F in the chat for old Master Chief; it seems as though decades of PC players waiting to get their hands on the Legendary Spartan will have just the tiniest bit longer. In a move that has made some fans feel spurned, despite that the legendary series is finally arriving to PC, the first part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection won’t actually be playable tomorrow until 1300 EST (1:00 PM).
When Steam typically pushes their updates, in other words. The first part of the collection that is slated to release is Halo Reach. The first in terms of chronological lore, Reach tells the story of Noble Team and their last-ditch efforts to save planet Reach against Covenant.
Bringing with it is 4K resolution, along with ‘at least 60 frames per second’, mouse and keyboard support (we can finally aim properly!), and a whole reported slew of graphical options. Beyond, we get the campaign experience, multiplayer, and Firefight. Forge and Theater are scheduled to come sometime in 2020.
Granted, we’re only talking about an additional 13 hours that we have to wait. We’ve just waited so long already, it’s annoying to have it so close, yet so far away. While we’re all waiting for Master Chief’s geriatric-self to eventually make his movement towards Steam, we might as well discuss what to expect in the series as a whole.
It’s no secret that the entirety of Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be drip-fed to PC as teams polish, upgrade, and rework the various aspects necessary for a PC release. The series will be released in the chronological order of lore, rather than release. Thus, we first get Halo: Reach, followed by Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (the first title), Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST Campaign (the somewhat odd precursor to what would become Bungie’s Destiny), and finally Halo 4.
People that are readying themselves to jump headfirst into battle tomorrow would be well-advised to reach into Halo’s unique statistics server (HaloWaypoint) and ensure their account is ready for battle tomorrow. Halo Waypoint offers a slew of fascinating statistics that you’ll be able to share to your heart’s content, making the rest of your social circle OD green with envy.
Additionally, you can customize your spartan pieces, check leaderboards, your service record, and even match history. At the very least, it’s something to click around inside while we all try to push that rising swell of disappointment upon wrapping our heads around the idea that we’ll have to wait just a bit longer to get back into the fight.
