Surprise! With support from Saber Interactive, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is now available on PC as part of The Master Chief Collection. 343 Industries paired the news with a lengthy blog post celebrating the return of the sci-fi FPS classic, explaining some of the changes as part of the collection’s update. If you want the changes given to you short and sweet, Microsoft has prepared a trailer that you can watch below.
This actually isn’t the first time Halo: Combat Evolved has come to PC players, having originally released for the platform back in 2003. Anniversary, however, brings a bevy of upgrades with it. Visual enhancements such as unlocked frame rate and 4K support were certain to come as part of today’s release, but there is also a new Spartan customization 3D model viewer, the ability to toggle to either classic audio and graphics or the remastered audio and graphics, mouse and keyboard support, customizable key bindings, Variable Frame Rate, adjustable FOV, ultra-wide and alternate resolution support, and text chat.
Today’s Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary update also comes with changes to The Master Chief Collection on PC as a whole, including these major changes:
- Updated crouch/movement mechanic for mouse and keyboard user
- Push-to-talk voice chat
- Push-to-talk key binding
- Separated key-bindings on a per-title basis
- Datacenter ping values are now visible
- Message of the Day added
- Updated zoom controls
If you’re interested, you can check out what exactly the updated zoom controls entail and the rest of the patch notes. 343 promises that an Xbox One update for The Master Chief Collection is on the horizon as well, telling the community to stay tuned for more news.
The next project the team will be handling is Halo 2: Anniversary on PC, though 343 also says that it has has made “great progress” on releasing Forge and Theater for Halo: Reach on PC.
To download Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on PC, you can head to Steam or the Microsoft Store to either purchase the collection for $39.99 or buy the game individually for $9.99. Xbox Game Pass members have immediate access to the collection, too.
If you’re needing something to get you in the mood for Halo 2: Anniversary before it comes to PC, check out Marty Sliva’s piece that explains why the game’s Arbiter twist was so important.
