Halo 5: New Xbox One Expansion Out Now, as Free Forge Tools Hit PC

It's a big day for Halo 5: Guardians. The game's newest expansion, Anvil's Legacy, launched today on Xbox One, while the long-awaited free Forge tools have debuted for Windows 10 PC.

Anvil's Legacy, which is Halo 5's ninth free update and the first since June, introduces new maps in the form of Temple (Warzone Assault) and Mercy (Arena), the latter of which is a reimagining of Halo 4's Haven map. Some of the new weapons include the Tactical Magnum, as well as Wicked Grasp and Berserker's Claw. Watch the video below to see the content in action.

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), Hog Wild (May), and Warzone Firefight (June).

As for the Halo 5 Forge news for PC, everyone who meets the minimum system requirements and has the Window 10 Anniversary update installed can now download the Forge map-and-mode-builder free from the Windows Store. This is 343's first Halo FPS game for PC and the studio worked with Vancouver-based Skybox Labs on the game.

Players can check out Forge tutorials to help them get started. Additionally, there is custom games support, so you can play matches online with your friends. There is no matchmaking, but a future update will introduce a custom games browser on both PC and Xbox One.

Forge maps and modes, like the beer pong mode shown in the trailer above, are playable on both Xbox One and PC. You can find what you're looking for through the newly released file browser for both platforms.

In an Xbox Wire blog post, 343 studio head Josh Holmes reiterated that Halo 5 is seeing the most active userbase of any Halo game at this point in its life since 2007's Halo 3. He said the game's enduring success is attributable in part to 343's free DLC campaign. Microsoft has offered all Halo 5 DLC maps for free, which is a change from past games in the series.

"The goal in making this content free was to keep our players playing together across all experiences and prevent anyone from feeling left behind," Holmes said.

Are you going to jump back into Halo 5 to play the new DLC today on Xbox One or check out the Forge tools on PC? Let us know in the comments below.