Thanks to fans, the original Halo just got an unofficial Windows, Linux, PS5, and Android port

Published Oct 1, 2026, 3:31 PM EDT Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more. Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Summary Community port brings Halo: Combat Evolved to Windows, Linux, Android, PS4/PS5 (jailbreak needed) and more. Full campaign and 128-player multiplayer across platforms, built from Halo decompilation (AI likely). You must supply an Xbox Halo disc image (.iso/.xiso) to play; eager to see what mods appear. I recently covered the browser-based port of Halo: Combat Evolved, and now I'm back with more great Halo news. A community-powered effort has unofficially ported the original Halo: Combat Evolved to several platforms, including Windows, Linux, Android, and PS5. The ports feature the full campaign and multiplayer, including support for up to 128 players, which, if you're as familiar with the Halo series as I am, is absolutely wild. Of course, on PlayStation 5, you'll need a jailbroken console to run the iconic first-person shooter. All of these ports follow a decompilation of the recently released original Halo: Combat Evolved by bnunu called Halo-1, which is a port of punpckhdq's Halo. Of course, like most modern retro game ports, this project was almost certainly developed with significant AI help, though the decompilation's GitHub page doesn't disclose that. Like all retro game decompilations, you'll need an Xbox disc image of Halo: Combat Evolved to play the port. The port is compatible with .xiso and .iso Halo: Combat Evolved disc images from all versions of the title. Of course, this means you'll need to dump the disc you already own, though you can also find OG Halo disc images elsewhere on the internet if you know where to look. If you want to try the port yourself, you can find cybersecurity's halo-ce-universal GitHub page at this link. Given the Halo series’ struggles over the years, it’s refreshing to see fans breathe new life into the game that started it all It will be very interesting to see what mods are created for the game Credit: cybersecurity / GitHub The Halo series has run into significant issues over the past few years, including Halo Infinite failing to live up to Microsoft's lofty live-service expectations and the recently released Halo: Campaign Evolved remake launching to a mixed reception. I recently played through Campaign Evolved and really enjoyed the remaster, though it definitely has several issues, including stability problems, less-than-stellar cinematics, and an overall atmosphere shift that doesn't feel like it always vibes right. Still, I had fun with the game, especially the latter half that features the Flood. More recently, Microsoft basically shut down Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) and handed over the series' development to Activision. With all the negativity surrounding the long-running series lately, it's great to see dedicated Halo fans release a project like this, even if it was likely created with AI help. I'm very excited to see what mods end up getting created for halo-ce-universal.