Gears 5 details New Game+ mode and additions, next-gen and multiplayer upgrades

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By Zachary Boddy
published

Gears 5 is a whole new game with next-gen.

Gears 5
Gears 5 (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

What you need to know

  • Gears 5 is an intense third-person tactical shooter that received rave reviews at launch for its visuals and gameplay.
  • With next-gen consoles coming soon, Gears 5 is coming in guns blazing with a massive update day one.
  • Alongside huge visual and performance upgrades for next-gen hardware, Gears 5 will add new campaign content and a New Game+ mode.
  • New Game+ will have harder difficulties, including permadeath, more character and weapon skins, and more.

In some ways, launch line-ups for next-gen consoles like the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Playstation 5 are a little lacklustre, with a shortage of true next-gen titles showcasing the power of the new hardware. One game that refuses to be lumped in with the rest is Gears 5, which is marching onto the Xbox Series X and S with fervor and a humungous next-gen update. Thanks to a report from IGN, we now have a lot more details on what to expect with Gears 5's big update, notably regarding the New Game+ mode.

Gears 5 will implement a New Game+ mode accessible to all players on all platforms that will enable:

  • Two new difficulties: "Inconceivable" is one difficulty level higher than Gears 5's current max, while "Ironman" increases the challenge even further by giving you only one life to complete the game.
  • Jack upgrades don't reset. In order to make playing at the highest difficulties easier, any upgrades to your handy Jack will carry over in New Game+.
  • New skins. Character skins will be added for Kait, Del, and JD, while weapons will also have new skins.
  • New achievements. If you want more reason to replay Gears 5, additional Achievements will be added in New Game+ mode.
  • Mutators. Shake up your Gears 5 gameplay with some fun mutators, like "Big Head Mode."
  • Dave Bautista as Marcus Fenix. And optional skin will turn Dave Bautista, a WWE wrestler, into Marcus Fenix, complete with his own voice over.

Other details we already knew, one way or the other, like Gears 5's next-gen visual and performance enhancements, which include 4K at up to 120fps in campaign and multiplayer, massively improved lighting, shadows, textures, increased loading speeds, 60fps cinematics, reduced latency, and a whole lot more. It's a seriously impressive list of upgrades, and showcases the skill the Coalition has at drawing the max out of Xbox.

In case you missed it, Gears 5 is also getting new story DLC later this year in December, so even more great content is planned to come to the game. Gears Tactics, the turn-based strategy spin-off of Gears, is also an Xbox Series X and S launch title, complete with its own next-gen update and new content. The Coalition is really bringing their A-game to next-gen.

Xbox Series X/S

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Zachary Boddy
Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.