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Halo: The Master Chief Collection is one of the most comprehensive game franchise bundles of all time, which is impressive all on its own, but what's even more impressive is that 343 Industries continues to update and maintain this release, even after Halo Infinite took most of the developmental wind out of MCC's sails.
One of the biggest recent updates for Halo: MCC included expanded modding tools, and one developer took it upon himself to try and port one of Destiny 2's most interesting Exotic weapons into Halo 2. The weapon, Eyes of Tomorrow, is a unique rocket launcher that fires a cluster of AI-driven rockets, and this functionality seems to have made the transition as well.
While players aren't thrilled with Eyes of Tomorrow in Destiny 2, the weapon is still a rare, coveted drop from the Deep Stone Crypt raid boss, and offers an interesting perk and truly unique design. This made it a perfect candidate for Strat Goumas's attempts at leveraging the new and improved Halo: MCC modding tools to insert entirely new weapons into Halo 2. The weapon has custom geometry, sounds, and reload animation, which are all now easier to handle and manage than with the previous array of modding tools available to developers.
Indeed, the Halo games' modding scene was already quite substantial, but it was the release of expanded modding tools for Halo: MCC that put the community into overdrive. The updates broke quite a few pre-existing mods when it hit, of course, but modders quickly adapted and began leveraging these new development kits for new content, such as the featured Eyes of Tomorrow mod for Halo 2.
A prime example of this being the case is the recent release of a zombie survival mod for Halo 3. Directly inspired by the likes of Call of Duty's own zombie and zombie-adjacent modes, this community release features the Flood in all of its gory glory, tasking players simply with surviving the onslaught for as long as possible. Without the expanded modding tools, such as release would've been way more difficult to manage.
The fact that Halo Infinite has fewer players than Halo: MCC on Steam is yet another testament to the bundle's sheer value proposition. With modding added to the mix, which is unlikely to make it into Infinite anytime soon considering it is a live-service game, 343 industries is going to be hard-pressed to make its newest release more appealing than the old classics are.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and it includes the up-to-date version of Halo 2.