Gears 5 has a new arcade mode to make multiplayer more appealing

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Gears of War has had multiplayer for a long time, and it's been its own highly specific thing—mostly involving cover-to-cover shotgun battles. Gears 5 is introducing an "arcade mode" that's meant to serve as a bridge to PvP for players who have traditionally skipped out on competitive multiplayer and stuck with the campaign.

In Arcade, players will pick from a selection of character roles, each with their own active and passive abilities and equipment loadout. They'll also have a character-specific bounty that allows them to earn a skull, which is the currency Arcade Mode uses for upgrades and character enhancements.

You'll also earn skulls for kills and assists, and you'll use these to buy new weapons and upgrades. Dying means losing the weapon you've been investing in, but you keep any skulls you haven't spent. The idea is to bring all the "fun bits" of Gears of War and boil them down into their essence in a mode that's easy to approach, hopefully.

Here's the official reveal stream:

Gears of War 5 comes out September 10.

Thanks, VG24/7.