14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at 343 Industries is finally ready to offer some clear information on the coming Memories of Reach downloadable content pack for Halo 5: Guardians. It is designed to add a new Arena battlespace, the Infection mode, more REQ options while also tweaking the Forge, the matchmaking systems, the weapon balance, the user interface updates, and more controller options.
The team is unwilling to talk about the launch date, which is set at some point in May, but apparently, all teams are currently finalizing their contributions before the entire package is tested.
The new Infection experience will come to Halo 5: Guardians with a player count of 12, with action taking place over 4 rounds of 3 minutes. The infected characters have access to thrust, stabilize and Smart Scope while the Spartan can use their entire array of abilities.
Memories of Reach will also come complete with a new Last Squad Standing custom game option.
When the new DLC arrives, it will also introduce the REQs from the Spartan's Armory to the common pool, giving players access to more options than ever during combat.
So far, 343 Industries is unwilling to talk about the new map and the unique ways in which it will shape matches that use it.
Halo 5: Guardians is also getting a big set of balance changes
Michael Wetzel, the big data engineer working on the shooter, explains that his team has worked hard to secure all the data they need to understand which one is the most effective and how tweaks should be made to make them more interesting to use.
He adds, "The main metric we landed on was kills per weapon use. This allows us to easily compare weapons no matter where they came from based on whether they were used or not. It's not without complications though, because we have to define use as something that is fair to all weapons."
Daniel Wikstein, senior weapons designer, says that he wants to make every weapon in Halo 5: Guardians relevant and that 343 Industries has identified outliers and has decided to make changes that should make them more or less effective based on the gathered data.
Gamers can get a look at the coming modifications by clicking on the button at the end of this article.
Memories of Reach for Halo 5: Guardians will also make other gameplay changes that will be revealed at a later date.