E3 2016: The ‘Halo Wars 2’ Beta Is Available Now On Xbox One!

Dampening the surprise a little bit thanks to a previous announcement, most of us knew Halo Wars 2 was on its way. What we didn’t know was that we would get a chance to play it a lot sooner than we thought.

Starting today through June 20, Xbox One gamers will be able to participate in a Halo Wars 2 beta, giving them limited access to the game’s core features about eight months prior to its February 21 release date. The team at 343 Industries did a great job of hooking us right before the big announcement, since the teaser trailer, (which can be viewed below,) did a great job of introducing its new characters while setting the stage for such a massive conflict.

For those who are unfamiliar, Halo Wars was an attempt to bring Real Time Strategy games that have been popularized on the PC to consoles, featuring the popular characters and units from the main Halo franchise. Receiving a certain level of acclaim in its own right, it wasn’t enough to keep Ensemble Studios, the talented team behind the popular Age of Empires franchise, from being shut down. Because of this, many thought we would never see a Halo Wars sequel until 343 and Creative Assembly took the reigns.

After what we’ve seen so far, let’s just say we’re happy that this revival is happening. Eventual Xbox Play Anywhere support will allow cross play and cross save support between console and Windows 10, allowing us to keep the fight alive no matter where we are. What say you, gamer? What are your thoughts on Halo Wars 2, and will you be online this week throughout the game’s beta period? Sound off below!