‘Halo Wars 2’ gets beta later this month, as well as new hardware requirements

By Mark Coppock January 11, 2017

Halo Wars is a popular Xbox title that brought real-time strategy gaming to the Halo franchise. Players have been clamoring for some time now for an update, and Microsoft announced Halo Wars 2 for the Xbox One and Windows 10 at Gamescom way back in 2015.

The soon-to-be-released game will support Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere program for cross-platform gaming between consoles and Windows 10 PCs. From January 20-30, developer 343 Industries will be hosting a multiplayer beta of Halo Wars 2 that will give gamers a chance to see just how well their PCs compare, as Tom’s Hardware reports.

Some hardware requirements were also revealed for Windows 10 PCs. The game will require 25GB of storage space and the 64-bit version of Windows 10, and minimum and recommended specifications that aren’t too terribly taxing.

In terms of minimum specifications, the game will require an Intel Core i5-2500 or AMD FX-4350 CPU or better, with at least 6GB of RAM. Although minimum specifications aren’t provided for Nvidia GPUs, an Intel HD 400 or AMD Radeon HD 7750 is required.

If you want the game to run particularly well, then you’ll want an Intel Core i5-4690K or AMD FX-8350 or faster, along with 8GB of RAM or more. An Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480 or better will provide the best performance.

In addition, 343 Industries will be showing off the new “Blitz” mode,, which mixes in card-based gaming with the standard RTS fare, during the beta. A deck of 12 cards will determine how units are summoned and players will use those to attempt to assume control of three map zones. A multiplayer mode will enable three-on-three gaming in the beta, and the shipping version will have a single-player mode titled “Firefight.”

Halo Wars 2 will be officially released on February 21. Until then, the upcoming beta will give you a good chance to try out the game on your Windows 10 PC — assuming, of course, that it’s powerful enough. If not, CES introduced a number of excellent gaming systems to choose from.

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