Microsoft has spent the better part of 2016 eliminating the gap between Xbox One and PC gaming, with former exclusives like Quantum Break receiving Windows 10 releases and Forza Motorsport 6: Apex making its way to the platform as a free taste of the console experience. And while one of the last major true Xbox One-exclusive games, Halo 5: Guardians, won’t be coming to PC yet, its Forge creation tool will be, and it comes with some PC-exclusive features.
“When Forge was redesigned from the ground up for Halo 5: Guardians on Xbox One, it opened the door to even more inventive community-created content, pushing the boundaries even further to give players more power and control than before, and removing as many constraints as possible to allow for the creation of incredibly hig- quality maps,” says 343 Industries in the official announcement.
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As with Forza Motorsport 6: Apex, Forge — Halo 5: Guardians Edition will be completely free for Windows 10 users, and it will include a number of features unique to the platform. Of course, keyboard and mouse play will be supported, as will 4K resolution and the ability to publish your creations to the Xbox One. The announcement also states that you’ll be able to “enlist the help of friends to help build, test, and play your Forge creations on Windows 10.”
That last part — “play” — might be the biggest surprise. While Microsoft is advertising this as a creation tool, being able to test creations could mean that, in a limited sense, Halo 5 multiplayer will actually be possible on Windows 10.
The Xbox One version of Forge will continue to receive content updates, as well, with “new environments, advanced file-sharing capabilities, new pieces, palettes, props, and much more” coming later this year. It’s unclear if these updates will also affect the Windows 10 release, but given the ability of the free software to publish to consoles, it seems likely.
