Halo 2: Anniversary comes to Steam and Xbox Game Pass for PC next week

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A few weeks after public testing got underway, Microsoft has announced that Halo 2: Anniversary, the remake of the 2004 FPS and the next part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, will come to Steam and Xbox Game Pass for PC on May 12.

Halo 2: Anniversary was originally released in 2014 as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One console, with dramatically improved cinematics, new cutscenes, and remastered audio. The PC port is optimized even further with support for 4K resolutions, ultrawide displays, and adjustable FOV, and players who like a healthy shot of nostalgia in their games will be able to toggle between the Anniversary and the original Halo 2 graphics.

The Steam listing currently indicates that Halo 2: Anniversary is available as DLC for The Master Chief Collection, but it should be purchasable standalone when it goes live: Previous MCC games Halo: Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, go for $10/£7/€10 individually, while the full Master Chief Collection is $40/£30/€40. 

Alternatively, the Xbox Game Pass for PC is $5 per month (and just $1 for your first month), which gets you unlimited access to more than 100 games. If you're not hung up on "ownership," which is a pretty squishy concept these days anyway, it's a hell of a deal.

With Halo 2: Anniversary just about out the door, it's about time we turned our attention to parts 4 and 5 of The Master Chief Collection, Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST. Microsoft dropped the first MCC Halo 3 screens last weekend—they still look quite good.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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