If you’ve been thinking about trying your hand at The Coalition’s brawny third-person shooter, Gears 5, but have been put off by the price tag, then you’re in luck. Gears 5 is free to play on Steam and the Windows Store until this Sunday, April 12th.
That’s a full five days to experience Gears 5’s impressive single-player campaign, and hopefully, jump into a few multiplayer games to sample the excellent array of modes such as Horde and Versus.
It’s a rather rare occurrence too as the game is available for free as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Free Play Days, which is generally limited to those lucky enough to have Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions. The beauty is that you don’t need any of these, or even an Xbox One to play Gears 5. A PC will do just fine.
It’s a limited-time deal, which means the game won’t be yours come Sunday evening, but progress does carry over if you decide to take the plunge and fork out for the real thing.
The timing couldn’t be better as developer The Coalition updated Gears 5 with a brand new multiplayer mode called Gridiron on March 31st. As the name suggests, it borrows generously from American football and has two opposing teams duke it out to carry a neutral flag into the enemy’s end zone to score a touchdown.
Rounds are short at two minutes, making for an arcade feel, perfect for the limited free-to-play window. The first team to hit thirteen points comes out on top, but it’s a single-life deal, so some strategy and position control are required for the win.
Alongside, The Coalition is also dishing out a free Batista Bomb skin and execution to anyone that boots up the game before April 20th. So, there you have it – a free game and free skins to tide us over during coronavirus lockdown.