Gears 5 Release Date - How to Play Gears 5 Early Access

Gears 5 is launching properly launching next week, but you'll be able to play it in early access at the end of this week. In this guide covering everything you need to know about the sequel before it launches, we'll be going over the Gears 5 release date, detailing how to play Gears 5 early access, and more.

Gears 5 Release Date

The final Gears 5 release date is September 10, and as expected for a Microsoft first party game, it'll be available through Game Pass on the day of launch. There is an early access period for the sequel, which you can find out more about in the section below.

Gears 5 Game Pass

You can play Gears 5 in early access starting from September 6, a whole 4 days before the final release date the following week. However to get into this early access, you'll have be a subscriber to Game Pass Ultimate, the slightly pricier subscription version of the base version of Game Pass. If you're a Game Pass Ultimate member, you can play Gears 5 early on either PC or Xbox One.

Gears 5 Gameplay

While there wasn't actual Gears 5 gameplay shown off at the Xbox E3 2019 presentation, we did see a fancy CG trailer for the game's combat.

Gears 5 Multiplayer Modes

At E3 2019, Microsoft revealed one new multiplayer modes arriving with Gears 5 in September. It's called Escape, which sees you and two other players attempting to flee a map, outgunning enemies as you go, in a PvE scenario.

Gears 5 Box Art

Originally, the Gears 5 box art leaked through the Taiwanese Rating Board prior to the official reveal. At Microsoft E3 2019 presentation, the box art was confirmed to be real, when we saw the game in action for the first time since the reveal in 2018.

Below, you can see the debut trailer for Gears 5. This was unveiled back during Microsoft's E3 2018 presentation in June, to reveal Gears 5 for the very first time.

Before we go any further, you might be wondering why we're calling the game "Gears 5", and not "Gears of War 5". As series veteran producer Rod Fergusson details just below, the name change has come about through Microsoft expanding the Gears of War universe, with additions like Gears Tactics, and Gears Pop.

Gears 5 Trailer

In addition to the unveiling of Gears 5 for the very first time, we also got a to see a snippet of the game in action on Microsoft's E3 2018 stage. In the gameplay demo for Gears 5, we saw Kait leading a rescue mission.

The demo showed a slightly older JD, Del, and Kait, as the former two console the latter character. There's also an appearance from Marcus Fenix, who for some reason manages to actually look younger in this game than in Gears of War 4 (maybe it's because the beard's finally gone).

The plot seems to revolve around the squad falling out, with Kait pursuing the origins of her family. Later, we see the squad rolling out on a boat, before moving into different territories like forests and deserts, showing off some new melee combat.

Gears 5 Characters

It goes without saying that protagonist JD Fenix will be returning from Gears of War 4 as the playable character for Gears 5. We also know that Marcus Fenix will once again be making a return for Gears 5, as he was last seen tagging along with JD and friends in the previous game.

If you remember back to the end of Gears of War 4, a rather large secret was revealed about Kait, and we'll actually be playing as Kait for the whole of Gears 5, as the character journies to uncover the secrets of her family heritage. This is a massive change from previous games in the series, and it marks the first time we'll be playing as a female protagonist in the Gears series, and it certainly looks like Kait has an interesting story ahead of her.

Gears 5 Xbox One X Graphics

While Gears of War 4 looks amazing on the Xbox One X, the game was developed without the newest Microsoft console in mind. That isn't the case with Gears 5, and The Coalition is talking a big game with regards to how the game will look and run on the X.

"Our target is always 60fps, and we believe – with everything we've done, the learning we've taken from Gears 4, and the optimisations we've been able to do beyond that – that's exactly what we're going to be doing, 60fps at 4K," Fergusson told Wired. "The new technology of this generation has been fantastic."

Gears 5 has only just been revealed by Microsoft at E3 2018. As the show rolls on, and even afterwards, we'll be updating this guide regularly with all the latest information that either Microsoft or The Coalition announces for the next installment in the Gears saga.