343 Industries has flicked the switch and turned on Halo: The Master Chief Collection's third PC test, or "flight" as they insist on calling it. It's available via Steam for invited Insiders and will run until November 5.
Insiders—you can sign up for free membership here—have quite a lot of things to put through their paces, including a pair of Reach campaign missions, heroic and regular 4-player Firefights on a trio of maps, three social game modes, Reach Team Hardcore and Reach Invasion. Check out the full list below.
Campaign missions
- Halo: Reach campaign: Noble Actual and Winter Contingency.
Firefight matchmaking
- 4-player Heroic standard Firefight: will be played on Beachhead, Corvette, and Holdout.
- 4-player Normal grab bag Firefight: will be played on Beachhead, Corvette, and Holdout.
Multiplayer matchmaking
- 2v2 Social: Slayer, Flag and Bomb, Zone Control, and Asset Denial will be played on maps Countdown, Powerhouse, and Zealot.
- 4v4 Social: Slayer, Flag and Bomb, Zone Control, Asset Denial, Action Sack, Swat, and Snipers will be played on Countdown, Powerhouse, Zealot, and Tempest.
- 8v8 Social: Slayer, Flag and Bomb, Zone Control, Asset Denial, Action Sack, and Snipers will be played on Tempest, Breakpoint, and Ridgeline.
- Halo: Reach Team Hardcore: Slayer and Capture the Flag will be played on maps Countdown and Zealot.
- Halo: Reach Invasion: Invasion will be played on the map Breakpoint.
The first invites have been sent out now and if you've received one, you can dive in straight away. Today, 343 is testing 8v8 Social, Team Hardcore and the Heroic Firefight modes.
More invites will be sent out in the next couple of days, too. 343 will be testing the Windows 10 version of the game on the Microsoft Store and the Windows 7 version on Steam, so it will be inviting the relevant Insiders. Keep an eye on your inbox if that's you.
There still no release date for The Master Chief Collection. Reach is the first game set to appear, and there were hints that the entire collection would appear before the end of the year, but with November on our doorstep and none of them released, that's looking very unlikely.
