Last week, Gears 5 released the Xbox Series X & S update, which relaunched the game with Next-Gen technical optimizations for new consoles and new campaign features. This week, the Gears team is relaunching the multiplayer suite with there largest post-launch update ever, Operation 5: Hollow Storm. With Operation 5, Gears 5 now has twice the multiplayer content since launch and significant feature updates that give players more freedom to play as they want.
A themed update, Operation 5 takes fans back to the battles in Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3 through fan-favourite character releases (Dizzy Wallin and Skorge, above), an Imulsion-themed map (Nexus) and a classic weapon addition (the Scorcher).
Five Maps
Operation 5 features five maps: two completely new and three classic updates.
- New Maps: In Nexus, players will fight amongst rivers of Imulsion in this Locust stronghold deep under Mount Kadar. Regency is set high above the clouds inspiring both awe and fear.
- Classic Maps: Three favourite maps from the original Gears of War trilogy make their return. Gears of War staples Gridlock and Clocktower join the list, as does River, a classic Gears of War 2 map.
Separated Characters and Classes in PvE
A major overhaul to Horde and Escape has separated characters from classes. Now you can pair any character with any class, even characters that were previously not available in Horde or Escape. Want to create an all-Marcus super squad? Now you can! Choose your character, choose your class and dominate the Swarm.
Seven Characters
All seven characters joining the roster this Operation are callbacks to the Locust War. Dizzy Wallin and Tai Kaliso face off against the deadly Skorge from Gears of War 2. Anya Stroud takes on the Lambent Drone, Lambent Grenadier and Lambent Theron Guard from Gears of War 3. Pick up Dizzy, Tai, Anya and Skorge as part of the Operation 5 bundle.
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Gears 5 multiplayer now supports 120 frames-per-second in Versus multiplayer for both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. On Xbox Series X, visual fidelity jumps to 4K Ultra resolution courtesy of the Ultra-HD pack and Ultra-Spec graphics quality settings previously only available to PC players.
Additional Feature Updates
In addition to the major changes above, the Gears team added new features and balance changes which continuing to improve and refine the game:
- A suite of Ranked PvP updates to improve the overall player experience
- PvE balance updates for decoupled classes
- New Heroic cosmetic rarity to reward our most dedicated players
- All-new daily and weekly PvE challenges and rewards
For a complete list of changes, check out the Gears 5: Operation 5 patch notes.
Gabe Diaz Coming to Gears 5
The previously announced Armored Gabe character skin is now available with Operation 5. Players who complete the Gears Tactics tutorial will automatically unlock him once they log back into Gears 5. This will be the exclusive way to unlock him during the holiday period.
New Achievements
No update is complete without Achievements, so complete these 13 new ones for 80 Gamerscore.
| Name | Description | Gamerscore |
| Class Act | Reach level five on any one Assault, one Tank and one Support | 5 |
| The Centaur Set | Max out each of the Anchor, Gunner, Pilot, Veteran, Brawler classes | 10 |
| A Gear of many Talents | Complete a Versus match in each of Regency, River, Nexus, Clocktower, and Gridlock | 5 |
| Exterminating the Hollow | Get 100 eliminations in Nexus | 5 |
| Places to go, monsters to kill | Win a Ranked match in each of Regency, River, Nexus, Clocktower, and Gridlock | 10 |
| So there’s the hero | Collect one Heroic skin | 5 |
| Didn’t want to look too civilized | Collect 20 Epic character skins | 5 |
| Ben would have loved this thing | Get an elimination with the Scorcher | 5 |
| Solid Gold | Beat the Gold Time in a Featured Escape | 5 |
| Such carnage | Get 400 GP in a Ranked match from eliminations | 5 |
| Break them. Brutalize them. | Get 100 GP in a Ranked match from ring breaks | 5 |
| You’ve got character, kid | Own 50 character skins | 5 |
| Gun Collector | Own 360 weapon skins | 10 |
But the fun doesn’t stop there. Stay tuned to CompleteXbox for all things Gears of War, including next month’s “Hivebusters” campaign DLC and follow Gears of War on Twitter @GearsofWar.