Halo 5 Guardians New Details: Beta Maps, New Novel, Game Engine

It seems like we can’t go a day post-E3 without seeing some more information about Halo 5: Guardians, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. According to Halo Follower, the rumors this time come from ntkrl, a anon forum user. He (or she) predicted quite a few things about Microsoft’s E3 event, so he’s considered a pretty trustworthy source, at least for now.

Nktrl claims that Halo 5’s beta will have between six and eight maps, two of which will be arena maps, and two more that will support Forge, the franchise’s impressive map editor. The engine in The Master Chief Collection also includes something called technical makeup. We’re a little fuzzy on the specifics, but apparently it is part of the enhancements that have been made to Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4.

In related news, there is a 14th Halo novel in the works. The book, entitled Halo: Broken Circle, is set to release later this year. Broken Circle expands upon events surrounding The Great Schism, or the Covenant Civil War, seen in Halo 2. Anyway you slice it, it’s an exciting time to be a Halo fan, especially if you loved Halo 2. November 11th can’t come soon enough.