Here's 15 minutes of spoiler-rich Gears 5 campaign footage

Gears 5 releases later this week for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, though if you're prepared to fork out the whole asking price, you'll need to wait until September 10 to play it. Weird? Kinda. A good way to drive the subscriber base for Game Pass Ultimate? Probably.

Until this week, Microsoft and The Coalition have been tight-lipped about the game's campaign component. But thanks to a recent outpouring of previews we now know that the game features some semi-open world areas, as well as a ridable high-speed skiff. The footage above shows neither of those things, but it does prove that Gears' gunplay is pretty much exactly what you'd expect: active reload is back, and for all its promised advancements, it's still very much a third-person shooter.

The footage is drawn from Act 2 of the game. "Kait attempts to enlist the help of someone close to her before they get caught up in battle," reads the description. I have a feeling Kait will be getting caught up in lots of battles.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.