Microsoft has long since abandoned their attempts to bring Halo 3’s multiplayer experience to PC via the Russian only free to play title Halo Online. Although almost two years have passed since the game’s official closure in August of 2016, a dedicated group of community developers have kept the game going with semi-regular updates thanks to a leaked Russian build of the Halo Online client.
Here are just some of the improvements and highlights that the Eldewrito team is promising for the upcoming 0.6 release:
The original Halo experience brought to PC (for free).
Dual wielding and deployable equipment implemented (from Halo 3).
Improvements to the Forge Mode which include new material types, new tools and new items.
Advanced map control: Weather, skyboxes and lighting.
Inclusion of an auto-updater to keep everyone on the same version. (not in the trailer but confirmed on the game’s reddit.)
I’ve had a lot of fun with Halo Online in the past couple of years and have blogged about it a handful of times. Version 0.6 is a longtime coming and brings a lot of requested features that fans have been hoping for – dual wielding and workable equipment. It is even more impressive when you consider that these passionate community devs don’t have access to the game’s source code or development tools. All of these improvements and features have been fixed or implemented with only an outdated leaked build of the client.
Once the full patch notes and download are made available on April 20th I’ll be sure to make another post.
Microsoft may have no public plans to mark the upcoming 10th anniversary of Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 but that hasn’t stopped a group of dedicated fans from working on a project that Microsoft themselves abandoned. For the first time in several years, the first major update to Halo Online will be made available before the end of September 2017.
Halo Onlinewas short lived free to play adaptation of Halo 3’s multiplayer component ported to modern x64 Windows operating systems and updated with original content and Sabre Interactive’s own proprietary online technology. The game was never publicly available and Microsoft only ever tested the game in a limited alpha state and beta tests in Russia between Spring 2015 and August 2016.
Fans got their hands on a leaked build of the Halo Online game client shortly after one of the initial Alpha tests in Spring 2015and quickly built the Eldewrito client/server that provided Halo 3 veterans a chance to relive the iconic multiplayer from 2007 on a brand new platform. While development slowed down and eventually splintered into two separate teams: Eldewrito and Project Anvil, things seem to have culminated behind the scenes in the first major update to the game just in time to commemorate a decade since Master Chief’s initial jump to the Xbox 360.
Eldewrito 0.60 can be expected to have three major pillars of new content and adjustments with this new patch. Dual Wielding was missing from the leaked alpha build that Eldewrito was based upon but it looks like the development team has added their own take on this Halo 3 mainstay. Another addition new to the Halo franchise that debuted in Halo 3 but has been missing from Halo Online is deployable equipment and now that alongside brand-new server settings, server browser adjustments and customization options are coming. The other two major categories for version 0.6.0 are Forge Additions and Quality of Life updates.
It would be disingenuous to write about Halo Online without acknowledging that Microsoft eventually ported Halo 5’s Forge and Multiplayer mode to Windows 10 and even eventually added a Custom Games Browser allowing players to the latest multiplayer suite and create new maps with Forge for free on PC. Despite the official backing of Microsoft and the marketing muscle that is implied – Halo Online has at least six games that are public and near full during the writing of this post. Halo 5: Forge returned just five open game sessions during the same period.
Halo Online has quite a bit of staying power, especially considering that the whole thing is community run and developed by a group of volunteers. Check out some dedicated highlights of Eldewrito 0.6 features taken from a recent Reddit post. You can also check out a preview of 0.6’s updated menu in the embedded video below.Sabre Interactive wouldn’t be shy away from the F2P online shooter genre – as they’re currently working alongside id Software on the recently launched Quake Champions.
Feature/Content Additions
Dual Wielding
Equipment Yes, we’ve completely fixed equipment (Bubble Shield, Trip Mine, ect.) and even have a couple new ones that were not in Halo 3.
You might be wondering “why another Halo Online video?”. Well we’ve been trying to bring you a mixture of original content based upon the games we are currently playing and breaking news as it happens. This week I’ve been playing quite a bit of Halo: Online after producing a video earlier in the week. I thought I’d share this match because it features one of the classic Halo 3 maps that didn’t make it into our other coverage. Also this video has better synced sound, and music, something our original gameplay snippets seemed to have some problems with (sorry about that).
I just had the most entertaining match of Halo Online that I think I’ve played in the past few days and I just had to cut it out and share it with readers.
High Ground is one of the maps from Halo 3 that will be burned in my mind after playing it so much during the limited beta back in 2007. Basically it’s a sandy, rocky, desert area with some UNSC structures and light vehicles like the mongoose. Well what happens when you get eight players, through them into Team Slayer with only rocket launchers? A lot of explosions, a lot of laughing… oh and maybe some overturned exploding mongoose!
Check it out – this video is just a straight upload of my gameplay experience. No commentary or editing this time.
Halo 3 was one of the definitive online experiences I got to spend hundred of hours in during the last generation of consoles. Released during my first year of college I can’t recall the number of nights that I spent with friends fragging each other, laughing and getting unfortunately cussed out on Xbox Live until the sun came up. When Microsoft announced that they were going to release a free-to-play FPS based upon the Halo 3 multiplayer suite for PC I was excited – only to find out that the game would be region locked to Russia Only.Read More
