The Halo series runs from the original Xbox launch title in 2001 to this summer’s Halo: Campaign Evolved, and the release order and the story order are not the same list. Below is every mainline game, spin-off, and remaster in the order it shipped, then the same games rearranged by where they sit on the timeline, then our pick for where a new player should begin.
The timing matters more than usual. On September 22, 2026, Xbox announced that the franchise is moving to Activision, which will build the next Halo with a new team kept separate from Call of Duty, while a smaller Halo Studios group stays on to support the games already out. We covered the full memo in our story on Xbox handing Halo to Activision. Whatever comes next, the sixteen entries below are the complete catalogue as it stands today, and almost all of it is on Game Pass.
Release Order
1. Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
Bungie’s original launched alongside the first Xbox on November 15, 2001, and Halo Waypoint still marks the anniversary every year. It introduced the Master Chief, Cortana, the Covenant, and the ringworld itself over a ten-mission campaign. Where to play it today: the remastered Combat Evolved Anniversary inside Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox, Steam, and Game Pass, or the full 2026 remake, Halo: Campaign Evolved (entry 16).
2. Halo 2 (2004)
Halo 2 arrived on November 9, 2004, a date Halo Waypoint’s own twentieth-anniversary piece calls the moment the game “became a universe.” The campaign follows the Covenant’s surprise attack on Earth and, for the first time, lets you play as the Arbiter across 15 missions. Where to play it today: Halo 2: Anniversary in The Master Chief Collection on Xbox, Steam, and Game Pass.
3. Halo 3 (2007)
Bungie closed the original trilogy on September 25, 2007, on Xbox 360, and Xbox Wire reported over a million Xbox Live members playing within the first 20 hours. The story finishes the fight between the Covenant, the Flood, and humanity. Where to play it today: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox, Steam, and Game Pass, or the Xbox 360 version through backward compatibility on Xbox One and Series X|S.
4. Halo Wars (2009)
Ensemble Studios built this Xbox 360 real-time strategy game, which launched in 2009 and puts you in command of the crew of the Spirit of Fire. Per Xbox Wire, the story is set more than two decades before the Master Chief lands on Installation 04. Where to play it today: Halo Wars: Definitive Edition (April 20, 2017) on Xbox, the Microsoft Store, and Steam, and it is included with Game Pass on PC.
5. Halo 3: ODST (2009)
ODST launched on September 22, 2009, and drops you into New Mombasa as a squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers instead of a Spartan. Halo Waypoint describes it as set during the events of Halo 2, when the Prophet of Regret’s ship jumps out of the city. Where to play it today: the ODST campaign inside The Master Chief Collection on Xbox, Steam, and Game Pass, plus the Xbox 360 version through backward compatibility.
6. Halo: Reach (2010)
Bungie’s final Halo shipped on Xbox 360 in fall 2010 and tells the story of Noble Team during the fall of the planet Reach, humanity’s last line of defense before Earth. Its own store page sums up the prequel framing in one line: “From the beginning, you know the end.” Where to play it today: Reach was the first title added to The Master Chief Collection on PC in December 2019, and the Xbox 360 version is backward compatible.
7. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (2011)
Released on November 15, 2011, for the game’s tenth birthday, this was 343 Industries’ first shipped Halo: a remastered version of the original campaign with a toggle between old and new visuals, plus seven multiplayer maps. Where to play it today: it is one of the six games in The Master Chief Collection on Xbox, Steam, and Game Pass, and the Xbox 360 release is backward compatible.
8. Halo 4 (2012)
Halo 4 launched on November 6, 2012, on Xbox 360, and Halo Waypoint calls it the debut mainline entry from 343 Industries. The Master Chief wakes shipwrecked on a Forerunner world and faces the Prometheans, while the episodic Spartan Ops co-op missions pick up where the campaign ends. Where to play it today: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox, Steam, and Game Pass, or backward compatibility on Xbox.
9. Halo: Spartan Assault (2013)
This top-down twin-stick shooter, made by Vanguard Games with 343 Industries, launched on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 in July 2013, then reached Xbox One in December 2013, Xbox 360 in January 2014, and Steam in April 2014. Its 30 missions are set between Halo 3 and Halo 4 and explain the origin of the Spartan Ops program. Where to play it today: Steam, or the Xbox One version on Xbox and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
10. Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014)
The collection launched on Xbox One in November 2014 with Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4, then added ODST in 2015 and Reach in 2019. The PC and Steam version arrived on December 3, 2019, rolling the games out one at a time through November 2020. Where to play it today: Xbox One, Series X|S, Steam, the Microsoft Store, and Game Pass, where it is included on console and PC.
11. Halo 2: Anniversary (2014)
Halo 2’s remaster only ever existed inside The Master Chief Collection, and it is the flagship of that package: remastered campaign visuals with an instant toggle to the 2004 look, and new cutscenes by Blur Studio. The PC version landed on Steam on May 12, 2020. Where to play it today: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox, Steam, and Game Pass, or as a standalone Steam purchase.
12. Halo: Spartan Strike (2015)
The second top-down spin-off from Vanguard Games and 343 Industries launched on April 16, 2015, on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, iPhone, iPad, and Steam. Xbox Wire describes its 30 missions as a classified ONI simulation set during Halo 2 in New Mombasa, taking you from Earth to Gamma Halo. Where to play it today: Steam, where it sells on its own or bundled with Spartan Assault.
13. Halo 5: Guardians (2015)
343’s second mainline campaign shipped on October 27, 2015, exclusively for Xbox One, and it is still the only mainline Halo with no PC version. The story splits between the Master Chief’s Blue Team and Spartan Locke’s Fireteam Osiris, and the Xbox One X update brought 4K support. Where to play it today: Xbox One and Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Game Pass on console.
14. Halo Wars 2 (2017)
Developed by 343 Industries with Creative Assembly, Halo Wars 2 launched on February 21, 2017, as an Xbox Play Anywhere title on Xbox One and Windows 10. The Spirit of Fire’s crew wakes at the Ark to face Atriox and the Banished, and the Xbox store page places the story after Halo 5. Where to play it today: Xbox, the Microsoft Store on PC, and Game Pass on both. It is not sold on Steam.
15. Halo Infinite (2021)
343 Industries split the launch: the free-to-play multiplayer went live on November 15, 2021, the franchise’s twentieth anniversary, and the campaign followed on December 8, 2021. The campaign is an open-world fight against the Banished on Zeta Halo, with four-player network co-op. Where to play it today: Xbox One, Series X|S, the Microsoft Store, and Steam; the campaign is included with Game Pass, and multiplayer is free everywhere.
16. Halo: Campaign Evolved (2026)
The most recent release is a ground-up remake of the original campaign by Halo Studios (the name 343 Industries adopted in October 2024 when it moved the series to Unreal Engine 5). It launched on July 28, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Steam, and PlayStation 5, the first Halo on a PlayStation console, with day-one Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass access. Every edition includes Operation: METEORITE, a new three-mission prequel arc starring the Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson. Where to play it today: all of the above, with cross-play and cross-progression.
Story Order
The timeline below uses the setting statements on each game’s official page, with the in-fiction calendar years the series’ own lore columns use where they are widely established.
- Halo Wars (2531): the Spirit of Fire’s first campaign, more than two decades before the Master Chief reaches the ring.
- Halo: Campaign Evolved, Operation: METEORITE (roughly 2551): the new prequel missions, set a year before Combat Evolved, per Halo Studios.
- Halo: Reach (2552): Noble Team and the fall of Reach, the first chapter of the saga as the MCC frames it.
- Halo: Combat Evolved (2552): the Pillar of Autumn reaches Installation 04. Campaign Evolved retells the same ten missions.
- Halo 2 (2552): the Covenant attacks Earth, and the Arbiter’s story begins.
- Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Spartan Strike (2552): both run alongside Halo 2 in New Mombasa. Spartan Strike also jumps ahead in its later missions.
- Halo 3 (2552 to 2553): the end of the Human-Covenant war.
- Halo: Spartan Assault (between Halo 3 and Halo 4): the origin of Spartan Ops.
- Halo 4 (2557): the Chief wakes above Requiem. Its Spartan Ops episodes continue directly afterward.
- Halo 5: Guardians (2558): Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris, and Cortana’s Guardians awaken.
- Halo Wars 2 (2559): the Spirit of Fire meets the Banished at the Ark, after Halo 5.
- Halo Infinite (2560): the Banished hold Zeta Halo.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 2: Anniversary are remasters, so they sit in the same slots as the originals. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a compilation rather than a story entry; playing its six campaigns in the menu order (Reach, Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, ODST, Halo 4) already gives you most of the chronology.
Where to Start
For most people the answer is Halo: Campaign Evolved. It is the newest and best-looking version of the story’s actual first chapter, it is on Game Pass and PlayStation 5, and it runs at the top of the modern feature list with four-player co-op and cross-progression. Once it ends, jump into The Master Chief Collection and continue with Halo 2: Anniversary, then Halo 3, ODST, and Halo 4.
If you would rather play in strict story order, start the Master Chief Collection with Reach. It is short, self-contained, and lands harder if you already know how Combat Evolved opens, so we would still suggest playing Combat Evolved first and Reach second, which is also the pairing the MCC’s own campaign list nudges you toward. If you like working through a whole series in order, our list of every Rockstar game in order does the same for Rockstar.
Skip Halo 5 until you are invested. It is the one mainline entry that never came to PC, and its story assumes you know Halo 4 and its Spartan Ops episodes. Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, on the other hand, is free on Steam and Xbox and needs no prior knowledge; the Halo Wars games are a different genre entirely and can be played whenever the strategy itch strikes. If you are playing on PC with a pad, our guide on connecting an Xbox controller to PC covers every method, and if you buy the wrong edition, refunding games on Xbox is straightforward within the return window.
For a broader look at what else the platform has this year, see our list of the best Xbox games of 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Halo games are there? Counting every mainline game, spin-off, remaster, and compilation on official Xbox and Steam storefronts today, there are sixteen entries: nine mainline campaigns (Combat Evolved through Infinite, plus ODST and Reach), two Halo Wars strategy games, two Spartan top-down shooters, two Anniversary remasters, the Master Chief Collection, and the 2026 Campaign Evolved remake.
What is the correct story order for the Halo games? Halo Wars, then Reach, Combat Evolved (or its remake Campaign Evolved), Halo 2 alongside ODST and Spartan Strike, Halo 3, Spartan Assault, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Wars 2, and finally Halo Infinite. Campaign Evolved’s new Operation: METEORITE missions slot in a year before Combat Evolved.
Which Halo games are on PC? Everything except Halo 5: Guardians. The Master Chief Collection (six games), Halo Infinite, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, both Spartan games, and Halo: Campaign Evolved are on Steam; Halo Wars 2 is PC-only through the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass.
Are the Halo games on Game Pass? Yes, the core catalogue is: The Master Chief Collection, Halo Infinite’s campaign, Halo 5: Guardians (console), Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, Halo Wars 2, and Halo: Campaign Evolved are all listed as included with Game Pass on their official Xbox store pages. The two Spartan games are not.
Is Halo coming to PlayStation? Halo: Campaign Evolved is already there, released on PlayStation 5 on July 28, 2026, with cross-play against Xbox and PC players. No other Halo game has been announced for PlayStation, and Xbox’s September 22 memo does not change that.