Roses are red, violets are blue, Torque Bows for me, and Torque tags for you! Arriving today, the February update adds two new maps, a week-long Valentine’s event, new Gear Packs to collect and further improvements to the game. Read on for all the info and special news about upcoming features – including updates on hotly requested Legacy Characters!

Valentine’s Event

Gears has always embraced the Holidays, and this Valentine’s Day is no different. February 10th marks the beginning of over a week of Valentine’s Day celebrations, with new Gear Packs to earn, daily Valentine’s themed bounties, another Craftable Character to collect, and the much-requested return of Torque Bow Tag (with a Cupid-style twist!). Stay tuned for more news on Valentine’s Day events later this week!

New Maps

Impact Dark

After we released Gears of War 4, the multiplayer design team had the opportunity to look at our launch lineup of maps and wonder – how could we have made those maps play entirely different? Those discussions birthed a new type of map design that all begins with ‘Impact Dark’, a remixed version of Impact that completely re-imagines the combat dynamics of the original.

The new nighttime setting for Impact doesn’t just bring a new ambience. For the first time in Gears of War Versus, visibility is permanently reduced by smoke that has settled over the battlefield, forcing you closer to the action. Every weapon swap has been changed to alter the flow of the map – Snipers are now replaced with Boltoks, Dropshot replaces Torque/EMBAR and the Overkill now sits where Incendiaries used to.

The result is a new version of Impact that plays completely differently to its original brethren. The combination of close range weapon swaps and reduced visibility ups the pace for a more intense version of Impact, where players need to stay on their toes to win. Support players will need to take bigger risks to impact fights and reduced visibility will make reading the battlefield tougher for even the most competitive teams.

War Machine

Loved by Gears of War veterans everywhere, the quintessential classic, War Machine, is back with a drastic new take on the setting. Moving away from the old abandoned train station locale, War Machine is now set in a new COG Settlement, standing out with its pristine appearance and gleaming grandiose features. Compared to the original, signs of life are everywhere – from the active DeeBee security bay, to the train sitting at the end of the platform ready to depart.

Despite this new setting, everything fans know and love about the map is still here – the frantic opening fight for the Sniper, the intense fight for Torque around the pillars and, of course, the ever-important turret to dominate enemies that stray too far into the open.

Both maps are available to play today in the Developer Playlist for Season Pass Holders, featuring TDM, Guardian and King of the Hill gametypes with Double XP and 20% Bonus Credits!

Guardian Improvements

Speaking of Guardian, we’ve got new surprises in store for fans of the mode. Based on fan feedback, we’ve changed the spawning system from the original spawn swap solution to something entirely new – Leader Spawns. Now, you’ll respawn in a location close to your Leader adding a new tactical edge – Leaders now need to position themselves in beneficial areas of the map, while other players will have more opportunity to get back to their leader and come to their aid.

This new update to Guardian is perfectly suited to the intense low visibility combat of Impact Dark – try it out for yourself in the Developer Playlist this week! We can’t wait to hear what our fans think of this new approach to Guardian!

Looking Forward

There is much more to come from Gears of War 4, with exciting new features, characters and content arriving in the months ahead. Today, we want to share a few updates on some hotly requested community features and content that is on the way.

Back in November, we announced we were working on a new feature based on fan feedback – a pre-game lobby system for Core and Competitive playlists to improve the ranked experience in Gears of War 4. Today, we are excited to share that Core and Competitive lobbies will arrive next month in the March update! We will share more details, news and first looks at this new system closer to release.

Late last week, we sent out our latest ‘Gears Feedback Program’ survey to fans which included questions related to playlists and weapon tuning. We will be sorting through the feedback in the coming weeks and reporting on any changes that we may implement to help streamline and improve the in-game Gears of War 4 experience.

Following on the heels of Dizzy, we are hard at work bringing back more Legacy Characters by updating their voice work and character fidelity to make them right at home in Gears 4. Beginning next month, this work will turn into a steady flow of Legacy Characters for our fans – from iconic heroes of the past to the hotly demanded return of Locust Characters!

We also have some huge updates coming this summer to Horde!

New “Inconceivable” Difficulty (Campaign & Horde)

IronMan Mode (Campaign & Horde)

Level 6 skills for all class skills

More skills for existing classes

New achievements

And much more!

Head over to the official Gears of War forums for full notes on our February Update. Until then, we will see you online for some Valentine’s Torque Bow Tag!