Halo MCC: 4K PC Gameplay & Season details

343’s June MCC Development Update has brought a myriad of details about the upcoming Reach release and the future of the collection on PC. First, here’s 4K gameplay on PC courtesy of the developers:

Halo: Reach PC 4K Playthrough | Tip of the Spear

The blog has also shed light on how progression will work in the upcoming update to coincide with the PC release. Their first point is to clarify that content will never be temporary:

Our intent has and will always be that when a season is over, content doesn’t disappear. You will not lose access to the ability to earn content from a season or the ability to use previously unlocked content. A core design philosophy we have is to give more options to players and when it comes to earning things, we will not take this away from you.

But you will be getting access to them in “seasons”, coinciding with the release of PC versions of the Halo games. Reach will be first of course, and over time more content will unlock with the next game:

If a new season starts that has a new theme, such as the release of the next title for MCC PC, it will be additive and include new unlocks to work towards. For you, this means that if you haven’t finished unlocking all content for the first Halo: Reach season, and the Halo: Combat Evolved season has started, you now can choose to continue working on unlocking content in the Halo: Reach season or use your season points towards the unlocks from the new Halo: CE season. All content and unlocks are yours forever once they have been earned. If anything, we will look at new and fun ways to add content for you to work towards.

343 reiterates that unlocking content is always possible

So what is a season in the context of Master Chief Collection? A broad ranging set of content tied to gear and playlists:

A season includes a unique theme, new playlists and featured modes, and a series of new unlockables. When a new season begins, players can earn unlockables from any previous season by purchasing the unlocks in order after they level up. Playlists and modes will rotate each season, though popular gameplay experiences can rotate back in during future seasons.

On top of this they explain that XP and unlocks will globally accumulate and work around universal XP scores:

XP will be granted at the end of each completed game that is played on dedicated servers. This will include PVP multiplayer matchmade games and Firefight matchmaking. XP will be awarded based on the length of the match and medals earned, but the medals earned will account for most of the XP. Medals will award XP in two primary categories; performance and teamwork. Performance medals include things such as kill streaks, style kills, and objective medals like flag captures. Teamwork medals are awarded for in-game actions like assists, protecting another player, or contributing to a score in objective game types. XP will be capped for all the categories; time, performance, and teamwork per match.

From the outset we heard that they intended to tweak the game to have a universal approach in line with Halo: Reach’s model. It’s great to hear the game plans to be playable to its fullest in the long run. Check out our summary on Forge, Theater and data migration and the full post by 343 Industries.

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