The first Gears of War 4 DLC multiplayer maps will be available for free next week

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Season pass holders can start playing with them tomorrow.

The first two Gears of War 4 DLC multiplayer maps are coming on November 8, or November 1 if you're a season pass holder. Both are likely to feel familiar to serious Gearheads. Microsoft said the maps, Checkout and Drydock, are "two of the most popular Gears of War Legacy Maps," each of which appeared previously (as slightly different versions) in Gears of War 3.  

Checkout is set in Cole's hometown 25 years after the events of Gears of War 3, inside a sprawling supermarket that's slowly being reclaimed by nature, while Drydock is now a crumbling shipbreaking scrapyard. The maps will support Versus Multiplayer and Horde modes, and you can get a quick look at each below.

Drydock:

Both maps will be added to free public playlists on November 8, meaning that everyone can play without paying anything additional for them. But these and future DLC maps will be rotated in and out of playlists on a regular basis. Once a map is removed, the only way to keep playing it is to pony up cash. There's no indication in the announcement that maps or map packs will be sold individually, but the season pass offers "permanent DLC map ownership of 24 additional maps (two per month for a year) for private play on dedicated servers."

Season pass holders also get access to newly released maps a week ahead of everyone else, the Vintage VIP Pack (the Vintage JD character skin, Vintage Gnasher and Dropshot weapon skins, Vintage JD Emblem and Vintage JD Bounty for extra XP), and the Star Airdrop package. It sells for $50.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.