Halo: Master Chief Collection has long been touted as a comprehensive gathering of all of Spartan John-117's adventures to date, and a new blog post from 343 Industries confirms that the studio is going above and beyond to make sure that that's the case.

Rumors of the Master Chief Collection surfaced earlier this year, and were soon followed by an official announcement that the game would launch in 2014. The first four mainline Halo games are included; the first as its Anniversary remaster released back in 2011, and the second game in the series being given a similar treatment in honor of ten years having passed since its release.

A huge part of the package's appeal is its mammoth amount of multiplayer content; every game mode and all the maps from the base games and their DLC will be on offer for multiplayer across matchmaking and custom game modes. Now, we've learnt that maps never before available on home consoles will also be amongst the 100+ that players will have access to.

All six maps which were exclusive to the PC release of Halo: Combat Evolved will be included for use, as well as the two maps that were added for the port of Halo 2. As PC players will know, the inclusion of these maps in the collection is well deserved — some of them could definitely stand among the best that the home console versions had to offer.

'Death Island' is one such map, a multiplayer take on the iconic 'The Silent Cartographer' level. Revisiting one of the best missions in the campaign is certainly part of its appeal, but it's also notable for its large size, giving it plenty of potential for vehicle-based combat.

Another standout is 'Danger Canyon', a map that was hugely popular amongst PC players of Halo: Combat Evolved for the huge amount of strategy it demanded for successful CTF runs. Teams are given the option of traversing the length of a canyon or cutting through an interior section to reach their opponents' base. Both routes have to be defended at all times, leading to some rather tense encounters.

We've seen the effort that has gone in to remastering fan favorite maps like 'Lockout', but it's great to see that 343 Industries are attempting to cover a huge breadth of the series' content as well as making sure that all of it is presented as its best. The inclusion of these maps certainly demonstrates that 343 Industries haven't forgotten about the success of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 on the PC — even if it seems that the franchise isn't going to make a return to the platform any time soon.

Last month, Microsoft made a firm statement that the Master Chief Collection wouldn't be making its way onto the PC for the time being, apparently due to the intricacies of running the games on PC architecture. It's clear that the game is considered to be a system seller by Microsoft, and that they're looking to use it to build the Xbox One playerbase.

It certainly looks like Halo: Master Chief Collection will be a must-have for any fan of the series — and it will likely be a major factor for many who haven't yet made the move across to an Xbox One from an Xbox 360. Remastered single player campaigns and access to the Halo 5: Guardians beta are undoubtedly tempting — but it'll be the huge amount of multiplayer content on offer that really make this package irresistible.

Halo: Master Chief Collection is set to release on Xbox One on November 11, 2014.

Source: Halo Waypoint