The Hivebusters DLC campaign expansion for Gears 5 will launch next week on 15th December, adding a 3 hour side story that features the three heroes of Gears 5’s co-op Escape mode.
The expansion will be available for $19.99 separately, as part of a $59.99 GOTY bundle with the base game or, in a kind of first for the subscription service, for no added cost as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (not regular Game Pass).
The expansion follows Lahni, Keegan and Mac (AKA Scorpio Squad) as they go on a suicide mission to destroy a Swarm hive that might just save the planet of Sera as well. It’s a three hour campaign set on the volcanic islands of Galangi, with lava flows and sandy beaches adding a rather different setting to usual. It’s all based on the Gears of War: Hivebusters comics by Kurtis Wiebe, who returned to write this story.
The characters each have their Ultimate Abilities from Escape Mode, which have been folded into a campaign for the first time, and there’s support for up to three player co-op, both in local split screen or online.
16 new achievements will be added for 210 Gamerscore:
| Name | Description | Gamerscore |
| Designation: Scorpio | Unlock during the DLC Campaign | 5 |
| Out of the Frying Pan | Unlock during the DLC Campaign | 5 |
| New Island, New Mission | Unlock during the DLC Campaign | 5 |
| A Breath of Fresh Air | Unlock during the DLC Campaign | 5 |
| The Spirit Walk | Unlock during the DLC Campaign | 5 |
| Face the Creature | Unlock during the DLC Campaign | 5 |
| The Awakening | Activate Keegan, Lahni and Mac’s Abilities in the Hivebuster Campaign Expansion | 5 |
| Electroblade | Kill 50 enemies using Lahni’s Electroblade Ability as Lahni in the Hivebuster Campaign Expansion | 5 |
| Ready to Frontline | Kill 50 enemies as Mac through your Barrier Ability in the Hivebuster Campaign Expansion | 5 |
| Supplies for the Effort | As Keegan, activate Resupply ability 25 times in the Hivebuster Campaign Expansion | 5 |
| Enter Hivebusters | Complete all Chapters of the Hivebusters DLC (any difficulty) | 5 |
| Rite of passage | Complete all Chapters of the Hivebusters DLC on Insane | 15 |
| Renewed, not consumed | Find all Character Ability upgrades in the Hivebusters DLC | 5 |
| Operation: Ride the Snatcher | Complete the Hivebusters DLC in 3-Player Co-Op (Scorpio squad, dupes not allowed) | 10 |
| Searching for answers | Collect all Campaign Collectibles in the Hivebusters DLC | 5 |
| Class Act | Reach level five on any one Assault, one Tank and one Support | 5 |
| The Centaur Set | Max out each of the Anchor, Gunner, Pilot, Veteran, Brawler classes | 10 |
| A Gear of many talents | Complete a Versus match in each of Regency, River, Nexus, Clocktower, and Gridlock | 5 |
All of this will be built on the foundations of Gears 5, which was updated over the last couple of months to have dedicated support for Xbox Series X|S. This saw the campaign frame rate bumped up to 60fps on the new consoles, an option for 120fps multiplayer on supported screens, and The Coalition going back into the game to layer on new and higher quality visual effects.
This was then followed a week later by a “relaunch” of the game’s multiplayer, throwing five new and returning maps into the rotation and launching Operation 5: Hollow Storm.
Source: Xbox
