It Finally Happened - A New Way to Play Halo Changes the Franchise Forever

Summary

The video highlights a wave of community-made Halo projects that expand or adapt classic games, alongside a Forza Horizon 6 anniversary reward and a brief update on Halo Infinite.

Community Projects

• First-person Halo Wars / Project Groundside: A free project for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition lets players directly control units they create. Features include co-op, split-screen, adjustable time of day, and a sandbox for creating custom scenarios and testing enemies. Players can also capture vehicles such as Wraiths and Ghosts. The project requires Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and uses assets from Halo: Reach and Halo 3.
• Halo Doom: A long-running project reimagines Halo combat in a Doom-style format, with custom weapon sprites and movement.
• Halo 5 Reforged: This project aims to bring a fuller Halo 5: Guardians experience to PC. Demonstrated features include adjustable field of view, unlocked frame rates—including in cutscenes—and graphics settings for different hardware. The presenter reports roughly 160–180 FPS at maximum settings. Custom games could enable experiments such as large teams on Warzone maps or changes to Breakout. REQ points and packs are included, but the project has no monetization. Players will need their own copy of Halo 5.
• Project Reclaimer: Formerly called Halo 3 Project Reclaimer, the project is expanding beyond Halo 3 and ODST to include Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Halo 2. Its updated native Windows, macOS, and Linux build adds multiplayer, editing tools, and Forge for Halo CE and Halo 2. It also substantially raises creation limits, allowing up to 9,999 objects on a Forge map and 16,320 objects in the world. The project can use content from MCC and the Steam Workshop, including modded maps and missions.

Other Updates

• Forza Horizon 6: A Master Chief Mark V costume can be unlocked through the second week’s photo challenge. The video also mentions a special anniversary vehicle livery being distributed to players.
• Other classic Halo projects: The video notes progress on Halo 2: Anniversary/Gravemind, with more players appearing in the campaign, and a major Halo 3 Recruited update. The presenter argues that community interest shows there is an audience for quality classic Halo content.
• Halo Infinite: The presenter briefly criticizes what they describe as the game’s latest or final update, particularly its stricter skill-based matchmaking.

Practical Advice

Check each project’s requirements and use legally owned copies of the required games and assets. The presenter says this helps projects avoid giving Microsoft grounds to shut them down.

Games and Sources Featured

Project Groundside (First Person Halo Wars), Halo Doom, Forza Horizon 6 and Xbox, Halo 5 Reforged, Halo 2: Anniversary/Gravemind, Halo 3 Recruited, Project Reclaimer, MCC, Steam Workshop, and Halo Infinite.