Gears 5 Ultimate Edition + Gears of War 4 Bundle (PC/Xbox One)

I've spent time across both of these and the gap between them is bigger than the number in the title suggests. Gears of War 4 is the safer, more cautious entry, The Coalition picking up a franchise from Epic and proving they could hold the wheel steady without crashing it. The campaign introduces JD Fenix and his crew (Kait, Del) as a new generation trying to survive the Swarm threat, and the set-pieces are genuinely impressive. The PC port earned its praise early: granular graphics options, ultrawide support, and cross-play between PC and Xbox One in campaign, Horde, and private matches. Where Gears 4 stumbles is in the early third, where you fight DeeBee robots that feel generic and bullet-spongey before the more interesting Swarm enemies take over. The pacing drags, JD never quite fills Marcus Fenix's boots, and the campaign clocks in at under eight hours on a focused run. As a setup for the next chapter though, it does its job. Gears 5 is where the bundle earns its weight. The campaign follows Kait Diaz unraveling her connection to the Swarm, a sharper protagonist with a more personal story, across a four-act structure that swings between linear corridor fights and wider open zones you traverse on a skiff. The open sections give you side objectives and collectibles without overstaying their welcome. Your AI companion Jack, the combat droid, can be upgraded with abilities like cloaking, stunning enemies, hijacking Swarm units, and reviving downed teammates. In co-op, a third player can control Jack directly, which plays completely differently from the standard COG soldiers. The gunplay is tight throughout, every Lancer burst and Gnasher blast carries the series' signature physical weight. Multiplayer is where Gears 5 stacks up the most content. Horde mode returns with a class system: the Engineer builds fortifications, the Soldier deals damage, and Jack operates as a pure support role, fast enough to scour the field for power pickups, capable of repairing structures, healing teammates, and hijacking enemies with an ultimate ability. It rewards genuine teamwork in a way the versus modes don't always demand. The Escape mode adds a new wrinkle: a team of three infiltrates a Swarm hive, plants a bomb, and has to run before the gas catches them. You can even build custom Escape maps. Competitive versus is there for those who want it, though the skill ceiling is punishing for newcomers. Both games also support the Xbox Play Anywhere system, so a single purchase covers PC and Xbox One. The honest caveat: Gears 4 is largely prologue. On its own, it's a well-made but safe cover shooter with a short campaign and some pacing issues. Gears 5 is the reason to care about this bundle, it's the entry that actually experiments, delivers a better protagonist, and surrounds the campaign with enough modes to keep you busy well past credits. If you've never touched either game, this is the correct order to play them, and having both in one purchase gives the story proper context. Anyone who bounced off Gears years ago and wants to see whether the series grew up: Gears 5 is the argument that it did.

Alex · Scout Team

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