Halo 5's Biggest-Ever Expansion Coming Next Week, Full Game Will Be Free for Limited Time

Halo 5's eighth free expansion, Warzone Firefight, will launch on June 29, Microsoft announced today. To celebrate its release, Microsoft is letting everyone play Halo 5 completely free June 29 through July 5 as part of the Free Play Days promotion.

Additionally, during this time Halo 5 will be marked down by 50 percent. Previous Free Play Days events have been themed around sports games.

As for Warzone Firefight, one of the biggest new additions is the Warzone Firefight mode. 343 previously tested this mode back in April as part of an open beta. We also recently learned that there will be a new grunt-mech boss named Grunt Goblin.

There are also three new multiplayer maps, including two for Warzone (Attack on Sanctum and Prospect) and one for Arena (Molten). As for the new Reqs, these include the Cinder and Cyclops armor sets, as well as new Covenant vehicle and weapon variants, among others.

It's not just Halo 5's multiplayer that's getting new content with the Warzone Firefight expansion. 343 is bringing a Score Attack mode to campaign, while a new Forge canvas, Tidal, will be available for the map-making tools.

Check out the image below to see everything included with Warzone Firefight.

Interestingly, 343 also teased in an Xbox Wire blog post that it has "more surprises" to announce about Warzone Firefight before release. The developer directed people to watch a pre-release livestream on June 28, beginning at 2 PM PDT on the Twitch Halo channel.

Halo 5's other expansions included The Battle of Shadow and Light (November), Cartographer's Gift (December), Infinity's Armor (January), Hammer Storm (February), Ghosts of Meridian (April), Memories of Reach (May), and Hog Wild (May). Warzone Firefight is the largest and most substantial Halo 5 expansion ever.