Halo 5 comes to PC this week with enormous Monitor's Bounty update, which also adds new features and REQ content
Halo 5 gets a stack of great new content on Xbox One and PC this week.
Halo 5: Guardians continues its tradition of huge free updates with Monitor's Bounty, which arrives on December 8.
Monitor's Bounty includes the largest Forge update the Halo franchise has ever seen, but that's not all - there's so much in the latest Halo 5 update that 343 Industries will be revealing it in two parts.
Today's info drop reveals a new "join in progress" custom games browser for Halo 5, which will also release on Windows 10, allowing PC players to join the fun.
Yes, that's right - you can now play Halo 5 on Windows 10 with the arrival of both Forge and Arena on PC, completely free. The only caveat is there's no matchmaking.
Spectating, casting and sharing Halo 5 matches will get easier with the addition of Observer Mode. This feature was previewed during the 2016 Halo World Championships, and is available in custom game lobbies for matches of up to eight players and two teams. You can toggle the UI and use a bunch of camera controls to enable you to view the action as you wish, without having to wait for the old spectator films to generate.
When the update drops, Halo 5 players will be able to gift each other with certain Gold REQ packs. To help everyone get a grip on this feature, all players will receive a free pack they can't open, but can give to someone else. You need to be Spartan Rank 5 or higher to purchase more gift-able REQ packs, and they can only be purchased with cash, not RP.
The image below shows off all the new REQ items coming to Halo 5 with Monitor's Bounty, as well as a few due next year.
All these REQ items will be available by playing Halo 5 as well as via purchases, but there's a bit of premium DLC coming too - the Voices of War REQ Pack, which adds commentary from Spartan Buck, 031 Exuberant Witness and Yabda the Merciless to Arena and Warzone matches. It'll go for $10.
Expect another update on what Monitor's Bounty brings to Halo 5 sometime tomorrow.