Skip to main content

Halo: Spartan Strike introduces a new ride and new enemies in December

halos next twin stick shooter spartan strike coming december assault
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Microsoft and 343 Industries have announce Halo: Spartan Strike, a spiritual successor to similarly-titled Halo: Spartan Assault, which reframes the series’ first-person gunplay as a top-down, twin-stick shooter. The game will be available on Windows Phone, Windows 8.1, and Steam, though Xbox achievements attained in the Windows Phone version will unlock an exclusive emblem, nameplate, and avatar in the upcoming Halo: The Master Chief Collection for Xbox One.

Related: Halo: Master Chief Collection sets up Xbox One players for Halo 5: Guardians

The game takes place during the events of Halo 2 — though it’s not a canon story, but rather a simulation controlled by a nameless, faceless Spartan — with action spanning from New Mombasa to the Gamma Halo on the edge of charted space. In addition to Covenant forces, you’ll also face off against Promethean enemies introduced in Halo 4 (including a few new ones).

The old standby Warthog will be there to shepherd you around the battlefield, along with the new Kestrel, a small hovercraft that’s roughly the size of a Covenant Ghost. There will also be a selection of new weapons, like the Suppressor and Incineration Cannon, and armor abilities like the Bubble Shield and Airstrike. More importantly, the in-app purchases that hobbled the previous game’s loadout options are gone, replaced with currency that is earned entirely in-game.

You can choose between touch controls, USB gamepad, or keyboard and mouse, so no need to worry about being locked out of using a controller’s analog sticks, like Spartan Assault at launch.

Halo: Spartan Strike arrives on December 12 as a digital download for $6.

Editors' Recommendations

Will Fulton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
Steam Summer Sale: Horizon Zero Dawn, Halo, and this year’s best discounts
digital trends favorite games of 2017 horizon zero dawn sp11

With another year comes another huge sale from Steam. As in summers past, the online store is slashing a ton of prices on some of the best games on Steam, both old and new.

The Steam Summer Sale is a huge event for PC gamers. Every year, thousands of games get huge deals for a few weeks. This year's Steam sale runs from June 24 through July 8.

Read more
Halo: Master Chief Collection is 50% off ahead of Halo Infinite’s release
Master Chief holds a battle rifle in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

The Steam Summer sale has begun, bringing huge deals on several PC games. One of this year's headlining discounts is Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which is on sale for 50% off on Steam right now.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a bundle that includes six classic halo games, including Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, and Halo: Reach. The collection has been optimized for PC with 4K graphics and 60 frames per second. It faithfully preserves the single-player campaigns and multiplayer modes of each game. Online play is available for all games in the bundle.

Read more
Halo Infinite’s new multiplayer maps, weapons detailed in Halo Waypoint post
New Halo Infinite Map Behemoth.

After being shown off during Xbox & Bethesda's E3 Showcase, the new content coming in Halo Infinite's multiplayer was further detailed by developer 343 Industries in a post on Halo Waypoint. The post sticks strictly to details on the game's multiplayer, including details on the new maps, weapons, and vehicles players can expect to see.

Halo Infinite | Multiplayer Overview

Read more