Halo: The Master Chief Collection finally shows the aliens some love

Next week, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is putting a long-overdue spotlight on the Sangheili, with new alien armours and a rainbow of energy sword colours arriving with Season 7: Elite.

Sporting multiple mandibles and occasionally voiced by Keith David, Halo's stoic alien baddies turned reluctant allies haven't been given quite as much love as their Spartan counterparts in the MCC. That's all set to change in next week's free seasonal update, announced by 343 in a tweet earlier today.

Season 7 introduces seven new armour variations for Halo 3 Elites. The full rundown was teased a few weeks back, and skew more heavily towards the aliens' chunkier, Halo Reach look. They'll be joined be seven new Energy Sword skins, tinting the iconic blue blade all the colours of the rainbow.

These are joined by a more regular addition of skins across the MCC's titles, as part of the Season 7 reward track. This week, we learned that Halo Infinite's unlocks would adopt a similar format to the MCC's seasons, with battle passes that never expire and points free to spend across any available pass. The only difference, really, is that Infinite's battle passes won't be free.

Alien fashion isn't the only thing arriving with Season 7, mind. Next week also sees 343 finally resolve visual bugs that have existed in Halo: Combat Evolved for almost 2 decades, thanks to a slightly-broken Gearbox port that was used as a basis for subsequent Anniversary releases.

Season 7: Elite arrives as a free update next Wednesday, July 23rd