Microsoft has released a free demo of its latest real time strategy game, Halo Wars 2, for Windows 10 PCs. The demo was earlier available for the Xbox One console.
Before you head to the Windows Store and download it, there are a few things you need to know.
The Halo Wars 2 demo for PCs, weighs in a massive 17GB to download. Since I have a super high data cap, I went ahead and tested it on my PC. The demo allows you to play just 1 level of the single player campaign, in Halo Wars 2. In addition to that, you can play a little bit of the Blitz Firefight multiplayer mode. That is terribly limited, compared to the download size of the demo, isn't it? Considering the full game itself is just 25GB to download, this is a terrible waste of time and data.
The gameplay is odd, and not like a true RTS. It is quite similar to Star Wars: Empire at War, where you cannot build anywhere, but at the given build pads and resource pads. The graphics of Halo Wars 2 is amazing, but the lack of zoom controls was disapoointing. The game crashed on me twice, once when it was loading, and once near the end of the mission.
Halo Wars 2 on PC doesn't look like a true PC game, but one built for consoles and ported to computers. It's a good thing you have a free demo to try out. If Microsoft hopes of making profits with Halo Wars 2, it seriously needs to rethink its pricing and also make the game available on other stores, such as Steam.
If the huge download size doesn't deter you, go ahead and download the free Halo Wars 2 demo from the Windows Store. Make sure to check the system requirements for the game before downloading the demo.