Halo 5: Guardians Beta Will Feature Four Maps, Old School Gameplay

The Halo 5: Guardians Beta is set to launch on December 29, 2014—just in time for the Christmas holiday season—is said to be “getting back into the legacy” of Halo gameplay and will offer four maps upon which players will do battle. The beta is a part of The Master Chief Collection and is exclusive to that game’s release. 

343 Industries’ Josh Holmes explained what is meant by “getting back into the legacy” in a brief interview with IGN. “The focus of the beta is going to be 4v4 arena gameplay,” said Holmes.

Like Halo: Combat Evolved, the game’s beta will feature smaller-scale battlegrounds and provide players with identical loadouts for both teams at the start of each match. It’s far and away from Halo 4’s user-selectable loadouts and large-scale environments. It’s not known whether other modes in Halo 5 will offer players with the range of freedom previously offered by the series. However, players will be happy to know that they will be able to tweak seven armor sets in Halo 5’s new character customization system.

Holmes additionally revealed that playing the Halo 5: Guardians Beta in the Master Chief Collection will provide participating players with unspecified bonus content for Halo 5: Guardians when it actually launches.