It’s an update many Halo fans will, without hyperbole, will have been waiting literally years for. The new Halo The Master Chief Collection update collects together many of the game’s biggest complaints and rolls them into one massive patch. A matchmaking fix? It’s there. Xbox One X support? You betcha. In fact, the full patch notes are so hefty that you’ll be hard-pressed to find something that hasn’t been tweaked or changed in some way. Let’s go through the major changes and see why this could be your new (old) obsession.
Halo The Master Chief Collection Update: Main Changes
The main changes for the Halo The Master Chief Collection update are manifold. Xbox One X support will undoubtedly be the eye-catching headline, and one we’ll get to in a minute, but there’s also a bunch of cool stuff for Halo vets and newbies alike.
First up, LAN support is now a thing. So that means you can truly relive the glory days of Halo 2 by inviting your mates round and promptly whipping them on Zanzibar.
Most importantly, though, is the supposed widespread changes to The Master Chief Collection’s matchmaking. 343 describes it as “significantly more stable”. This isn’t fluff on their part too: dedicated servers are also included into the mix.
Finally, the Intelligent Delivery system will now allow players to install Halo The Master Chief Collection in pretty much any order they want so they can jump in with JOHN-117 in the first very first Halo or maybe stick it to the Didact in Halo 4 all before anything else has finished downloading. It’s a pretty nifty idea and one I hope more developers follow.
Halo The Master Chief Collection Update: Xbox One X Support
Halo The Master Chief Collection is giving us our best glimpse at what Halo Infinite might look like because it now comes with Xbox One X support. 4K HDR support is included, as is a whole bunch of HDR settings to ensure you’re getting the most out of the new update. Shadows and other visual enhancements can now be tweaked on a whim.
Halo The Master Chief Collection Update: Download Size
Now comes the bad news. I hope you have a really solid broadband connection because this is going to take a while. The Halo The Master Chief Collection update download size weighs in at a whopping 73 GB, which is larger than most, if not all games on the market at the current time. It brings the total package to nearly 150 GB, too. Let’s hope you have a portable HDD handy.
Halo The Master Chief Collection Update: Full Patch Notes
If you want to pore over every single change, plus balances, nerfs, and buffs, then the Halo Waypoint site has the full Halo The Master Chief Collection update patch notes. Enjoy. You’re gonna be there a while.
