Gears 5 revealed along with two other Gears games

Microsoft finished their Xbox conference with a bang this morning, showing off Gears 5 for Xbox One and PC, along with two other Gears games.

Excitingly, Kait Diaz is the protagonist this time around, marking it as the first time the main character in a Gears game has been female, while in previous titles women were only featured as squad members or side characters. Kait was always one of the more likable characters in the Gears universe so I’m excited to see more of her story. Check out the reveal trailer below.

While Gears has built a strong and loyal fan-base over the years, the particularly lush setting was referred to as “the biggest, most beautiful Gears world ever created.” Additionally, less of a focus on the hyper-masculine male protagonists of the past could work wonders in bringing in new players. If it keeps the classic slick action gameplay that we love, it could be a huge success when it launches in 2019.

Gears 5 wasn’t the only announcement though, as they briefly touched on Gears POP!, a collaboration with Funko to bring a Gears game to mobile, along with a very quick look at Gears Tactics for PC, a tactical take on the franchise with fast based action and large scale boss battles. Gears Tactics will be set twelve years before Gears of War 1 which should make for an interesting setting.

Interestingly, they have seemingly dropped the “of War” from “Gears of War” – all of the branding and titles shown today just used “Gears”. This makes sense, considering the short-form is what most gamers use when discussion the franchise, and is particularly handy when they are doing spin-offs and collaborations at they revealed today.

Gears 5 , along with the Gears POP! and Gears Tactics, will be releasing sometime in 2019. Bring it on.