Gears of War: Reloaded - Reviews Thread

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Game Information

Game Title: Gears of War: Reloaded

Platforms:
  • PC (Aug 26, 2025)
  • PlayStation 5 (Aug 26, 2025)
  • Xbox Series X/S (Aug 26, 2025)
Trailer:
Developer: The Coalition

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 81 average - 73% recommended
Metacritic - 75 average (PS5 version) - Based on 7 Reviews


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Critic Reviews


Atarita - Eren Eroğlu - Turkish - Unscored
Gears of War has now been remastered for the second time, this time arriving under the name Reloaded. In my opinion, it's a solid refresher ahead of E-Day, and I really enjoyed the technical enhancements it delivers. However, it does feel like it's starting to show its age.


Enternity.gr - Panagiotis Petropoulos - Greek - 7 / 10
The "burden" that comes with the age of Gears of War: Reloaded is now evident and prevents it from creating the impressions it earned two decades ago.


Final Weapon - Jordan Brown - 3 / 5
Gears of War makes it PlayStation debut with a new remaster of the first game in the series, Gears of War: Reloaded. I'll admit, there is something surreal about seeing Marcus Fenix and Coletrain chainsawing through locusts on a Sony console. However, once the novelty of playing a Gears game on PlayStation wears off, you are quickly reminded that you are still just playing a nearly two-decade-old game with a few visual upgrades over the last time they remastered Gears of War back in 2015 with the Ultimate Edition.


Game8 - Uriel Rodriguez - 82 / 100
Gears of War: Reloaded is the best way to return to where it all began. It goes beyond the Ultimate Edition, updating the classic without losing the raw grit that defined it back in 2006, and reminds us why Gears of War grew into one of gaming's most iconic series.


Loot Level Chill - Chris White - 10 / 10
Gears of War: Reloaded is the perfect way to experience one of the finest games of all time, with superior combat and a cover system that still hasn't been matched.


MondoXbox - Mirko Rossi, Matteo Merlano - Italian - 8.2 / 10
Gears of War: Reloaded doesn't reinvent the game for those familiar with the original one or the 2015 remaster, nor does it address all previous shortcomings in campaign or multiplayer. Still, it offers a substantial set of graphical improvements, making it enjoyable on modern platforms and competitive with newer releases, while delivering the most polished and content-rich version of Gears of War to date.


NextPlay - Jamie Briggs - 8.5 / 10
Gears of War: Reloaded is a must-play for PlayStation fans and a brilliant entry point for any Gears of War newcomer, especially with Gears of War E-Day on the horizon. The campaign offers a cinematic action-movie-like thrill ride, establishing the Locust threat and hinting at major narrative moments that will occur down the line.


PSX Brasil - Bruno Henrique Vinhadel - Portuguese - 90 / 100
PlayStation finally welcomes one of the best action franchises, in its best possible version. Gears of War: Reloaded is excellent and a complete package to please all players, especially those experiencing the series for the first time.


Pizza Fria - Álvaro Saluan da Cunha - Portuguese - 8.6 / 10
What we have here is not just a simple remaster, but a tribute to one of the most influential games in Xbox history.


PlayStation Universe - Adam Byrne - 8 / 10
Taken on its own merits some nineteen years since its original release, Gears of War remains a blast to play, only showing its age in minor ways which do little to detract from what is a seminal piece of work. Though not too far removed from 2015's Ultimate Edition, the lower price of entry makes this easier to stomach for PlayStation owners tempted to dive into the series that defined a generation of Xbox fans and that few games have bettered in the proceeding years.


The Outerhaven Productions - Keith Mitchell - 4.5 / 5
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XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 8 / 10
Gears of War: Reloaded is a solid graphical update to one of Xbox's most important games. It is nearly 20 years old now, though, and some of that age is starting to show.
 
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That Final Weapon review score is a weird take considering PS players have not played GoW Ult Ed as this is the 1st time the game will be on a PS platform. To take away points from players that have never played the game is dumb. For a majority of those gamers this will essentially be a first play through.
 
Makes sense

Gears just doesn't hold up, the reason I bought it back in the day was the incredible graphics (for the time).

Gameplay wasn't special apart from the cover mechanic.
 
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I got this for free and really have no interest in playing it. Seems like a fairly basic port of a 10 year old remaster of a then 10 year old game.
 
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This is like a remaster of a remaster. Everyone probably knows what this is at this point. They should really remaster GoW 2 & 3, instead of re-releasing the first game again.
 
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Buying this entirely to co-op with my buddy. And because it feels illegal on a PS box. Loved the multiplayer back in the day, but I absolutely know it's full of sweats bouncing around and just making it not fun for most people, so I won't bother with that.

Now, Microsoft, we need to talk about getting the even better 2 and 3 remastered.
 
Makes sense

Gears just doesn't hold up, the reason I bought it back in the day was the incredible graphics (for the time).

Gameplay wasn't special apart from the cover mechanic.

Haven't played gears since Gears 3 but I always thought the core gameplay was decent enough. Horde mode was fun though I think that was only in 2 and 3...
 
This is like a remaster of a remaster. Everyone probably knows what this is at this point. They should really remaster GoW 2 & 3, instead of re-releasing the first game again.
This is the third time it comes out on PC while 2 and 3 are still Xbox exclusives.
 
This is like a remaster of a remaster. Everyone probably knows what this is at this point. They should really remaster GoW 2 & 3, instead of re-releasing the first game again.
this would be way more interesting but way more work because these games have not been ported to a x86 platform.
 
I've got a question about why the hell Gears of War 2 and 3 are stuck on the Xbox 360 or tied to some crappy backwards compatibility. Why is it only the first one that got a re-release? Is Microsoft afraid that the sequels or "Gears" as they call it now, were only actually good back when Epic Games was making them? 😂
 
The main point of this release is to bring Gears to the PS5.

Otherwise, this is basically the 2015 Gears Ultimate in higher resolution. Looks like some improvement in texture quality and effects but it's practically the same game in higher res.





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The main point of this release is to bring Gears to the PS5.

Otherwise, this is basically the 2015 Gears Ultimate in higher resolution. Looks like some improvement in texture quality and effects but it's practically the same game in higher res.





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So if you like Gears of War, you will like this game, which is Gears of War. If Gears of War was not your thing, then it's likely and probable that this game, Gears of War, will not click for ya.
 
To take away points from players that have never played the game is dumb. For a majority of those gamers this will essentially be a first play through.
It's not dumb at all. It's a very old school static game with invisible trigger points for enemy waves and slow talk walks etc. Nostalgia will boost the score for those who have fond memories of it but new players will think it feels old.
 
The main point of this release is to bring Gears to the PS5.

Otherwise, this is basically the 2015 Gears Ultimate in higher resolution. Looks like some improvement in texture quality and effects but it's practically the same game in higher res.





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Hope it's not capped at *2160p and 60fps on PC.
 
Makes sense

Gears just doesn't hold up, the reason I bought it back in the day was the incredible graphics (for the time).

Gameplay wasn't special apart from the cover mechanic.

Honestly, I find the slow-paced stop and pop cover shooter mechanics to be an absolute breath of fresh air.

We haven't had any game like it in over a decade. Even the closest thing, i.e. Uncharted, switched up the gameplay dramatically and pushed more movement and verticality than the OG gears formula.

Gears was great in its time and I feel it's still uber fun today. It doesn't need reinvention to be enjoyed.
 
This is the third time it comes out on PC while 2 and 3 are still Xbox exclusives.
Hearing Xbox and exclusives together is wild in today's day and age. Hope 2 and 3 comes out soon elsewhere.
Hope it's not capped at *2160p and 60fps on PC.
Its not. I have seen a few streams on YT. Cap is 240fps on PC I believe.

Also, it seems to have an uncapped VRR mode on consoles, so its 60+ FPS in campaign unless they patched it out.
 
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Sometimes I just don't understand what some reviewers were expecting.

It's a nearly 20 year old game, yes. The upgrade is substantial enough over the '06 original that I doubt you'd notice. It's still a great game. Anyone acting like this is NES game levels of decrepit is out of their minds.

On Xbox, Microsoft gave the game away for free to anyone who already owned the Ultimate Edition. It's also on Game Pass for everyone who has that.

And it's arriving for the first time ever on PlayStation and Steam. For those that do need to pay, it's releasing at a budget RRP of $40 in a world of $80 games.

And the game has cross-play so it doesn't even matter where you pick it up.
 
Sometimes I just don't understand what some reviewers were expecting.

It's a nearly 20 year old game, yes. The upgrade is substantial enough over the '06 original that I doubt you'd notice. It's still a great game. Anyone acting like this is NES game levels of decrepit is out of their minds.

On Xbox, Microsoft gave the game away for free to anyone who already owned the Ultimate Edition. It's also on Game Pass for everyone who has that.

And it's arriving for the first time ever on PlayStation and Steam. For those that do need to pay, it's releasing at a budget RRP of $40 in a world of $80 games.

And the game has cross-play so it doesn't even matter where you pick it up.
Good points all around here
 
Sometimes I just don't understand what some reviewers were expecting.

It's a nearly 20 year old game, yes. The upgrade is substantial enough over the '06 original that I doubt you'd notice. It's still a great game. Anyone acting like this is NES game levels of decrepit is out of their minds.

On Xbox, Microsoft gave the game away for free to anyone who already owned the Ultimate Edition. It's also on Game Pass for everyone who has that.

And it's arriving for the first time ever on PlayStation and Steam. For those that do need to pay, it's releasing at a budget RRP of $40 in a world of $80 games.

And the game has cross-play so it doesn't even matter where you pick it up.

I mean it's sitting at an 81 review average. That's a really good score. Were you really expecting much better for a re-release of a 20 year old game with a new coat of paint?
 
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