In the lead up to the Electronic Entertainment Expo next week, 343 Industries is teasing us all with some new information about Halo 5: Guardians, thanks to an extensive cover feature in the latest issue of Game Informer.
While a lot of the details in the cover feature relate to the game's single-player campaign, there were some interesting tidbits revealed about multiplayer content. The game will apparently launch with over 20 maps, and then by July 2016, 343 Industries will add in over 15 extra maps as free downloadable content.
It's very unusual these days for a publisher to release extra maps for a multiplayer game for free, with companies such as Activision (Call of Duty) and EA (Battlefield) loving to suck more money out of gamers via season passes and map packs, which can often cost as much as the game itself. Free maps to go with Halo 5 will add a lot of value to those who continue to play the game beyond its launch.
Halo 5 will also support online co-op for the campaign, and apparently that won't require an Xbox Live Gold subscription, which is typically required for multiplayer features on the Xbox One. However, if you do want to dive into the standard versus multiplayer modes, you will still need Xbox Live Gold for your account.
More details surrounding Halo 5, its campaign, and a "completely new, epic multiplayer experience" will be unveiled during E3 next week. The game itself is slated for launch on October 27th, 2015.