The Coalition didn’t stray too far from the standard formula with Gears of War 4. Yes, it featured a new cast and took place several years after the third game, but it still felt pretty routine for the most part. With Gears 5, the development team is looking to take more risks.
Speaking to Kotaku at E3 2019, studio head Rod Fergusson talked about the process behind the fourth game. “We really went out going, ‘Okay, we’re going to stay true to what Gears is, and [not] mess with it too much,'” said Fergusson. “We really didn’t want people going, ‘Well they don’t know what they’re doing.’ And what we got instead was like, ‘There’s not enough innovation here.’ We sort of took that feedback about, ‘We trust you, please go push it.’ And so we really brought that to Gears 5.”
That means a number of changes, from the seemingly minor – chainsaw bayonet kills are now activated by holding down the Right Bumper instead of B for better camera manipulation – to the major, like health bars on enemies. The latter is important because Fergusson believes it will help players decide when to risk taking down weaker enemies. They can be disabled though.
Another interesting change is the focus on headshots and weak points, to the point where the reticle will change colours accordingly (white for body shots, red for headshots, and gold after a perfect reload). The names of difficulty settings for the series have also been changed – instead of Casual/Normal/Hardcore/Insane, they’re now Beginner/Intermediate/Experienced/Insane. At the lowest difficulty, players will be able to lock on to enemies, a first for the series.
Gears 5 is out on September 10th for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. More details on the Versus mode Arcade will be coming next month, followed by Horde details at Gamescom in August. Campaign footage will be showcased before the game’s launch in September. We already know that it won’t have Season Pass or Gear Packs. Instead, store purchases can be done directly and without any RNG involved.