Gears 5’s campaign expansion is a 3-hour volcanic island adventure

Microsoft has detailed Gears 5’s campaign expansion, Hivebusters, and announced a December 15 release date.

Hivebusters is a three-hour add-on set on the volcanic Galangi islands, where lava flows and sandy beaches are “crawling with Swarm and a deadly new predator”.

The expansion sees players step into the shoes of a three-person squad which purposefully gets itself captured by the enemy in order to destroy hive strongholds from within.

Hivebusters releases at 6am PT/9am ET/2pm UK on December 15 and will be available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on console, PC and Android at launch.

It can be pre-purchased separately for $19.99/£14.99 and will also be included with a new Microsoft Store exclusive Gears 5: Game of the Year Edition ($59.99).

Available from December 15, the Game of the Year Edition comes with the Halo: Reach Character Pack and 30 days of boost too.

“Play as Lahni, Keegan and Mac – the heroes introduced in Gears 5’s Escape mode – in their first mission as part of the secretive Hivebuster program,” Microsoft says.

“Thrown together and dubbed ‘Scorpio Squad,’ their suicide mission to destroy a Swarm hive may hold the key to saving Sera and their own redemption.”

Hivebusters supports up to three-player co-op, split-screen or online, and features 16 new achievements to unlock for 210 Gamerscore.

Further reading

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Gears 5 is getting story DLC and its Xbox Series X/S update lets you recast Marcus Fenix as Dave Bautista

New Game Plus mode also arriving in November alongside 120fps multiplayer