Best Way to Play Every Gears of War Game in 2026

[00:00] A cornerstone of the third-person

[00:01] shooter genre, Gears of War has been

[00:03] gory and grimy comfort food for everyone

[00:05] who loves ultraviolence since its

[00:07] introduction in 2006. The series has

[00:10] greatly expanded in the 20 years since.

[00:13] And with all the re-releases, remasters,

[00:15] collections, and updates, it can be hard

[00:18] to parse the best place to go to get

[00:19] your hypersp specific fix for big

[00:21] chainsaws on bigger guns wielded by big

[00:24] men and even bigger armor.

[00:29] Thankfully, we've booted them all up and

[00:31] did the hard work for you. Here's the

[00:34] best way to play each mainline Gears of

[00:36] War game on current gen hardware.

[00:38] Welcome back to the Army, soldier.

[00:43] [ __ ]

[00:44] >> First, let's talk about all the places

[00:46] you can play the Gears of War games. If

[00:48] you're a PlayStation owner, the only

[00:50] Gears of War game available on the

[00:52] platform is Gears of War Reloaded, a

[00:54] remake of the first game in the series.

[00:56] All other mainline Gears games can be

[00:58] played on Xbox. That's the original Xbox

[01:01] 360 versions of 1, 2, 3, and Judgment,

[01:03] as well as Gears of War 4, Gears 5,

[01:06] Gears of War Ultimate Edition, and Gears

[01:08] of War Reloaded. The two remakes of

[01:11] Gears 1, Ultimate Reloaded, can also be

[01:13] played on PC through the Xbox app. And

[01:16] finally, on Steam, only Gears of War

[01:19] Reloaded and Gears 5 are available.

[01:22] Lastly, all of the Gears games are on

[01:24] Game Pass Ultimate. If you have Game

[01:26] Pass Premium, you'll have everything but

[01:28] Gears of War Reloaded. That will come to

[01:30] premium after it's been out for a year.

[01:32] And if you have Game Pass Essential,

[01:34] you'll only be able to play Gears 5.

[01:37] >> So, straight's not an option. How much

[01:39] rocket bases even last?

[01:40] >> Let's find out.

[01:41] >> Let's go over how the different versions

[01:43] of the games play across the different

[01:45] platforms, including which ones have FPS

[01:47] boost and auto HDR.

[01:50] These are Xbox features that push older

[01:52] games to run at higher frame rates and

[01:54] improve dynamic range and can be toggled

[01:56] on and off in the my games and apps menu

[01:58] and then in manage and then the

[02:00] compatibility options.

[02:02] If either option is grayed out, it's not

[02:04] available for that particular game or on

[02:06] your display or you have all HDR options

[02:09] turned off for every game on the system

[02:11] level. First, we have the various

[02:13] versions of Gears of War 1. The best

[02:15] performing Gears 1 is definitely Gears

[02:18] of War Reloaded. It quite simply looks

[02:20] the best on whatever platform you're

[02:21] playing on. It comes with a bevy of

[02:23] performance and graphical improvements

[02:25] over the Ultimate Edition. And while you

[02:27] can play the Xbox 360 on Xbox Series

[02:30] consoles with FPS boost, it's at a

[02:32] noticeably lower resolution than the 360

[02:34] version of Gears 2, 3, and Judgment.

[02:37] Reloaded can be played in up to 120 FPS

[02:40] in multiplayer with variable refresh

[02:42] rate on consoles. as crossplay and cross

[02:45] progression and all the post-launch

[02:47] content that came to the original Gears.

[02:49] There are a few caveats, however, with

[02:51] our review noting that AI controlled

[02:53] partners in the campaign seem to go down

[02:55] way more often than the Ultimate Edition

[02:57] on higher difficulties, and some art

[02:59] style changes may not be to everyone's

[03:01] taste. For Gears of War 2, 3, and

[03:04] Judgment, all of these can now be played

[03:06] at 60 FPS thanks to FPS boost. And Gears

[03:09] 3 and Judgment also have auto HDR.

[03:12] Weirdly, I had to turn FPS boost on

[03:14] Gears 3 on manually, and the rest were

[03:17] on by default, so keep that in mind.

[03:20] Next, we have Gears of War 4. Since this

[03:22] was an Xbox One game originally, playing

[03:25] it on the Xbox Series X loads into the

[03:27] Xbox One X version, meaning there's an

[03:30] in-game toggle for performance mode.

[03:32] You'll want to use this in-game toggle

[03:34] rather than the Xbox system level FPS

[03:36] boost. So, you can have the option

[03:38] between higher resolution at 30 FPS or

[03:41] lower resolution at higher frame rates.

[03:44] Turning on the system level FPS boost

[03:46] removes this in-game option. If you're

[03:49] playing on Series S, it's best to turn

[03:51] the system level FPS boost on. And if

[03:54] your rig is strong enough, it also runs

[03:56] great on PC through the Xbox app, and

[03:59] you can take advantage of PC specific

[04:01] options such as increasing the field of

[04:03] view. Finally, we have Gears 5. There

[04:06] was a native update to the Xbox Series

[04:08] consoles when it was released, meaning

[04:09] it didn't just get an FPS boost and

[04:12] resolution bump, but more work was done

[04:14] to improve the actual graphical

[04:15] rendering. It also runs very well on the

[04:18] PC through the Xbox app and Steam

[04:20] versions, but your mileage will vary

[04:22] depending on whether or not your PC has

[04:24] better specs than an Xbox Series S or X.

[04:28] >> Who the hell does that [ __ ] think he

[04:30] is? All the mainline Gears games can

[04:32] also be played through cloud streaming

[04:34] if you have a version of Game Pass that

[04:36] supports this feature. I won't say it's

[04:38] the best way to play any of them, but

[04:40] depending on your internet situation, it

[04:41] could work well in a pinch.

[04:46] Gears of War Reloaded is Steam Deck

[04:48] verified.

[04:50] Gears 5 is rated as playable with user

[04:53] reviews claiming that it runs extremely

[04:54] well, but you may run into a few bugs

[04:56] along the way.

[05:00] For Gears of War 1, your best bet is

[05:02] Gears of War Reloaded on current gen

[05:04] consoles or on PC through the Xbox app

[05:07] or Steam. If the art or companion AI

[05:10] bugs you too much, you could always try

[05:12] the Ultimate Edition on Xbox or the Xbox

[05:15] on PC app or the Xbox 360 version of the

[05:18] original game on Xbox Series consoles.

[05:21] Nice.

[05:24] For Gears of War 2, 3, and Judgment,

[05:26] your only place for current gen

[05:28] platforms is playing the Xbox 360

[05:30] versions on Xbox Series consoles.

[05:33] Thankfully, with some major modern

[05:34] graphical enhancements.

[05:37] For Gears of War 4, it looks and runs

[05:40] great on Xbox Series consoles and the

[05:42] Xbox PC app. If you're playing on Series

[05:45] X, leave the FPS boost option toggled

[05:48] off. And for Series S, toggle it on.

[05:51] It's also a play anywhere title, meaning

[05:53] if you have access to both console and

[05:56] PC, you can switch to the other if one's

[05:58] not cutting it. And for Gears 5, Xbox

[06:02] Series consoles run it fantastically

[06:04] well thanks to the native releases, and

[06:06] the Xbox on PC app and Steam versions

[06:09] can look even better if you have a rig

[06:11] that's more capable than the consoles.

[06:15] Hopefully, you now know exactly where

[06:16] you want to play each of these games.

[06:18] When you do get started, make sure to

[06:20] check out our guides for them included

[06:22] as links in the description. And for

[06:24] everything else gaming, keep it right

[06:26] here on IGN.

[06:28] >> I expect you to give me 110%.

[06:32] Phoenix,

[06:33] >> I'm not doing this for you.