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Gears Of War 4 January Update Adds Classic Maps, Characters, Weapon Skins, And Matchmaking Improvements
Microsoft and The Coalition have announced a host of new content coming with its January 2017 update. The Series 2 content update is set to include two fan-favorite legacy maps and nearly 300 new cards to collect within the game to unlock characters and weapon skins.
The two legacy maps are Clocktower, which debuted in the original Gears of War, and Blood Drive, which made its first appearance in Gears of War 2. Blood Drive blends the designs of the original Gears of War 2 layout with the Gears of War 3 remake, while Clocktower gives nods to past games through its visual aesthetics.
As part of The Coalition's attempts to keep the player base unified, it has made all downloadable Gears of War 4 maps available to players for free. Both maps are free to all players beginning on January 17, but Season Pass holders can access them starting today using the Developer playlist. You can see flyovers of these two maps below.
Also in this update, several new characters are being introduced, including Armored Anya and Armored Sam, as well as Zombie Minh, Gear Corpse, and more. As they accumulate these cards, players will also unlock new weapon skins from the list of over 260 new skins added to the game through this update. These skins are taken from a collection of several new full weapon skin sets, including four animated weapon skin sets like Lightning and Liquid Chrome. You can see the full set of additions below.
Season Pass holders are receiving 20 Gears packs featuring 60 cards from the Series 2 update. The Airdrop will be available to all Season Pass owners beginning on January 13.
This content update is also introducing quit penalties. The new matchmaking system will penalize those who leave matches early, while allowing players to join matches in progress. The new system also adds Spectator mode.
Gears of War 4 launched on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC on October 11, 2016. To read our review head here.
[Source: Xbox Wire]
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