If you’re not big on Halo’s first person shooter offerings and are more keen on other Halo-related experiences, then the Halo Wars series has some pretty good deals happening this weekend. On October 18th, till October 21st, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition will be free to play on Steam. Currently priced at $19.99, this version features all of the DLC, improved visuals, and some new achievements to earn.

Those interested in something a little more contemporary can try out Halo Wars 2. That’s available on the Xbox One from October 18th to 21st as part of the Free Play Days event. It doesn’t seem like the copious amounts of DLC released till now will be available as well. However, you can still play through the entire campaign and try out multiplayer (which presumably requires Xbox Live Gold).

343 Industries is currently working on Halo Infinite, the next mainline sequel in the Halo franchise. It will feature a new engine called SlipSpace and is being co-developed by Skybox Labs. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait for more information – 343 Industries confirmed that the game won’t be appearing at Microsoft’s upcoming X018 event.

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, which allows players to stream roughly 100 games or so for the Xbox One, has received seven interesting additions to its library. They include Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Halo Wars Definitive Edition and Resident Evil HD as the bigger releases.

The remaining titles are just as incredible with Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, The World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap, Mega Man 9 and Sky Force Anniversary also joining the roster from November 1st onwards. Conditions apply when it comes to Metal Gear Solid 5 though – it will only be available in the Xbox Game Pass library until January 31st 2018. The other six games will remain forever.

Microsoft did clarify before Game Pass launched that some titles would be cycled out of the library though it didn’t list the criteria for certain games being removed. Perhaps it’s because of situations like this, especially if Konami sees that money can still be made out of Metal Gear Solid 5. Xbox Game Pass meanwhile costs $10 per month so it might be worth checking out.

Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, the enhanced port of the Xbox 360 exclusive Halo themed real time strategy game, will be launching on Steam come later this week- being made available to the larger part of the PC gaming population at long last.

The game was originally released on Xbox 360 back in 2008. It was released last year as a remaster for Xbox One and PC, but it was a Windows 10 exclusive game, being sold exclusively through the Windows Store. This will be the first time that the game is made available on a non Microsoft platform- for many PC gamers, this will be a bittersweet moment, as they will get to play the swan song of darling developers Ensemble, the guys who brought us the beloved Age of Empires series, at last. The Steam version of the game will use Steamworks for multiplayer, meaning no Cross Play with the Xbox One and Windows 10 versions.

If you would rather not wait till later this week, you can always pick it up on one of those platforms now.

Halo Wars: Definitive Edition coming to Steam on 4/20 https://t.co/73C7Vx9R3h

— Wario64 (@Wario64) April 17, 2017

Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, the Xbox One and PC remaster of Ensemble’s original Halo RTS, may be launching on Steam. Much like most Microsoft games, the PC release of the title so far has been exclusive to the Windows Store- however, according to known leaker Gamecheat13, Halo Wars Definitive Edition could be making the jump to Valve’s storefront too.

This wouldn’t be the first time since the Windows Store became a thing that Microsoft will be launching a game on Steam- it has done so with Quantum Break previously, and it has also allowed titles such as Dead Rising 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider to show up on Steam. It seems like games that are deemed strategically less important to the company are put on Steam, possibly as a way to hook customers, and induce them to the Windows Store for more.

All of which is to say- while Halo Wars may be coming to Steam, I wouldn’t expect Halo Wars 2 to. Or any other major Microsoft game, really.

https://twitter.com/Gamecheat13/status/845777913656070145