Halo Wars 2 has been given a demo on both the Xbox One and Windows 10. As with every other demo, it is free to download.
The demo contains the first mission from the campaign and Blitz Firefight with a pre-built deck (I assume for Cutter). If you’ve been thinking of buying Halo Wars 2 but wanted to play a little bit more of it or missed the two betas, then here is your chance!
Link to the Windows Store download page
Sadly the demo doesn’t offer a whole lot of proper RTS gameplay IMO. The first mission plays very similarly to the first mission of the first game, where you drive a Warthog around a winding map as you reach your destination, there is some fighting but there is no base building or economy management. Meanwhile Blitz Firefight, while fun, isn’t standard RTS gameplay and you only get to use one deck (which again, I assume will be a Cutter deck).
I think the demo should’ve been more like the first game. The original Halo Wars demo contained the first two campaign missions for the campaign, and skirmish against the Prophet of Regret as Cutter on a single map. It allowed players to enjoy the campaign and multiplayer quite a bit, I played the demo for months on end before buying the game. Having a Halo game get a demo again is a great thing, and while it offers a good taste of the game, it doesn’t offer a good taste of RTS gameplay.
