Lately, most of the Halo hype has surrounded the upcoming Halo 3 PC port and the July reveal of Infinite. But 343 Industries has just surprised us with news about Halo 1 again. The game that started it all will stand in the spotlight of The Master Chief Collection‘s Season 2 update.
It’s been a while since the Master Chief Collection first introduced Season 1. It launched alongside Halo: Reach back in November, and it seemed like 343 hadn’t given it much thought since. The concept of a season made sense for Reach, given that it originally launched with unlockable cosmetics.
That’s a long list of visor color options.
Halo 1 and 2 didn’t have much in the way of customizations, though. These are pretty old games after all, and custom appearances didn’t really become trendy until Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 back in 2007. It made sense that there was never a Season 2 for the Master Chief Collection until now. However, many fans likely expected a Halo 3-themed Season 2.
What 343 has just done is blowing my mind a little, to be honest. Just a few years ago, the developer seemed completely done with the old Halo games. The Master Chief Collection suffered a horrendous launch on the Xbox One, and 343 failed to fix it for years. Fast forward to 2020, and the collection is not only getting ported to PC with modern features, but 343 is adding content to the old games.
Cue epic Halo music
Season 2 will add a total of 100 unlockables to the collection, but these will focus on customizations for Halo 1. That includes in-game cosmetics like weapon and vehicle skins for both the UNSC and Covenant and customizable Spartan visor colors. Season 2 will also add content that spans all titles, like nameplates.
Players can unlock this content by simply completing matches and earning XP. No microtransactions here. However, those that want to earn XP faster can complete challenges, which are another new feature coming to the game.
The fact that Halo 1 appearances will become customizable without the need for mods should thrill most fans. Fortunately, players that prefer a classic appearance and experience don’t need to worry. 343 has also added the option to turn custom appearances off on individual machines.
343 Industries will release the Season 2 update alongside the Halo 3 port when it’s ready. That shouldn’t be too far in the distant future, considering the recent Halo 3 beta test went relatively smooth. 343 also confirmed that each of the Halo games will feature in future seasons. Plus, the developer teased that “people are going to be stoked to see what crazy stuff comes up for all the different titles in MCC.”
The full development update is actually something of a novel. Halo Community Manager Tyler Davis “Postums” covered a bunch of topics, from audio engineering to the Forge custom map maker. All of these things and more will come to the Master Chief Collection on PC soon.
