Game developer 343 Industries is packing in a ton of nifty features in the December Halo 5: Guardians update, including a new Forge mode, more than 50 REQ cards, a new Warzone map and three new arena maps.

Straight off the bat, veteran players are well aware of what the map-creation mode can offer. Aptly titled "Cartographer's Gift," the redefined Forge mode is crammed with 1,700 objects – considerably a lot more compared with the previous version's few hundred items.

The development team focused on making the controls easier this time around while adding in plenty of new features to provide players with a lot of options and possibilities.

"We really want to give you as many options as possible, and we want to make the process faster and more fluid. Halo's shooting controls were always great, but Forge sometimes felt clunky," Tom French, design director, says.

The thing is, Forge mode opens up an arguably infinite amount of playability on Halo 5: Guardians, as players from around the world can always make maps to play with their friends and others.

Meanwhile, the December update will also include the Battle of Noctus Warzone map and the Overgrowth, Antifreeze and Entombed arena maps.

To top them off, the main entries for the REQ cards include four variants of the SPNKr Rocket Launcher as well as the Mark IV (Gen 1) and the Raijin armor sets.

"Cartographer's Gift marks the return of the SPNKr Rocket Launcher – the dual-tubed tool of destruction that comes in 4 flavors," 343 Industries says.

What's more, every addition and feature that was mentioned are rolling out for free.

The game developer also neatly outlined the entire Cartographer's Gift update, REQ cards, maps and all.

Thanks to GameSpot, we get to watch a six-minute video that highlights the main points of Halo 5: Guardian's Forge mode. Check it out below!