Unofficial Halo Online mod adds six new maps from Halo 3

It's good news and bad news for fans of Halo Online, the free-to-play shooter that's only available in Russia, and the hacks that enable it to be played elsewhere. The group behind Eldewrito (the component of the Eldorito mod that allows it to go online outside of Russia) recently announced the release of the 0.5 version of the mod, which includes all the new maps included in the latest official release of Halo Online. But they also said that it will be the last major release of the mod created by the original team.

“We have decided to focus our collective efforts on an entirely new project called Anvil Online, which is a mod for Halo Online that has different design goals from ElDewrito. We will do our best to keep you updated on our progress on this project. We will create another post later with more details on the project,” the Eldewrito dev team wrote on Reddit. “We welcome the community to continue our efforts in the meantime, while we work hard to bring you the best experience that we possibly can.”

The new release adds six new maps, all from Halo 3—High Ground, Last Resort, Narrows, Standoff, The Pit, and Sandtrap—plus IP banning and increased audio channels, from 64 to 1024.

In a bit of an ironic twist, while Eldewrito continues to operate, the official Halo Online was reportedly taken offline in December. A translated message posted in the same thread said the shutdown is temporary, but it also includes an offer of refunds for in-game purchases, suggesting that it could be some time before it returns.

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.