Gears of War: Reloaded is the 2025 Steam re-release of the original Gears of War campaign, remastered from the Ultimate Edition. The classic five-act journey was completed with credits, including the five added chapters of Act 5.
The active reload remains one of the series’ best ideas, since paying attention to the reload timing grants a real combat advantage. The chainsaw Lancer still delivers the signature close-range brutality, and the comic-book guitar riff after clearing enemies is a delight.
The ammo crates are everywhere, making it genuinely hard to run out of ammunition. The burst-fire hammerburst is preferred over full automatic, and the full-rotation turret is a rare treat.
Cole steals the show, with his exclamations and over-the-top personality making him the standout of the cast. The improved visuals add screen-space reflections and fully rendered cutscenes, and the five new Act 5 chapters add about an hour of content including a new Brumak encounter.
The edition itself is the problem, since it adds nothing new over the Ultimate Edition and could have been a simple update. Known crashing issues plague the Gears of War services, though the run itself was mostly smooth with one stuck screen.
The AI was never reworked and remains the good old 2006 dumb, with Dom constantly getting stuck and failing to help. The new Brumak fight kills too fast, there is no shoulder-switching toggle, and the sprint camera shake is rough.
Overall, the classic campaign remains an enjoyable third-person shooter, and the active reload and chainsaw combat still hold up. The unnecessary edition, the unchanged AI and the instability make this a conditional recommendation.