Thus, the laid-back Halo 5: Guardians fans were pretty much caught off guard by 343 Industries‘ announcement of a new short story collection that would go back in time to the uprising of the Created. The official Halo social media account made the announcement of the release of this digital publication composed of “truth, compromise, betrayal, purpose, and change,” which is happening right now in the galaxy, along with the excitement of knowing it all and being part of it. The publication is available in ebook and audiobook formats and marks the first major new content for the Halo 5 franchise in years; it is even more deeply involved in the narrative of that controversial period right between Halo 5 and Infinite, which kept most gamers feeling that it was hastily passed through the story of the games.

However, all the happenings in the game world are quite a triviality for the lore lovers but the general Halo community has only one response to it all: PC PORT WHERE??

It’s like, seriously, if you just scroll down the comments section you will constantly hear “when is the PC version coming?” and “please make steam release!” Over the name Charlie, one gamer even stated: “Ten years and no PC port is crazy. This game’s multiplayer is so good” and honestly? He is correct. Halo 5 is still the only mainline Halo title that is not available for PC and yet, it is very difficult to understand the reason behind this because every other Halo game is already part of the Master Chief Collection on Steam.

The whole situation is quite funny – it is like a ten-year celebration of a game that is still very popular with a large number of players but they can only play it if they have an Xbox One, and that too in a not-so-user-friendly way. To repeat Ricky07: “No release for steam, no next-gen update. More ‘greatness’ from you folks” along with the clown emoji. Ouch.

Furthermore, it is not just a matter of accessibility – there is a very strong and sincere feeling of attachment to the things that Halo 5 managed to do right. There were many comments expressing how people miss the Promethean weapons so badly and how they even recall their specific reload animations. A user named AstroTJP made the following remark: “i missed the way promethean weapons are with how they come apart when you reload, shoot and aim i need that back so badly TwT” which, I must say, is an extremely accurate representation of that kind of nostalgia feeling.

The reactions to the story content have a wide range going from very enthusiastic to indifferent. There are players who feel lucky to dive into the story of the Created uprising, which was perceived as a bit underdeveloped in Halo Infinite. Mat Constantine has even referred to these Guardians as his “favourite furry construct” and asked for more content about them. On the other hand, another player, Stephen, expressed his disappointment that “Halo 5’s narrative was discarded and transitioned to Infinite as audio logs.”

On one hand, there are players asking for more lore and expanded universe content; on the other side, there are those who just want to play the actual game on modern platforms. Mike Bacon’s sarcastic reply “Yes! Us Halo fans want nothing more than to read lore and books!” pretty much sums up the frustration of some community members.

Excuse me, what was I saying – oh yes, the PC port thing. It is literally in every one of the responses. Halo français plainly said “Make halo 5 great again on PC please” while Nero Phamtomhive asked for Halo 5, Fireteam Raven and the Mega Bloks game on Steam and GOG. That is quite a request!

The irony is that 343 has been so generous towards PC in all other aspects – the entire MCC collection, Halo Infinite day one on PC, even the older spin-offs. But Halo 5 still remains an unusually absent title in the series, locked up in a console that is now two generations behind. Given Microsoft’s “play anywhere” initiative and their backing of PC gaming, it simply does not make sense anymore.

There are some players who would even like to see next-gen enhancements added alongside the release of a PC port. Mat Constantine (again – the dude really loves Halo 5) asked for “Halo 5 on PC and next-gen port” with the praying hands emojis. Considering that we are now three years into the current console generation and that Halo 5 still does not have a 60fps patch for Series X, it feels like the game has been ignored somewhat, apart from this anniversary story drop.

The Created uprising story arc remains one of the most debatable features of modern Halo lore. Avester98’s comment “Y’all abandoned the story and set up and went back to the covenant but red this time” with the clown emoji indicates that many people were not happy with Infinite’s storyline choices.