Introduction
Finally, after so many Halo games without the Flood, they have returned! Where have they returned to, though? Halo Wars 2 the Awakening of the Nightmare DLC! As this DLC is very different compared to the main game, mostly due to having a different protagonist, a good story and some different gameplay elements but mostly, a lot of different units and base options! Even though the banished are new, this time you will control their forces as they fight against the Flood!
What did I think before playing Halo 2 Awakening the Nightmare?
While Halo Wars 2 was fun we decided to buy the DLC, but the main game did not hit the right spot, nonetheless, my wife and I were very interested in this DLC! We saw the Flood return on the screenshots, we really wanted to fight the flood, even though this is a Real Time Strategy game and not the usual first-person shooter. We were very interested in how the banished units would work! For more information, we went to the Xbox page!
The Microsoft store page
https://www.xbox.com/nl-NL/games/store/halo-wars-2-awakening-the-nightmare/9nblggh4tqdd
The page looks very interesting, there are a lot of new options in this DLC, but the most important part is of course, that the Flood has returned, my wife was so glad, she wanted to take down the flood and obliterate them!
Rating
I rate Halo Wars 2 Awaken the Nightmare with an 8.2.
It is time to take down the Flood once again, while playing as the other bad guys, wait, how many bad guys are there now?
Story
The story of Halo Wars 2 Awaken the Nightmare seems to take place after the original game, as you now take control of the Banished units left behind on the planet.
As the Banished need resources, Atriox tells his captains to gather them from the High Charity that once was a great spaceship that Covenant owned, Voridus is ordered to not open the ship as the Flood is inside. As Voridus does not believe it, he opens the ship and the Flood escapes, and they are hungry!
Rating
I rate the story of Halo Wars 2 Awakening the Nightmare with a 9.3.
Finally, a good story that once again ties in with the original Halo games and shows the fearsome flood once again. This DLC also fleshes out some Banished forces for Halo Infinite.
Gameplay
The most important core mechanics are still in place, the pure real time strategy is in place as you need to build bases and use your army to defend, but this time the flood will try to assemble you into their ranks! You must do whatever you can to stop that from happening, or let them escape from the planet. You know what? Let them escape, so we can have another Halo game with the Flood!
In this DLC, you will need power and supplies to create your base and summon units! However, you will now need different units as you are a different protagonist! Some of your units have different skills like jumping over gaps! In this DLC, you will need to complete puzzles a lot, but in a good way while defeating the Flood!
What is huge, though, there is also a boss fight with a proto- gravemind! Simone wanted the real challenge, taking on this boss in legendary mode! It was a hard challenge, but nonetheless, she prevailed and saved the day from the Flood! We even recorded the battle!
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Halo 2 Wars Awakening the Nightmare with a 9.4!
The gameplay is a big improvement over the original game, and it gives the real feeling of Halo once again!
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics of Halo Wars 2 Awakening the Nightmare are great, the cutscenes are amazing with the Flood coming back to terrorize everyone! We did try to take a screenshot, but they are so fast, who wants a parasite to hug their face? You might not be the same after this hug, though.
Sound
The soundtracks are great along with the sound effects of the Flood. The Flood does not talk yet, it is your goal to kill it before it gets to that stage! Otherwise, it will be too strong!
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Halo Wars 2 Awakening the Nightmare with a 9.7.
I hope the Flood comes back in future games!
What did I think after playing Halo Wars 2 Awakening the Nightmare?
My wife and I had a lot more fun when playing Halo Wars 2 Awakening the Nightmare, following the story of a Banished could have been the original Halo Wars 2 game to introduce them to the Halo Universe in a better way than the original game did. I was very excited to see Atriox in Halo Infinite and beat him up! I also hoped to see the Flood in Halo Infinite, this DLC hyped up that game quite a lot!
Exploring with the new units was a lot of fun! The units felt much stronger, as did the leader powers! The restoration field worked wonders! It was too bad though that we did not get to kill some human marines, but since the Flood was the main enemy, I did not mind at all!
Rating
I rate Halo Wars 2 Awakening the Nightmare with a 9.3 after playing.
This DLC felt as if it should have been the original game but a bit lengthier, maybe some more background of where Atriox came from!?
What are my personal thoughts about Halo Wars 2 the Nightmare Awakens?
This was a great real time strategy game, the new units felt unique, and it was a great take on being the bad guy, I did hope that there was some more background on what the Banished were doing on this planet in the first place! Or how they took over the Covenant and killed them, or maybe on how they stopped the guardians from Halo 5!?
Rating
My personal Rating of Halo Wars 2 Awaken the Nightmare with a 9.1.
If you are looking for a challenging and fun Real Time Strategy game, this is the place to be!
Last Words
Pros
- Face off once again with the menacing parasites called the Flood!
- Use new leaders, units and a different base to stop the Flood from leaving the planet!
- Follow the story of the Banished as they have a stalemate with the Marines from the original game!
- Use different kinds of vehicles to take down the Flood
- Amazing graphics and soundtracks for a DLC!
- Fight against a boss in real time strategy, are you cunning enough?
Cons
- Sadly, this is DLC and you need to purchase it along with the main game to play it
This game is an excellent example of, why curiosity kills the cat, however this time the curiosity of voridus leads to the Flood almost killing everyone on the planet. I wonder why the humans did not make an entrance though, they should have seen the Flood on their radar or something?
Final Rating
9,2
Let me know what you think of Halo Wars 2 Awakening the Nightmare in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
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Silentrets
its not my cup of tea but good review
jett cameron
this DLC doesn't matter anymore since we all know 343 dumped everything in Halo Infinite 🙁
supersven
but is Halo Infinite good?
Wonder
It's rare to see a DLC that's actually worth the prize, because of having a sizeable amount of content! It's a shame that you have to buy most of them alongside the main game, though.
supersven
That is indeed a shame!
krutarthxo
Not my kind of game but its always good to see a DLC with actual content instead of just recycling assets to make some extra money
supersven
That is indeed useful, as most of the content is new!
Jaromir Krzyszczak
looks good, thanks for the review!
Javier del Ríos
Shame it´s not standalone.
supersven
Indeed!
emrah
I love Halo games series , Thank you for Review
supersven
More Halo games are coming up!
fano23
This DLC seem to have good content
supersven
Finally some good DLC!
Robert
Is a worth dlc I played years ago and gives many hours of fun.
Very good review very complete.
supersven
This is a very good DLC!
Vercinger
It's Windows 10 only, and I'll be delaying that downgrade for as long as possible, so 0 interest here.
supersven
You can also play it on a XBOX 🙂
eFe
More than a DLC it looks like a different game but from the same franchise, like gears tactics
supersven
This DLC blew us away! Simone had a great time with battling the Flood!