A week of free play, new mode coming to ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ next week

By Gabe Gurwin June 23, 2016

halo 5 high player count halo5torque — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you own an Xbox One, there’s a pretty good chance you already own Halo 5: Guardians. After all, it’s the system’s most prolific exclusive game. But if you haven’t checked out the Master Chief’s latest adventure yet, you’ll get a chance to do so for free next week — just as a new mode is released.

Starting on June 29 and running until July 5, Halo 5: Guardians will be completely free to play for anyone with Xbox Live Gold membership. The latest free content update for the game, “Warzone Firefight,” will also be released. on June 29. The new mode mixes Halo 5‘s signature multiplayer mode with the “Firefight” of Bungie’s last few games in the series, and also adds the UNSC Wasp vehicle and the “Grunt Goblin” boss. The latter looks like a walking Ghost with fists and an enormous Needler — it’s more than twice as tall as a Spartan.

The update also adds three new maps. “Attack on Sanctum” and “Prospect” will be available for the Warzone and Warzone Assault modes, respectively, while “Molten” will be used in the smaller-scale Arena multiplayer. Forge creators can now also design custom levels on “Tidal,” which Microsoft says should rectify the water-shortage problem facing designers right now.

If you’re more interested in playing the campaign when Halo 5 is free, the update includes something for you, as well. “Score Attack,” a mode encouraging “style and flourish” when defeating enemies, will be available in both online and solo play. Unfortunately, split-screen play is still not supported, but “more surprises” are planned before the update drops.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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