Everything you need to know about Halo 5: Guardians

Unless you have been avoiding everything that has to do with the Xbox One, you are probably aware that Halo 5: Guardians is making its release soon — Tuesday, October 27th soon. In light of the upcoming release, you should probably be aware of some things, like what versions of the game there is, the size of the game, the day one update, microtransactions, launch multiplayer playlists… The list goes on and and on.

So let's get started covering the various bits and pieces before moving forwards into specifics!

• If you're a split-creen or LAN player, don't expect any love from 343 Industries in Halo 5 – neither of these features will be supported in the game.
• Yes, 343 Industries is already working on Halo 6.
• Halo 5 will be locked at 60FPS, but will shift in image quality to maintain this.
• Halo 5 could hit Windows 10 PCs in future. A recent statement from Frank O'Connor, Halo
• According to Xbox Head Phil Spencer, Microsoft is 'confident' Halo 5 won't repeat The Master Chief Collection's disastrous launch… Which is pretty great, but we need to see it so believe it (I'm jaded by World of Warcraft's expansion launches).
• 5's series director, revealed that not only would porting the Xbox One game to PC be easy, but Microsoft's new found support raises the chances for the series' return to PC.

Now that we covered that, lets talk about the specifics!

Story (spoiler free)

"Peace is shattered when colony worlds are unexpectedly attacked. And when humanity’s greatest hero goes missing, Spartan Locke is tasked with hunting the Master Chief and solving a mystery that threatens the entire galaxy."

—Xbox Wire

Set eight months after the last Spartan Ops episode in Halo 4, Halo 5 will have players alternating between two point of views: Master Chief and Agent Locke. In the game, Master Chief rejoins his Spartan-II unit, Blue Team, after going AWOL. Chief, along with Kelly-087, Fred-104 and Linda-058, mysteriously disappear – at the same time several colonies are unexpectedly attacked.

The UNSC tasks 'legendary manhunter' Agent Locke, with the aid of Fireteam Osiris, to find Master Chief and the Blue Team. Locke's team, Fireteam Osiris, includes Spartans Edward Buck, Holly Tanaka and Olympia Vale — each team member, like the Blue Team, has specific skill sets. Locke will not be replacing Master Chief in the Halo series.

To go into any more specifics on the story could enter spoiler territory.

Install

You'll need quite a bit of room on your Xbox One and a decent Internet speed to get Halo 5 up and running on your Xbox One. The game's box art says players are looking at a download size of up to 60GB for the game itself, unfortunately, the game's disk will not fully feature Multiplayer files — Blu-Ray disks simply cannot contain more than 50GB of content.

So, players will be looking at a 9GB Multiplayer update that must be downloaded for you to play online matches. It will be available at release.

Multiplayer

Gameplay

343 Industries is promising that Halo 5's multiplayer has been tweaked to meet the "expectation of eSports." That means that the developers have adjusted spawn points, added a unique spawn system and adjusted the game to be more balanced.

While a majority of Halo players don't create things in Forge, 343 Industries has developed the 'biggest Forge yet' for the players that do build things. Ultimately, most Halo players get to experience Forge maps – whether they build maps themselves or not – so, it was important to bring it to the game.

Launch Playlist

Warzone: 24-players with all REQs available and AI enemies.

• Warzone
• Escape from A.R.C. Warzone
• Raid on Apex 7 Warzone
• March on Stormbreak

Warzone Assault: Depending on what side you're on, you'll be defending or destroying the Power Core.

• Warzone Assault,
• Dispatch Warzone Assault
• Array Warzone Assault
• Summit

Team Arena: Different modes and maps.

• Breakout
• Gambol Breakout
• Trident Slayer
• Coliseum Slayer
• Eden Slayer
• Plaza Slayer
• Empire Slayer
• The Rig CTF
• Coliseum CTF
• Truth CTF
• Fathom Strongholds
• The Rig Strongholds
• Eden Strongholds
• Empire

Team Slayer: Work as a team to destroy the opposing team.

• Slayer
• Coliseum Slayer
• Plaza Slayer
• The Rig Slayer
• Truth Slayer
• Regret Slayer
• Fathom

Breakout: You've got one life, then you're d-e-a-d, DEAD.

• Breakout
• Gambol Breakout
• Trident Breakout
• Trench Breakout
• Crossfire Breakout
• Altitude

Free For All: It's you against the world. No teams.

• FFA Slayer
• Eden FFA Slayer
• Regret FFA Slayer
• The Rig FFA Slayer
• Plaza FFA Slayer
• Orion FFA Slaye
• Pegasus

SWAT: No radar, no shield, just skill.

• SWAT
• Eden SWAT
• Regret SWAT
• The Rig SWAT
• Plaza SWAT
• Orion SWAT
• Pegasus

SWAT with Magnums 'SWATnums' (falls under SWAT playlist)

• Eden SWATnums
• Regret SWATnums
• The Rig SWATnums
• Plaza SWATnum
• Orion SWATnums
• Pegasus

REQ System

Everything you can get in the REQ system, you can earn whether you spend money or not. There's no crazy special items that are only going to be reserved for people who spend a lot more money. Also, you get a lot of rewards whether you're playing Arena or Warzone, so you're always going to have a ton of stuff that you'll be able to use.

— Kevin Franklin

Microtransaction Prices

343 Industries priced the Halo 5 REQ system a couple weeks ahead of the games launch, saying the Silver and Gold packs would be around $2 to $3 each (real-world money) or 1,250 (Bronze), 5,000 (Silver), and 10,000 (Gold) RP (in-game currency).

Players will be earning approximately 2000RP per Warzone match, so earning enough money to unlock a REQ pack shouldn't take too long.

• Bronze Pack: Bronze REQ Packs include Common, single use REQs, but is likely to unlock a new permanent REQ (if you haven’t already unlocked all of them).
• Silver Pack: Silver REQ Packs include Common to Rare REQs with the added value of two new permanent REQs (if you haven’t already unlocked all of them).
• Gold Pack: Gold REQ Packs contain a large number of REQs ranging from Uncommon to Legendary. Players are guaranteed two new permanent REQs (if you haven’t already unlocked all of them).

Game Editions

Limited Edition ($100):

• Halo 5: Guardians
• Warzone REQ Bundle: 14 Premium Requisition packs
• Halo: The Fall of Reach – Animated Series
• Guardian model by Metal Earth
• Uniquely-designed Spartan themed SteelBook
• Spartan Locke’s Classified Orders
• Dossiers on Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris
• Xbox Live Gold 14-day Trial

Collector’s Edition ($250):

• Halo 5: Guardians (Digital)
• Commemorative statue designed by 343 Industries. The Master Chief and Spartan Locke appear as a team – but there’s another story… the statue splits and they separate, ready to face-of
• Warzone REQ Bundle: 14 Premium Requisition packs
• Halo: The Fall of Reach – Animated Series
• Guardian model by Metal Earth
• Uniquely-designed Spartan themed SteelBook
• Spartan Locke’s Classified Orders
• Dossiers on Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris
• Xbox Live Gold 14-day Trial

Halo 5: Guardians Xbox One bundle ($499):

• 1TB custom Xbox One (it has a unique design)
• Full game download of Halo 5
• Warzone REQ Bundle (includes 14 premium Requisition Packs)
• FOTUS-Class armor and multiplayer emblem
• Halo: The Fall of Reach – Animated Series
• Guardian model by Metal Earth
• Dossiers on Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris
• Spartan Locke’s Classified Orders