two Skulls to unlock Campaign Remix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZFVVcEM38c

The developers said at a group interview at Summer Game Fest attended by GameSpot that the Campaign Remix mode gives players yet another way to replay missions and experience them in new ways. "It really is a completely different way of playing the game, and really makes those missions feel very different," Halo Studios said.

GameSpot played some of the remade missions for Halo: Campaign Evolved at Summer Game Fest recently, and we came away pretty unimpressed.

Halo: Campaign Evolved launches on July 28 for $50, and in addition to coming to the places you’d expect like Xbox and PC, it will also be available on PS5. People who pay more for the $70 premium edition can start playing on July 23.

There is no multiplayer support in Halo: Campaign Evolved, but another upcoming Halo game is rumored to be like Fortnite with a live-service multiplayer approach.

Preorders for Halo: Campaign Evolved are live now, for the game's standard and premium editions.

Preorder at Amazon

Legacy Skulls AngryEnemies fire their weapons faster and more frequentlyBlack EyeYour shields will only recharge when you melee enemiesBlindHUD and Weapons do not appear onscreenCatchEnemies throw and drop more grenadesEye PatchAll auto-aim is disabled for all weaponsFamineWeapons dropped by enemies contain half the ammoFogMotion Tracker is disabledForeignPlayers cannot use weapons from another factionIronDying in co-op resets you to your last checkpoint, dying while solo restarts the levelMythicEnemies have increased healthRecessionEvery shot expends twice the normal amount of ammoThat's Just... WrongEnemies have increased awareness of the playerThunderstormUpgrades the rank of most enemiesTough LuckEnemies always go berserk, constantly dive out of the way, and never run away from a fightBandanaInfinite ammo and grenadesBoomExplosion radius is increased by 2xGhostEnemies no longer flinch when taking fireGrunt Birthday PartyGrunt headshots produce legendary celebrationsGrunt FuneralGrunts die in a blaze of plasmaMalfunctionUpon respawn a random element of your HUD no longer appearsPiñataPunching enemies makes them drop inert grenadesCowbellPhysics mass of objects is reduced, making them more easily displacedThey Come BackFlood Combat Forms reanimated by Infection Forms are much more dangerousIWHBYDIt would have been your dialogueTiltEnhances both positive and negative damage multipliers. 
EX: Plasma does MORE damage against shields, but LESS damage against healthAcrophobiaThe Corps: Now issue rifles AND wings...  New Skulls Speed LimitTake your time, enjoy the sights! Disables sprintPopShooting Flood in their weak point causes them to explodeEndurance SpecUNSC vehicles cannot be damagedGive & TakeFiring your weapon drains your shield, but dealing damage to enemies recharges itStowed ReloadWeapons continue to reload while stowedHip FireAll weapon zoom functionality is disabledTemperamentalAllies will attack the player more quickly if the player kills a friendlyFloor is LavaTake continuous damage whenever touching the “ground” Magnified60-round magazines for the AR are now standard-issue Johnny Ammo SeedWhen reloading you lose the ammo remaining in the discarded clipLeadheadHeadshots no longer provide extra damage or instant killsEfficientEnemies killed while the player is at full health drop more ammoPerspectiveChanges the player camera to third-personAdaptationRandomizes the enemy factions present in the missionReloadRandomizes the pre-placed weapons for the missionArmisticeEnemy factions never fight one another

Gears of War: E-Day was reportedly planned for PlayStation 5, but Microsoft has opted to skip a Sony version. The decision was apparently not made at the last minute as some suspected. In any event, the developers at The Coalition are OK with the game skipping PS5, even if it means reaching fewer players, and presumably making less money, overall.

The Coalition studio creative director Matt Searcy told Eurogamer, that, "We never talked about" bringing E-Day to PS5 in the first place. That is true--the game was never even confirmed for PS5, but people suspected it would come to Sony's flagship console considering 2025's Gears of War Reloaded did and because Microsoft has been more receptive to launching its games on rival platforms in recent times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh5Swf5p4jo

However, after Asha Sharma was named Xbox CEO, things seemingly changed, as Sharma began to shift back to exclusives to help revive an Xbox brand that Microsoft said was languishing under the leadership of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond.

Searcy went on to say that E-Day as an Xbox-exclusive game "makes a ton of sense," going on to say it's "an honor, and exciting" to be an exclusive next to Clockwork Revolution.

The developer added that it would be "awesome" if more people got to play E-Day, "but for Xbox and PC, you've got what is out there."

Art director Aryan Hanbeck, meanwhile, said, "We're not too concerned about the size of the audience. We've shipped to audiences smaller before, and there are great shooters on Xbox already."

"Focus on the future"

In an interview with Game Informer, Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty addressed the exclusivity issue as well. He was asked if Microsoft is doing a disservice to fans by bringing Reloaded to PS5, getting those fans excited about Gears of War, and then making E-Day exclusive to Xbox. Booty didn't respond directly but suggested that things changed when Sharma took over as Xbox CEO.

"We've had an opportunity with Asha coming in to really take a look at our strategy and, I'd say, put the focus on the future. I think that it's that focus out of which that decision came," he said.

Microsoft's policy around exclusives going forward is that big, multiplayer live-service games will continue to be released on a multiplatform basis (except E-Day, which does also have multiplayer), while games that were already announced--publicly or otherwise--for platforms beyond Xbox will still come to those systems. With respect to new games, however, Booty said Microsoft is going to be "really thoughtful about what we do" for future exclusives.

"I think, in general, you can look for us that when we put a date on something, we're going to put a platform on it. So that's going to be the approach. I think the thing that ties those two things together that you talked about is really a drive for that clarity," he said. "We want there to be a reason to believe and a reason to buy Xbox, and for there to be a reward for our loyal fans."

For her part, Sharma recently told Fortune, "It's hard to find examples of platforms out there that don't have exclusive services and content."

She added: "This is a journey for us. Our business isn't particularly healthy. We're starting by introducing 1-2 signature exclusives, and as the business is healthy, we'll look to try and do more."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0hMSekk4XE

E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not timed-exclusives for Xbox, Microsoft has said, suggesting they may never come to PS5. That being said, Microsoft said Starfield was not a timed exclusive for Xbox, and then it came to PS5.

As for E-Day, the new Gears of War game releases in October, and a multiplayer beta is coming ahead of launch. After playing the game at Summer Game Fest, we found it to be bigger, bolder, and more ambitious than we expected.

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced on June 10, 2018--that is now a full eight years ago. In the 2,920 days that have transpired, Bethesda has not released a single new image or trailer for it, or even discussed the game in an official capacity beyond small quotes here and there.

The game did not show up at the recent Xbox Games Showcase, prompting some people to wonder how it's coming together and when Bethesda may show it off again. Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty addressed this in an interview with Variety, saying one of the hard parts of his job is deciding what to show, and when, during high-profile showcases.

"You want to get them excited early, but we also know that we want to wait till the right moment. And when you decide to show it, you want it to be the best you’ve got," he said. "And also that when you show the game, you’re also giving them a promise of, hey, it’s coming soon."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQcnDNd3P7Q

Booty was speaking generally here, but he also talked specifically about The Elder Scrolls 6. He said he has sat down with game director Todd Howard as he played it, and Booty remarked that the game "looks amazing" and is "coming along well."

As for when Bethesda may show the game again? The developer is waiting for the "right time," Booty said.

Howard has questioned whether it was the right call to announce The Elder Scrolls 6 so early. “I have asked myself that a lot,” he said. “I don’t know. I probably would’ve announced it more casually.”

He later said announcing The Elder Scrolls 6 in the way that Bethesda did was "not my preference," but it happened anyway.

He went on to joke: “Just pretend we didn’t announce it. It doesn’t exist. No one has heard a word.”

One of the reasons that The Elder Scrolls 6 might have been announced so early was for the purposes of recruiting staff to work on it. This is a common practice in gaming.