Gears 5

Kait Diaz uncovers the Locust Horde's origins.

The Coalition and Xbox Game Studios released Gears 5 in 2019 for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. This third-person shooter is the fifth main game in the Gears of War series and continues from Gears of War 4. Players follow Kait Diaz as she searches for the Locust Horde’s origins. Critics generally liked the gameplay, campaign, presentation, and content, but found the story lacking and the series’ innovation minimal.

Quick Facts

Developer: The Coalition
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Director: Rod Fergusson
Producer: Christi Rae
Designer: Matt Searcy, Ryan Cleven
Programmer: Kate Rayner, Jerry Edsall
Artist: Aryan Hanbeck
Writer: Tom Bissell

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

The game is simply titled Gears 5, dropping 'of War' from the title.
Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg explained the new title was 'cleaner' because most people ignored 'of War' for years.
The Coalition shifted player focus from JD Fenix to Kait Diaz; studio head Rod Fergusson compared Gears of War 4 to Mad Max: Fury Road, saying it was really Furiosa's story.

Synopsis

Set on Sera months after Gears of War 4, the narrative focuses on Kait Diaz, an Outsider resisting the COG's totalitarian rule. Other characters include Marcus Fenix, Damon Baird, Fahz Chutani, and COG First Minister Mina Jinn. Kait, JD, Del, and Marcus are reinstated in the COG Army as Delta Squad. They travel to Azura to restore the Hammer of Dawn network to fight the Swarm. After returning to New Ephyra, First Minister Jinn directs them to evacuate Settlement 2. Fahz reveals JD ordered the killing of civilians during a riot, causing Del and Kait to lose trust in him. As the Swarm threatens the evacuation convoy, JD orders Baird to fire the Hammer of Dawn prematurely; it malfunctions, killing Lizzie Carmine and severely injuring JD.

Marketing and release

Gears 5 was announced at E3 2018 alongside Gears Pop! and Gears Tactics. It was released for Windows 10 and Xbox One on September 10, 2019, as part of Xbox Play Anywhere. At E3 2019, a crossover with Terminator: Dark Fate was revealed, allowing players to control Sarah Connor or a T-800 Terminator as a pre-order bonus or with Xbox Game Pass. Dave Bautista appears as a playable skin for Marcus Fenix in Versus, Horde, Swarm, and Campaign modes, with his finisher and entrance theme.

A Gears 5 Limited Edition Xbox One X Console bundle was released on the same day, including the Ultimate Edition, a limited edition console, controller, headset, wireless keyboard and mouse from Razer, external hard drives from Seagate, and several previous Gears of War games. A single-player expansion, Hivebusters, was released on December 15, 2020, serving as a prequel to the Hivebusters comic series and featuring Lahni, Keegan, and Mac on the Galangi islands.

A digital Game of the Year Edition was released on December 15, 2020, containing the base game, Hivebusters, a Halo: Reach character pack, and a 30 days of boost pack.

Reception

Gears 5 received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic. Critics praised the gameplay, campaign, presentation, and amount of content, but criticized the story and lack of innovation. Many called it a successful return to form. Ryan McCaffrey of IGN gave it a 9/10, calling it an excellent third-person action game with a character-focused story and welcome additions to gameplay, plus a versatile multiplayer lineup. Andrew Reiner of Game Informer rated it 8.5/10, stating the open-world exploration has issues but the campaign is a fun ride with a shocker ending. Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer recommended it with 4 out of 5 stars, praising the campaign but noting the Versus, Horde, and Escape modes are let down by a depressing progression system and battle pass grind.