What's the game about?

PC System Requirements

A set of minimum and recommended system requirements for the game are also available. The game is fairly light on hardware requirements compared to recent AAA games, which should be a welcome sight for those without the latest and greatest PCs. The full requirements are as listed below:

Minimum:

• CPU: Intel 6th Gen Core i3 or AMD FX-6000
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 760/1050 or AMD Radeon R9 280/RX 560
• RAM: 6GB
• VRAM: 2GB
• Storage: 80GB free
• OS: Windows 10 May 2019 update (version 1903 or later)

Recommended:

• CPU: Intel 6th Gen Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 3
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970/1660 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 570/5700
• RAM: 8GB
• VRAM: 4GB
• Storage: 80GB free
• OS: Windows 10 May 2019 update

Ideal:

• CPU: Intel 6th Gen Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon VII
• RAM: 16GB
• VRAM: 8GB
• Storage: SSD plus 100GB free
• OS: Windows 10 May 2019 update

Setting

Gears 5 focuses on Kait Diaz (Laura Bailey), an Outsider of Locust descent. As Kait, the player must uncover the origins of the Locust and Kait's family. Gears of War 4 protagonist JD Fenix (Liam McIntyre), his friend Delmont Walker (Eugene Byrd), and JD's father Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio) also return.

Plot

Kait, JD, Del, and Marcus travel to the ruins of Azura in order to launch a prototype Hammer of Dawn satellite in an effort to restore the Hammer of Dawn network. With the launch successful, they return to the COG capital, New Ephyra, but find out from Baird that he still cannot locate the other satellites. Jinn finds out about the launch and orders them not to restore the network, since it would go against the wishes of the late Anya Fenix, who had decided to permanently decommission the Hammer of Dawn. Jinn then receives word that Settlement 2 is under attack and sends JD's squad to assist the evacuation. Accompanying them in defending the settlement is a Gear named Fahz, involved in an incident that spurred JD and Del to desert the COG. The incident in question involved Fahz ordering a squadron of armed drones to fire on protesting Settlement 2 citizens. In a heated moment during the fighting, Fahz reveals that he was only following JD's orders, causing Del and Kait to lose trust in JD. As the Swarm attacks intensify and threaten to destroy the evacuation convoy, JD orders Baird to fire the Hammer of Dawn. While the Swarm forces are annihilated, the Hammer of Dawn malfunctions and begins firing wildly, resulting in the death of Lizzie Carmine, and many civilians.

Four months later, Kait and Del arrive at an Outsider village situated in the skeleton of the Riftworm in an effort to convince them to join the COG. The village chief, Kait's Uncle Oscar, refuses to join, but the village is suddenly attacked by the Swarm. During the battle, Kait begins experiencing vivid visions of the Swarm, including witnessing Oscar's death at the hands of a Swarm Warden. COG reinforcements led by JD then arrive to evacuate the village. Kait tells everybody about her visions, and Marcus recommends she head to a secret lab at New Hope to the north to find answers, with Del deciding to accompany her. As they reach the lab, Marcus explains that the chief scientist, Niles Samson, had been experimenting on the children of humans suffering from Imulsion poisoning. They find clues leading them to Mount Kadar, a former Locust stronghold.

Kait and Del continue on to Mount Kadar, where they find another secret COG lab hidden in the mountain. There, they find Niles still alive as an AI construct. Niles explains to them that the Locust were the result of his secret genetic experiments, by manipulating the DNA of children infected with Imulsion and hybridizing them with the indigenous creatures of the Hollow. He also reveals that Queen Myrrah was originally a human who possessed a complete immunity to Imulsion and could control the Locust due to her genetics being used to create the Locust. However, she became vengeful when her daughter, Reyna, Kait's mother, was spirited out of the lab by Reyna's father, ultimately leading the Locust to rebel against the scientists and gain their independence. Only years later after colonizing the Hollow did the Lambent start invading. Myrrah's hatred for humanity and invasion of the Lambent caused her to lead a genocide against humanity. Kait panics when she realizes she is the next Locust Queen, and demands that she be separated from the Swarm's hivemind. Niles puts Kait in a special brain scanning machine, which successfully severs Kait from the hivemind but also awakens Reyna's consciousness, which still resides in the hivemind. Niles then attempts to flee but is destroyed by one of his own creations, the Matriarch. Realizing that a reborn Reyna is now the new Swarm Queen, Kait reaffirms the COG's need to reactivate the Hammer of Dawn.

Baird takes the group to Vasgar, where the Union of Independent Republics' secret space program was located, where he reunites with his former squadmate Paduk. He reveals that the UIR had a rocket loaded with Hammer of Dawn satellites ready to launch, a fact both the COG and UIR kept secret from the public. JD and Fahz also arrive to help Kait, with JD apologizing for his past behavior. They manage to assemble and launch the rocket despite Swarm resistance, including a mutated Riftworm known as the Kraken. Upon returning to New Ephyra, however, Jinn attempts to arrest Kait, planning to forcibly connect her to the hivemind in an attempt to control the Swarm. Kait's friends intervene to stop Jinn when the Swarm attacks New Ephyra. The Gears attempt to set up beacons to provide target data to the Hammer of Dawn, but the Kraken destroys the beacons. Queen Reyna then appears and attacks Kait, JD, and Del, leaving Kait with the choice of saving either JD or Del, leaving Reyna killing the other. The Gears are forced to fall back to New Ephyra's outer wall as the Swarm Riftworm attacks, but the squad's robotic companion Jack, destroys the Riftworm by using itself as a beacon for the Hammer of Dawn, sacrificing itself in the process. In the aftermath, Marcus warns Kait that Queen Reyna will return, with Kait remarking that they will find her first before discarding her Locust necklace.