Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare is coming this fall

In the rapid-fire barrage of game trailers and announcements that came out of Microsoft's pre-E3 press event, one blew past us entirely: Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare, an expansion to the Halo-based RTS that puts players in charged of the Banished as they come up against the Flood.

Alongside the Banished campaign, Awakening the Nightmare will add a new co-op mode called Terminus Firefight, in which up to three players must defend their bases and Forerunner terminus nodes against hordes of attackers, including UNSC, Banished, and Flood enemies. There will also be two new Banished leaders and two new standard multiplayer maps, which will be free for all players whether or not they have the expansion.

Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare is currently expected to be out in the fall.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.