Here's what to expect in Halo: MCC Season 2

Halo 3 arriving on PC is just the beginning.

Season 2 of Halo: The Master Chief Collection (MCC) has begun, and with it comes a slew of brand new features and content for players on both Xbox One and PC to enjoy. Here's a detailed overview of everything now available in the new season, including cosmetics, game modes, and more.

Finish the Fight

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

$40 at Microsoft (Xbox One) $40 at Microsoft (PC)

Experience the entirety of Halo history

The Master Chief Collection is a collection of every Halo shooter from the pre-Xbox One era, offering incredible value at an incredible price.

Halo 3 is now available on PC

The largest piece of content that comes with the new MCC season is the arrival of Halo 3 on PC. Players can play the game through both Steam and the Windows 10 Store, and it's available either in standalone form for $10 or as part of the full $40 MCC purchase.

The full campaign, multiplayer suite, and Forge modes are all included, as well as the Theater mode for watching and recording gameplay clips. The Forge mode even has some brand new objects and features that weren't in the original game, allowing players to create maps even more efficiently.

After extensively playtesting it, we found that the Halo 3 PC port was the best one yet from 343 Industries, and we're incredibly impressed at how polished it is. Make sure to read our full review for more information.

Finishing the Fight 13 years later

Halo 3 on PC

$10 at Microsoft $10 at Steam

It's finally time, PC gamers

The port of Halo 3 to PC is excellent across the board, and the additions of new features and content make it the best the game has ever felt to play.

Full Halo 3 armor customization

Alongside the release of Halo 3 on PC comes an improved Halo 3 armor customization system. Players on Xbox One and PC will now be able to mix and match different armor pieces instead of being restricted to only wearing full armor sets. This makes the Halo 3 armor customization in the MCC just like the original game, which is awesome. Additionally, players will now be able to see their customized emblem in-game on their armor.

Halo: Reach and Halo 2: Anniversary Forge

After a long wait, both Halo: Reach and Halo 2: Anniversary's Forge modes have released on the Xbox One and PC versions of the MCC. Previously, you could only play Halo: Reach's Forge by performing some tweaks to the game's files on PC, and you couldn't play Halo 2: Anniversary's at all. It's great to see these Forge modes finally arrive, as it provides players with the tools necessary to create fun maps for Custom Games.

A new seasonal grind and a Challenge system

New with Season 2 is a brand new season pass available to all players for free. This pass is filled with new cosmetic items to unlock (we'll get into those soon), and players can earn them in two ways. The first is by accruing experience by completing multiplayer matches or by finishing campaign missions from any of the games.

Additionally, players now also have the option to work towards completing specific player-versus-player (PvP) or player-versus-environment (PvE) challenges. These challenges reset after a set amount of time, and each completed one nets players a large amount of experience. Certain challenges outlined in gold will also give players a Season Point that they can use to unlock an item on their season pass. All of these challenges can be accessed through the Challenges Hub menu within the Options & Career tab.

Visor colors for Halo: Combat Evolved

Players can now unlock over 30 different visor colors to use with their Spartan in Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer by making progress on their season pass. These color options were not available in the original game, meaning that they're brand new. Some of the colors include blue, green, orange, red, bronze, and platinum, among many others. Players have the option to disable these from being seen in-game if they want to prioritize visual clarity as well.

Weapon and vehicle skins for Halo: Combat Evolved

New skins for every weapon and vehicle in Halo: Combat Evolved have been made available as rewards for season pass progression. There is a solid variety of skins for each piece of equipment in the game. Whether you want an assault rifle with camo to a Warthog with hot rod flames, there's something for everyone here. Like with the visor colors, players can opt to turn these skins off if they don't like them.

New profile nameplates

Threw together a complete picture of all the new nameplates coming with the Halo 3 PC Update for MCC on July 14th.

Some hot looking ones in there. pic.twitter.com/f5LBMZWpis

— Rhys (@RhysWX) July 12, 2020

Finally, there are a whopping 72 new profile nameplates available to use in the MCC. As with the rest of the aforementioned cosmetics, you can unlock them by progressing your MCC Season 2 season pass. These nameplates include iconic pieces of imagery from Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 2: Anniversary, and Halo 3, as well as some miscellaneous pictures like "MCC" keyboard keys and snake scales. They serve as the background to your profile name and can be seen by other players in match lobbies.

Your thoughts

What do you think of all of the new features and content in the second season of the MCC? My personal favorite is the new Challenge Hub since I enjoy how much freedom it gives to players in regards to how they earn experience.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available for $40 on both Xbox One and PC. It includes all of the pre-Xbox One Halo games, so it's an excellent game to play until Halo Infinite arrives.

Finish the Fight

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

$40 at Microsoft (Xbox One) $40 at Microsoft (PC)

Experience the entirety of Halo history

The Master Chief Collection is a collection of every Halo shooter from the pre-Xbox One era, offering incredible value at an incredible price.