The 2016 release of ElDewrito 0.5 was accompanied by word that it would be the last major release of the Halo Online-enabling mod from the original development team. That may have slowed work on the project but it hasn't gone away, and today the current mod team announced that version 0.6 will be out April 20.

Halo Online was meant to be a Halo 3-derived free-to-play online shooter, but it didn't get past closed beta testing in Russia. The ElDewrito mod opened it up to players around the world, and then kept the game alive after it was officially canned in 2016. It's not just a rough-hewn "connect-and-cross-your-fingers" kind of hack job: ElDewrito offers multiple server browsers, player customization, stat tracking, and ranked and social servers, with both dedicated server and player host options, and map and gametype voting. And for some reason, Microsoft hasn't dropped the cease-and-desist hammer on it.

That's not to say that there aren't bugs and other issues that you'd expect from a pre-1.0 release, but it looks pretty great for a game that's not supposed to exist at all. And it's free, which as I like to say is always a big plus. More information about the mod and a download link are available at eldewrito.com.