What you need to know
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection is set to receive its next content update on August 31, as announced via a new blog post from 343 Industries.
- The update includes expanded customization via new armor sets for Halo 2: Anniversary, while post-match screens now include poses, with customizable options available for players to acquire.
- Bandana and Acrophobia skulls have also been added to Halo: Reach.
- The update also introduces a variety of smaller refinements to the six-title project, including expanded mod support on PC.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection will soon receive a slew of new content, the first since April's Flood to Firefight update, with sprawling additions to the shooter compilation.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection saw seasonal support for the game end with Halo Infinite's release in 2021, shifting the focus to unscheduled updates. The developer has now outlined its latest assortment of changes headed to the title, set for release on Aug. 31 on Xbox and PC.
Highlights include new armor retroactively added to Halo 2: Anniversary. Named Breach, Megaframe, Trooper, Panzerdoll, and Bioroid, 343 Industries has provided a closer look and the new unlocks in-game.
The coming update will bring two new skulls to Halo: Reach; Bandana and Acrophobia. The two modifiers will be available for selection in the campaign lobby for both single-player and co-op.
The Bandana skull, first seen in Halo: Combat Evolved, will grant players unlimited ammo when reloading or throwing grenades. Although, do note that the unlimited ammo reloads only applies to Kinetic weaponry. The name and ability of this skull are a throwback to the famous bandana worn by Snake in the Metal Gear Solid Franchise (which in turn is an homage to Rambo and his seemingly unending ammo supply).
In contrast to its name, Acrophobia allows players to fly at any time, without needing a vehicle. Players can hold down the jump button and then can float off through the map and instill a fear of heights in any unlucky grunts they encounter. This skull was first introduced in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and was unlockable within the Halo 3 campaign. As with most skulls, achievements progression will be disabled whilst active.
The update also plans to roll out various quality-of-life updates to the wider Master Chief Collection experience. The Options and Career screen hasn't been updated since 2014 but now sees a full rebuild in this update. Each sub-menu now includes a preview panel with further information and access to your roster. There is also now no need to leave your squad to access the Exchange and you can do so from the updated screen.
The update also introduces the ability to bulk unlock tier rewards. This lets you choose between unlocking all of the selected tier and its preceding tier rewards or even bulk unlocking the entire Series with a nifty "Unlock All" button. In addition, the process of unlocking an item has been made at least 30% faster by some background fixes, according to the studio.
With new unlocks now being added to the Exchange rather than a new series, the main menu's preview widget has been updated to display information from the Exchange by default. If players wish to see their progress towards a series of rewards, they can simply "pin" it to the menu.
Following this update, fixes will also now be implemented automatically to all players without requiring them to relaunch the game. If parameters for matchmaking are changed, the player receives a notification and is simply required to exit matchmaking without a full restart. This should improve matchmaking as a whole, especially when features like "Quick Resume" are in play.
To read more on Halo: Master Chief Collection's next update, including more on fixes from April's patch, you can see the full blog post here ahead of its scheduled August 31 release.
