Halo: The Master Chief Collection allows fans to relive some of their favorite titles that are full of nostalgia. The title lets players experience the games again in original graphics and audio if they choose to do so, which is a nice option to have.
The original audio isn’t available in multiplayer across all titles featured in the collection, however. Fans have complained about Halo: Combat Evolved only having the updated audio available in multiplayer, which hinders the nostalgic experience. 343 Industries has finally addressed this issue and will be adding the classic Halo: CE audio to multiplayer soon.
The original audio is available in the campaign on PC and Xbox, but it isn’t available in multiplayer. 343 Industries announced this will change soon in a recent blog post.
“We are happy to announce that we are now putting the final polish on bringing the classic Halo: CE multiplayer sounds to the Halo: CE PC launch,” 343 said. “Initial playtest feedback is that players are happy to have the original audio in place, which brings the overall Halo: CE multiplayer another step closer to the way we all remember it on the original Xbox.”
Once the update is live, players will have a toggle option in the settings menu to switch between the original and updated audio. The audio is in beta testing and will be available when Halo: CEA releases on PC.
343 Industries teamed up with the Formosa Group to bring the original sounds back to the game, which hasn’t been an easy feat. Paul Lipson explained in the blog post that both sets of sounds already exist but getting them to exist “side by side” has been the difficult part.
“The trick has been to have these two sound trees live side by side, and then create a user-selectable option that loads one or the other on-demand,” Lipson said. “This is more complicated than it sounds but it something we are delivering.”
The Formosa Group is working with Microsoft on every title featured in The Master Chief Collection and Lipson confirmed more exciting updates will be released in the future.
Halo fans can expect the new multiplayer sound option soon and can also look forward to Halo Infinite, which will be released later this year. The game will be a part of the new Smart Delivery program that will only require players to purchase the game once and enjoy it on any Xbox console included in the program.
