Halo: Reach mods are one of the new additions introduced to Bungie’s iconic shooter since 343 Industries brought it to PC via the Master Chief Collection. The ability to mod your Halo PC experience makes sense. Not just because we’re in the merry land of PC gaming where everything can be tweaked, but because Halo has always had a swathe of game-changing cheats, items, and special skulls. One of the most popular is the Grunt Birthday Party, which results in confetti popping out of the diminutive foe’s head when you pop it off their shoulders.
Early signs indicated that Halo MCC modding was going to be especially popular. Speaking to PCGamesN at X019, 343 Industries community lead Brian Jarrard shares that, during a test flight, Halo: Reach modding took players no time at all to get into – the game wasn’t even out then, either. “The speed at which people have started to mod and tinker already has been really cool,” he recalls. “It took them maybe an hour from the first flight to start changing weapon behaviours, making players that could jump and fly.”
Modding in Halo: Reach, or any of the other Halo games in the Master Chief Collection for that matter requires bypassing the game’s anti-cheat software. Luckily for us, 343 has provided a pretty simple workaround. Read on to find out how you can do it so you can use Halo: Reach mods, too.
How to use Halo: Reach mods
When you boot up the Halo Master Chief Collection, you’ll be presented with the option to load into the normal version, or another with anti-cheat disabled. You’ll want to pick the second option, as it applies to Halo: Reach, too, and allows you to use mods.
Anti-cheat may sound a bit threatening, but it isn’t anything major. It’s simply there to let players enjoy modded up campaigns or custom matches. It also allows more competitive minded players to go head-to-head in different, and hopefully, cheat-free spaces in the normal version of Halo MCC.
The best Halo: Reach mods
Halo: Reach Forge Collection 2.0
The Halo: Reach Forge mode hasn’t landed just yet, so we can’t jump in and create new maps. That hasn’t stopped modders from bringing old favourites back such as Duck Hunt, Jenga, and Indiana Jones, though. There are over 500 maps and 300 game mods packed into the Halo: Reach Forge Collection 2.0 mod.
All Character Customisation Unlocked
More of a timesaver than a gameplay changing addition, this Halo: Reach mod unlocks all character customisation just for you. Halo: Reach armor can be a bit of a time sink as it requires earning Halo: Reach season points. If you don’t fancy the grind, basically, you can use this mod.
Halo: Reach Evolved
This Halo: Reach Evolved mod re-balances the Legendary Campaign difficulty alongside weapons and vehicles, changes some campaign encounters, and brings in aspects of the original trilogy of Halo games while adding new content, too.
This mod isn’t quite ready yet, but you can have a go at the beta and try the campaign level Winter Contingency and the Firefight level Beachhead.
Royale Reach Reshade
This Halo MCC Royale Reach Reshade mod gives each a game some graphics-related TLC – that includes Reach. The mod is designed with 4K gaming in mind, and runs at 120fps at 4k on a Nvidia Titan XP. That means lower resolution and older graphics cards should do just fine with it.
Reach Menu Replacer
If you’re looking for a hit of nostalgia, this Halo Reach mod strips out the MCC backgrounds and replaces them with the original Halo: Reach backgrounds.
Halo 3 Battle Rifle Restoration
Pining for Halo 3’s battle rifle? Then this Halo: Reach battle rifle mod may be of service. The mod works by recreating the DMR to work and feel just like the old battle rifle. It should be noted, however, the mod doesn’t currently change the physical appearance or name – just the feel.
Tim Allen Menu
What more can be said? This Halo: Reach Tim Allen mod replaces every menu background with the Home Improvements actor.