While the core games featured in Halo: The Master Chief Collection were as good as they ever were, the offering was plagued by numerous game-breaking bugs at launch.
As developer 343 Industries attempted to fix the issues, it promised early adopters of the game that they would be compensated with a free update of Halo 3: ODST. There was no time stamp put on when that game would arrive, but now we know it’s arriving next month, and with a cherry on top.
The next content update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection is on track for a release next month, according to a blog post on Halo Waypoint. In addition to Halo 3: ODST, the update will also bring the long-awaited Relic multiplayer map from Halo 2.
As previously reported, both Relic and ODST will be freely available to those who bought Halo: The Master Chief Collection between November 11 and December 19 last year. It has not yet been revealed how much these additions will cost for those who bought the game later, though 343 Industries says that more details will be revealed closer to launch.
Unlike the other games in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, we won’t see the same kind of detailed visual overhaul in Halo 3: ODST. That isn’t to say that the game won’t look better, as 343 Industries says it will be running at 1080p and 60fps. The Relic map, on the other hand, is getting a full update treatment, and will have a new name to reflect this.
While we’ll have to wait until next month for the new game and map, a patch for The Master Chief Collection was released today bringing improvements to stability, tweaking matchmaking penalties, and including a number of game-specific improvements. For the full details of the tweaks and bug fixes contained in the patch, see the full notes on Halo Waypoint.