Halo games in order: release dates, story order and where to start in 2026

Halo games in order: the quick answer

The Halo games in order of release are Combat Evolved (2001), Halo 2 (2004), Halo 3 (2007), Halo Wars (2009), Halo 3: ODST (2009), Halo: Reach (2010), Halo 4 (2012), Spartan Assault (2013), The Master Chief Collection (2014), Halo 5: Guardians and Spartan Strike (2015), Halo Wars 2 (2017), Halo Infinite (2021) and Halo: Campaign Evolved (July 28, 2026). Listings disagree on ODST, which Digital Trends places in 2010 while Wikipedia gives September 22, 2009.

Story order is different, and that is the part that confuses new players. The in-universe timeline runs Halo Wars (2531), Reach, Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and ODST (all 2552), Halo 3 (2552 to 2553), Spartan Assault (2554), Halo 4 and Spartan Strike (2557), Halo 5 (2558), Halo Wars 2 (2559) and Halo Infinite (2560), per Digital Trends. The rest of this guide explains both orders and which one to follow.

Release order, with the dates that can be sourced

Combat Evolved launched on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the original Xbox, and Halo 2 followed on November 9, 2004, with a Windows Vista version in 2007, according to Wikipedia. Halo 3 arrived on September 25, 2007 on Xbox 360, ODST on September 22, 2009 and Reach on September 14, 2010. Halo Wars, the real-time strategy spin-off, appeared on Xbox 360 in early 2009, with reviews dated February 20 and 21.

Halo 4 launched on November 6, 2012, the first game from 343 Industries, and The Master Chief Collection followed in November 2014 on Xbox One, later reaching PC. Halo 5: Guardians and Spartan Strike came in 2015, Halo Wars 2 in February 2017 on Xbox One and PC at the same time, and Halo Infinite on December 8, 2021. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the 2011 remaster, is a separate release that is folded into the Collection.

Halo chronological order: story order by in-universe year

Following the story order means starting with Halo Wars, set years before the main series in 2531, then Reach, which is a prequel to Combat Evolved and set in 2552. Combat Evolved comes next, then Halo 2, then ODST, which Digital Trends notes takes place within Halo 2's timeline. Halo 3 follows, and Wikipedia confirms Halo 4 picks up years after it.

After that, Digital Trends lists Spartan Assault in 2554, Halo 4 and Spartan Strike in 2557, Halo 5: Guardians in 2558, Halo Wars 2 in 2559 and Halo Infinite in 2560. The honest caveat is that Spartan Strike and Fireteam Raven, the arcade game that takes place during Combat Evolved, fit awkwardly, and neither is needed to follow the main story.

Which order should you play: release or story?

For a first playthrough, play in release order. The main series was written to be played that way, and the story reveals land in the order the writers intended. Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, ODST, Reach, Halo 4, Halo 5 and Halo Infinite is the common recommendation across the guides ranking for this search, and it is the simplest path.

Story order is better for a second pass, when you already know the characters. Starting with Reach means you meet the ending of that game before you know why it matters, which is why it works as a replay but not as an entry point. Halo Wars is the same: it is a strategy game with its own fans, and skipping it costs a new player nothing.

Where to start in 2026: Campaign Evolved or the Master Chief Collection

Halo: Campaign Evolved, released July 28, 2026, remakes the campaign of Combat Evolved in Unreal Engine 5, according to Wikipedia. Halo Studios developed it and Xbox Game Studios published it. It adds three new prequel missions, a set of weapons from later games, vehicle hijacking, a sprint option, 42 Skulls, four-player online co-op and two-player split-screen on consoles. It does not include the original's competitive multiplayer.

It is also the first Halo game on PlayStation. Metacritic lists scores of 77 on PC, 80 on PS5 and 81 on Xbox Series X/S, and Wikipedia says 84 percent of critics recommend it on OpenCritic. If you want the modern version of Halo 1, start there. If you want the whole story on one install, the Master Chief Collection bundles Halo 1 to 4, ODST and Reach, and it is the cheaper way to cover the original run.

What each Halo game is, and who it is for

Combat Evolved set up the ring world and Master Chief, and Halo 2 and Halo 3 finish the original trilogy. ODST is a detour that follows other soldiers in a ruined city, and Reach is the prequel that shows the planet's fall. Halo 4 launched in 2012 under 343 Industries, and Halo 5: Guardians shifts the focus to a squad in 2015.

Halo Infinite, which launched on December 8, 2021, is the most recent mainline game and is the one most players will have heard about. The spin-offs are optional: Halo Wars and Halo Wars 2 are strategy games, and Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike are twin-stick shooters that started on tablets and phones. Nothing in them is required to follow the main plot.

Platforms: where each Halo game can be played now

Platform access is the practical hurdle. Halo 3 and Halo Wars launched on Xbox 360, and the Master Chief Collection started on Xbox One before reaching PC, with a 2020 update bringing Halo 4 to PC, per GameSpot's coverage listed in Wikipedia's references. Halo Wars 2 shipped on Xbox One and PC at the same time in February 2017.

Campaign Evolved is available on Windows, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, and press coverage reports it launched on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass the same day. Check your own platform's store for current availability, since catalogues and prices shift, and the figures above are launch-time details rather than today's prices.

Common mix-ups: ODST dates, remasters and the Collection

The most common error in Halo lists is the ODST year, which sources split between 2009 and 2010. Wikipedia gives September 22, 2009, and a GameSpot review is dated September 21, 2009, so 2009 is the safer date. Another is treating Combat Evolved Anniversary, the 2011 remaster, as a separate entry in the story. It is the same campaign, and the Master Chief Collection and now Campaign Evolved are the ways most players meet it.

A third mix-up is counting every title as a mainline game. Spartan Assault arrived on Windows 8 tablets and phones in 2013 and reached Steam in 2014, and Spartan Strike followed in 2015. Both are optional spin-offs. If you only want the story that the Master Chief carries, the list is short: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5 and Infinite, with ODST and Reach as companion stories.

The Halo franchise in numbers

Wikipedia puts game sales at more than 81 million copies worldwide as of February 2021 and the franchise at $6 billion in total sales in 2021, of which $1.8 billion came from non-game merchandise. Combat Evolved had sold 4.2 million copies by July 2006, Halo 2 sold 8 million, ODST more than 3 million, and Reach more than 4.7 million by September 2011.

Those figures are dated and come from a secondary source, so treat them as a sense of scale rather than a current count. They matter mainly because they explain why Xbox keeps returning to the series, including the 2026 move onto PlayStation.