Set on the fictional planet of Sera, the “Gears of War” series charts the story of humanity’s struggle against fearsome and brutal adversaries through a captivating tale of hope, comradery and survival.

After narrowly escaping an attack on their village, JD Fenix and his friends, Kait and Del, must rescue the ones they love and discover the source of a monstrous new enemy. “Gears of War 4” returns the franchise to the dark tone and intensity of the original and includes split-screen and online co-op, the next generation of five-player favorite, Horde Mode, 60 frames-per-second Versus multiplayer, and stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4.

This update delivers the last two maps for “Gears of War 4” and also includes support for our incoming Xbox One X Enhancements. We’ll be talking more about the specifics of our Xbox One X Enhancements soon, so stay tuned.

This Month’s Maps

Fuel Depot

That rush for Longshot in the trucks and that first dual sniper showdown is still as nailbiting as it was over 10 years ago – prepare to experience it all in a fresh light with the return of Fuel Depot to “Gears 4!”

Fuel Depot’s larger size provides ample opportunities to flank and catch opponents out in the open, while the warehouse gives Gnasher players a chance to shine with plenty of cover. The small windows of visibility offered by the warehouse shutters are still great for harassing your opponents with a Lancer – provided the enemy Sniper doesn’t take your head off first!

Lift Apex

Lift Apex builds upon the spirit of the original by re-imagining the design of the map without the mechanics of a moving lift and expanding territory. Set in an Imulsion Extraction Facility right in the middle of the Serano ocean, this ocean-bound elevator introduces a faster and more tactical experience than its original inspiration.

The battlefield has been redefined in small and large ways that will change the fights you think you know – from the faster flow from spawn to the numerous cover changes that offer different solutions to tackle each part of the map.

Without the movement of the lift in play, the action is fierce from the second you leave spawn thanks to two immediately available Power Weapons and Frags to fight over. The submarine bay offers a new enclosed defensible position (which is also great for Horde!) with a nearby EMBAR or Longshot that – if you’re brave enough to secure it – is the perfect tool to punish opponents from this elevated position.

New strategies will emerge thanks to timed shutters that can be closed by players in the Control Room, offering a window of protection for a limited amount of time. Use it to cover your back while crossing from mid, to force opponents into fighting up close and personal for a ring or simply to deny sightlines.

Season Pass holders can play both of these maps first with Double XP and 20% Bonus Credits from Monday 23rd October. These maps will be available for all to play for free in Public Matchmaking on October 30th.

Season Pass

This month’s Map Drop for “Gears of War 4” marks the end of our Developer Playlists with Double XP and 20% Bonus Credits. We’ve had a ton of fun playing with our Season Pass holders on the newly released maps the second they become available, and we hope you have too.

Since there will be no more Double XP and 20% Credit Bonus, we’re excited to introduce a new bonus in the coming months called the ‘Map Owned’ bonus. This bonus will offer a permanent percentage increase in XP and Credit gain for any maps you own whenever you play on them in Public Versus or Horde.

This means every player who owns “Gears of War 4” will get this bonus across the 10 original maps – but only Season Pass holders will get this bonus across ALL 34 maps in the game whenever they play! Any individual purchases of Maps made separately also come with this bonus when played in Public Matchmaking.

The Road Ahead

There’s plenty more to come from “Gears of War 4” in 2017! Halloween is just around the corner with new characters to collect, new weapon skins to earn and some spooky-themed events!

Following that, we’ll be leading into our month-long celebration of the 11th Anniversary of “Gears of War!” November is going to be jam-packed with things to do and new things to collect all in the midst of our launch on Xbox One X and we can’t wait to share more.

Before You Go

We have a few tips to share for those of you ready to jump in to our October Update.

Our October Update makes further optimizations to the storage it requires on your hard drive for both Xbox One and Windows 10. Expect a bigger download, but even with the new content delivered in this Update, your overall file size for Gears 4 will be smaller than it is today.

The October Update also requires the latest Xbox One Console Update. To download this Update in advance of the Gears of War 4 October Update, head to Settings -> Updates to manually update your console.

Planning on picking up an Xbox One X? You can pre-download our Xbox One X Enhanced content before you own your console by going to System -> Download 4K Game Content. Once this Update releases, you’ll be able to manually download the content for easy transfer (via external HDD or local network) once your console joins your Xbox family.

Don’t forget that only the Xbox One X has the power to take advantage of our Enhanced content, so please do not toggle this option if you’re not planning to upgrade. You’ll just be taking up storage space!

Key Features:

• New Story, Heroes and a Nightmare Reborn: The first chapter of an all-new “Gears” saga thrusts players into an epic and perilous journey through the wilds of Sera. Fight as JD Fenix – son of the legendary hero Marcus Fenix – as he embarks on a desperate mission with his friends Kait and Del to find their missing loved ones and confront a fearsome new threat.
• Never Fight Alone: Rev up your Lancer and fight your way through the Campaign with a friend over Xbox Live or via local split screen co-op, with the option to play as JD, Kait or Del. Cross Play lets Xbox One and Windows 10 gamers play together in cooperative modes like Campaign, Horde and Co-Op Versus.
• Shared Progression and Achievements with Xbox Play Anywhere across Xbox One and Windows 10: Cloud saves enable you to switch seamlessly between both versions of game, giving you the freedom to play where you choose. Both versions are included with a single purchase.
• Fight through a Dynamic and Deadly Environment: Brace yourself against ferocious windflares that blow away cover, bend your shots and drastically alter the battlefield, forcing you to employ new tactics. As the windflare intensity increases, each enemy confrontation evolves into a brutal fight for survival in this tale of Man vs. Monster.
• New Arsenal of Weapons and Combat Tactics: Pummel your enemies from cover with new close-cover combat moves like yank, vault kick and a bloody new combat-knife execution. Make use of dangerous new weapons, like the Buzzkill and Dropshot, to shoot around and over cover, raining destruction from all angles.
•  The Best “Gears” Multiplayer Experience Yet: Whether you enjoy powering through the co-op Campaign, fending for survival in Horde mode or testing your skills in frenetic Versus Multiplayer matches running in 60 FPS on dedicated servers, “Gears of War 4” is the ultimate game to play with friends.
  • Explosive Versus Multiplayer Action: Compete in intense multiplayer gametypes that reward social, competitive and professional players alike, including new modes like Dodgeball and the premier new competitive “Gears” multiplayer mode, Escalation. Track your progress with the new visible ranking system that drives online matchmaking and lets you stand out for your abilities.  
  • The Next Generation of Horde: Team up with up to four other players and weather the onslaught using class-based skills and dynamic fortifications. For the first time, you can build and deploy defensive weapons and fortifications anywhere on the map.
  • Play with Friends Against AI Foes: Fine-tune your skills in Co-Op Versus, where your match-made team of five squares off against increasingly punishing AI teams.
• The Complete “Gears of War” Collection: For a limited time, “Gears of War 4” (both digital and retail versions) will include the entire Xbox 360 “Gears of War” collection. Play through the original “Gears of War” trilogy and “Gears of War: Judgment” on Xbox One via backwards compatibility, amounting to over 50 hours of “Gears of War” gameplay.