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.

April is bringing the goods with a themed Easter Event plus a major tuning update, ranked play improvements, new maps, additional legacy characters to collect and more!

Easter Event

Easter is on the horizon, and as always, Gears of War 4 will be ready to celebrate another holiday with new events and unlocks for fans!

Festivities will kick off with ‘Bunny Hunt’, an  Easter-themed game mode that brings back the oversized Bunny Heads from previous games into a new variation of Guardian. On top of that, fans will get to unwrap five Chocolate Easter Egg-themed weapon skins by registering on the official website and completing challenges in this special playlist!

Look out for more information on the Easter Festivities next week as we build up to the big celebration on April 14.

New Maps

This month brings two maps from Gears of War 3 updated and refined to Gears of War 4: Hotel and The Slab!

HOTEL

Hotel was a classic part of the Gears 3 lineup, and we’re excited to bring it back for fans. Hotel is now set on a misty cliff-side, with a long-abandoned reclaimed beauty look that feels right at home in Gears 4. Combat still has a distinct feel between the inside and outside environments, with the longer-range street fight clearly separated from the frantic cover-to-cover battle on the interior. New weapon swaps like the EMBAR now appear on the map, freshening up the familiarity of Hotel and having you learn an old favorite all over again! 

THE SLAB

Cell Block 38 in The Slab was where Gears began. Last seen as a post-launch map for Gears of War 3, we return again to Marcus’ prison. For Gears 4, we’ve honored the originals look while cranking up the detail, including a windflare coming dangerously close to the prison. The Slab has a unique two-lane opening separated by an interior courtyard, encouraging plenty of Gnasher and ranged combat despite the smaller size of the map.

Both maps will be available for Season Pass holders to play from today in the Developer Playlist, with Double XP and 20% Bonus Credits to boot. Hotel and The Slab will be available for all to play in Public Matchmaking from April 11 onwards.

Coming Up This Month

On top of our Easter Event, there’s even more to come for Gears of War 4 fans to sink their teeth into this April.

Continuing our returning roster of Legacy Characters, we have another addition to the COG lineup coming this month! As with Tai in March, you’ll have a chance at finding them early in this month’s Gear Packs before they become available for Crafting. Speaking of Gear Packs, if the Locust are more your thing, we’ve got you covered – Kantus is coming back this month!

On top of new things to earn, there’ll be new things to play too! Our monthly Horde and Versus events are all about playing Gears of War 4 in a different way - save the date and get involved on April 21 and 28  respectively.

Tuning and Ranking Improvements

Yesterday, we outlined major tuning changes coming to Gears of War 4 with the April Update on our Community Blog. Over the past six months, we’ve watched you play, heard your feedback and gathered data from millions of matches – and we feel like now is the right time to introduce new weapon tuning for Gears 4.

These tuning changes provide a major update to both Core and Competitive play. Our Core changes mostly focus on making the starting weapons fit their role better than before, with reduced range on the Gnasher, improvements to the Hammerburst and slight tweaks to the Lancer. For Competitive, it’s all about adjustments that highlight the teamwork and competitive nature of playing with these team-focused settings.

On top of these updates, we’re making a number of improvements for Ranked Play including Seasons, Season Rewards and more!

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.