The Halo franchise was mostly missing from E3 2017 but it wasn’t due to a lack of content being produced for the series. 343 Industries just announced that the upcoming months will be jam-packed with Halo goodness as the Halo Summer Celebration begins. 343I kicked off the event with a article revealing several info-bombs and what will be happening this summer.
Many fans were confused about whether Halo 5 was going to get a 4K update for the Xbox One X. Luckily, Halo 5 will be seeing a 4K graphics update for the new console. 343I claims that they weren’t ready to reveal that at E3; the company says that they’ll reveal more about the update as its release comes closer.
Something else that fans have been clamoring for is Halobackwards compatibility. The majority of the franchise’s games have been left out of the program due to their inclusion in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, leaving that troubled title as the only way to play these games on Xbox One. But 343 announced today that Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4 will all become backwards compatible this summer.
In addition to this, all DLC maps for these games (and seemingly Halo: Reach) will be made free for everyone. This has been heavily requested in the Halocommunity for years and it’s nice to see it finally happen. 343 has not said whether the first two Halo games will become backwards compatible when original Xbox compatibility goes live, but one could only assume they’d be two of the first titles to be playable.
Halo 5 will be receiving several gameplay updates this summer. The most prominent being a Halo 3 throwback playlist. Said playlist will feature several Forge made recreations of Halo 3‘s map as well as “classic” gameplay settings. Sadly, 343 confirms yet again that there won’t be an official Halo 3 Anniversary game.
Halo 5 will be receiving several other new/returning game modes like Multi-Team, Turbo Warzone and Team Snipers alongside several Double XP weekends. If you haven’t played Halo 5 in a while, now is the time to return!
343 will also be present at many of this summer’s big conventions and events such as RTX, GamesCom and San Diego Comic Con. You can expect Halo news all summer.
