‘Halo 5’ Adds Warzone Turbo, Free Maps From ‘Ghosts Of Meridian’ Revealed

Halo 5 for the Xbox One received a pair of good news items Thursday. The game received an update to add a new Warzone variant to the mix while the first peek at the Ghost of Meridian update was also given.

Warzone Turbo in Halo 5 is for those players who have collected a massive amount of high-level REQs but never actually used them. The mode instantly places the entire team at REQ Level 9 as soon as the Home Base is secured. Additionally, energy regeneration is near-instantaneous to give players free access to their entire REQ inventory during a match.

Interestingly, Halo 5 will get Warzone Turbo through happenstance and not part of a planned release. Lead Multiplayer Designer Lawrence Metten explained it as follows.

“Funny enough, originally we had no plans to ever release Warzone Turbo. We created the game type at the request of our test team so that they could more efficiently test Warzone features and functionality without having to wait to level up or refill energy. Then one day we made the “mistake” of giving the mode a whirl during our afternoon studio playtest. It was incredibly chaotic and surprisingly a ton of fun to play, which inevitably led to a long and drawn out internal discussion that went something like this:

‘Should we ship this?’

We can’t not ship this!”

Meanwhile, the two free maps coming to Halo 5 via the Ghosts of Meridian update debuted today via GameSpot. The update will hit the week of April 4 after originally being scheduled for March. It’s unknown if this will push back subsequent updates for Memories of Reach, Hog Wild, and Warzone Firefight.

Ghosts of Meridian comes with a new Arena map called “Tyrant” as well as a new Warzone map titled “Skirmish at Darkstar.”

“Tyrant” is a small symmetrical map built for Capture the Flag and Assault game types. It takes place on an asteroid orbiting a star that plays host to a Forerunner base. Power weapons for the map include the ubiquitous Sniper Rifle along with a Scattershot for those that prefer close-range combat. Each base features a grav-lift/man cannon.

“Skirmish at Darkstar” will be the smallest Warzone map yet for Halo 5. However, 343 Industries’ Josh Holmes says it is the densest in terms of cover and choice routes, although it doesn’t match the other Warzone maps in terms of overall landmass.

The map takes place on the same Meridian from the early chapters of the Halo 5 campaign. The Liang-Dortmund corporation continues to mine resources from the moon. The remote Darkstar Station survived the catastrophe that struck the planet, and this is where the two teams of Spartan will face off against each other and the Promethean forces.

Prometheans will be using stolen UNSC vehicles at the beginning of the Warzone encounter in “Skirmish at Darkstar.” Players will need to navigate between the bases without getting run over. There are plenty of ground cover and tight spaces to use to help while on foot.

A plethora of new REQs will be included with Ghosts of Meridian including three different Gravity Hammers – Tartarus’ Gavel, Grinder, and Corpse Maker. 343 Industries has scheduled a Twitch livestream for Tuesday, April 5 at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT to show off all the new goodies.

The remaining free DLC releases are “Memories of Reach,” “Hog Wild,” and “Warzone Firefight.” Aside from “Warzone Firefight,” “Memories of Reach” is potentially the most interesting at the moment because of the mention of the pivotal planet in the Halo universe, plus the promotional image showed Jorge-052. Presumably, Halo players will see more Spartan armor based on the characters from Reach, but perhaps more is planned?

Meanwhile, the first details for Warzone Firefight emerged from the recent 2016 Halo World Championships. Up to eight players will work together to face five rounds of increasingly difficult, dynamic objectives set against a timer. Developer 343 Industries promises the most on-screen enemies in the history of the franchise plus full access to a player’s REQ inventory.

[Image via 343 Industries/GameSpot]