However the absence of the iconic theme from the original Halo trilogy, without the establishment of a new one, received polarised views from players.

[1] Davidge is a longtime Halo fan; he would play Combat Evolved during downtime while producing Massive Attack albums in 2001.

Davidge credits the games with providing a heroic story that reminded him of his youth reading comic books.

[4] Much of Halo 4's music was written on guitar or piano; at home, Davidge would sometimes sing melodies into a dictaphone for later transcription.

[4][5] While Davidge professed himself as a huge fan of O'Donnell's work, he felt the music needed to change to fit the new trilogy.

[1] Davidge and his production team enlisted the 50-piece Chamber Orchestra of London, as well as 26 male and female vocalists and other performers.

Recording took place at 20th Century Fox's Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, United States.

Customers who purchased the physical compact disc received a free download voucher for remixes and additional music that are not included in the soundtrack but featured in-game.

James Wargacki, writing for Electronic Gaming Monthly, summed up the soundtrack and the remix album as "a fun and enjoyable collection of songs", with Davidge's work introducing new elements to the series while harking back to classic themes.

[17] Gaming Age's Dustin Chadwell appreciated that Davidge avoided retreading old material in the series and wrote a "unique" soundtrack for the release with several standout tracks.

[18] Francesca Reyes of Official Xbox Magazine wrote that many areas of Halo 4 was highly polished, including the score; "the music by new composer Neil Davidge combines orchestrated swells with subtle electronic blips and bleeps to great effect.