Halo 5: Guardians at 10 – How Does It Play in 2025?

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When Halo Infinite first came out, it felt like a big hit – tons of people were playing! The developers kept pushing out updates and fixes, and the community was amazing with all the cool stuff they were building in Forge. It really seemed like the game could stay popular for years. But unfortunately, things changed quickly. After the initial excitement, player numbers started dropping, and they dropped fast – almost by half each month! Now, it’s pretty rare to see even 1000 people playing at the same time on Steam. With no new Halo game announced and updates to Infinite coming out so slowly, a lot of us are starting to look for other games to get our Master Chief fix.

Most players have been returning to the Master Chief Collection, but Halo 5: Guardians is noticeably absent from it. Even though it’s only available on Xbox, Halo 5 is actually gaining players in its multiplayer mode, and with good reason. Its fast-paced action and well-designed maps offer a unique experience within the Halo series that’s worth revisiting. As Halo 5 approaches its 10-year anniversary in 2025, it’s a great time to remember what came before Halo Infinite.

Currently, the only way to play Halo 5 is on Xbox consoles. While the new ROG Xbox handheld could work, most players will be able to access it on an older Xbox One or Series X/S. There are no plans to release the game on PC, and Halo 5 is the only main Halo title not included in the Master Chief Collection (besides Infinite), making it difficult for many players to experience it today.

Despite being an older game and limited to Xbox, Halo 5 still has a surprisingly active online community. You can usually find matches in popular modes like Slayer, Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag pretty easily. The 24-player Warzone mode might take a little longer, especially when fewer people are playing. If you’re having trouble, using the expanded search feature can help you find custom lobbies that are already running.

Even though Halo 5 came out a decade ago, it still looks remarkably modern. Because the game focuses on tighter, more contained environments than Infinite, the graphics remain sharp and the gameplay runs smoothly. It looks particularly great on the Xbox Series X thanks to backwards compatibility. For now, the Series X is the best way to experience Halo 5 until it’s officially released on PC.

Multiplayer remains a core strength of Halo 5. Many players see it as the best Halo multiplayer experience, particularly within the games developed by 343 Industries. What makes it so good? A key factor is how easily and quickly players can move. Halo 5 introduced unlimited sprinting and sliding, and its sprint is actually faster than the one in Halo Infinite. This speed, combined with the Spartans’ ability to jump high, creates exciting and fast-paced gameplay.

As a Halo player, I really noticed how much Halo 5 pushed aiming down sights – basically every gun had it! It made getting those super accurate shots way easier. Honestly, combined with the sprinting, it started to feel a little too similar to other shooters, like it was losing some of its unique Halo feel. But surprisingly, that fast pace and precise aiming actually made Halo 5 super competitive. It just felt good to play at a high level, and I could totally see a remastered PC version blowing up the e-sports scene. It had that potential!

Halo 5 isn’t just more competitive than previous games, it also keeps the fun, lighthearted feeling that made the original Halo titles so popular. Bumping into other players adds both humor and a sense of realism, making each match unpredictable and often hilariously chaotic. The thruster pack lets players quickly jump and reach new heights, while a special aiming ability adds area-of-effect damage when you’re in mid-air.

Forge mode in this game builds on the popular map-creation tools from Halo 3 and Halo 4. Players can use a comprehensive set of tools to design, customize, and even program their own maps and game modes. While Infinite’s Forge has been updated with new features, Halo 5 has a significant advantage in terms of available content, thanks to the ten years of creations its community has built up.

The new game features much tighter and more detailed maps compared to the large areas in Infinite. Players will find plenty of places to hide, and the faster movement speed keeps the action quick. Maps like Plaza really showcase the game’s focus on quick movement and agility, with its multi-level layout. Plus, objective-based maps like Truth and Colosseum are some of the most well-designed and fair maps the series has ever seen.

The weapons in the game are powerful and satisfying to use. Every time you land a headshot, you’ll hear a unique and impactful sound effect, making it feel different from regular hits. The designs of the Promethean weapons are also completely new to the Halo series, and they come with their own cool sounds and visual effects. Many fans consider Halo 5 to have some of the best weapons in the franchise, and it’s easy to understand why.

It’s a shame the game’s large-scale mode isn’t as popular as it used to be. It originally stood out with its 12v12 Warzone, which combined player-versus-player combat with AI enemies and challenging boss fights for team-based action. In some ways, Warzone foreshadowed the design of Halo Infinite with its expansive map. It also experimented with loot packs and microtransactions, a system that would later appear in Halo Infinite. Despite this, many players loved the unique blend of cooperative and competitive gameplay, and the unpredictable matches it created. While Warzone servers are still running, they’re not as busy as the smaller, faster-paced deathmatch modes available now.

Many fans consider the campaign of Halo 5: Guardians to be a disappointing entry in the Halo series, and generally the weakest so far. It had significant problems with both its gameplay and story, making it hard to revisit or recommend now.

The game’s campaign suffers from frustrating design flaws that make battles feel repetitive and unfair. Enemies frequently use homing weapons, forcing players to constantly hide behind cover instead of using a variety of strategies. Shifting Halo to a cover-based shooting style wasn’t a good decision. Battles become predictable, which ruins the fast-paced action that Halo is known for, especially since this installment introduced more movement options for the player.

The game tries to emphasize teamwork with a squad system, but it often hinders strategic play. Instead of directly controlling all Spartans, you give them orders and depend on them for support. While a team-based campaign sounds great, the AI is unfortunately unreliable. Your AI teammates frequently ignore commands, even when nearby, and the game’s difficulty expects consistent support that rarely happens. This creates a frustrating experience where you don’t feel powerful on your own, and you can’t rely on your team either, due to the AI’s shortcomings.

The game also suffers from bosses with way too much health, which makes the fights drag on and become frustrating. Honestly, if I have to face another Warden Eternal, I might just go back to playing Infinite. These enemies aren’t just overly durable; their attacks are predictable and boring. And the higher difficulty levels only make things worse.

The story isn’t much stronger. While a story-driven take on “Red Vs Blue” had potential and could have been great, it ultimately didn’t quite deliver. Playing as Locke is enjoyable – he’s a Spartan with a bit of personality and is fairly likeable – but other, less-developed Spartans take up too much of the focus. The biggest problem is that Master Chief only appears in three missions throughout the entire campaign. Prioritizing these uninteresting Spartans over the iconic Chief is confusing and disappointing, especially considering how bland most of them are.

It’s frustrating that the game requires players to look up information outside of the game to fully understand the story. A major Halo game shouldn’t need that, especially given the series’ focus on storytelling. The biggest issue, though, is the story twist involving Cortana, which many players found confusing and upsetting. If you’re going to surprise players with an unexpected plot change, it needs to at least feel true to the character’s established personality.

With fewer people playing Halo Infinite and little news about the next Halo game (aside from the announced remake of Halo 1), the series’ future is uncertain. Releasing a remastered version of Halo 5 on PC would be a good move. If the developers could remove some of the in-game purchases and improve performance for PC, it might recapture the excitement that older Halo games once had, which seems to be fading now.

Please be aware that the opinions shared in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of GamingBolt.

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2025-10-27 13:43