Gears 5's third act is "50 times bigger than a normal Gears level"

Gears 5 will finally be released on September 10 (or September 5 if you've got the Ultimate Edition or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), but at PAX West this past weekend, Xbox Live director of programming Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb sat down with The Coalition's studio head Rod Fergusson to talk about the sequel on a panel, with Fergusson having plenty to share, as reported by Twinfinite.

For example, Gears 5 has the biggest campaign The Coalition has ever made, with the Act 3 level being "50 times bigger than a normal Gears level". It also has the deepest Horde Mode in a Gears game, and all of this can be expanded with the Map Builder lets you create maps for Horde and Versus after release, with new content being added weekly.

As for accessibility, inclusiveness was a focus from early on, researching disabilities to find out how the studio can help. This includes being able to remap all controls, as well as supporting Xbox's Adaptive Controller.

In terms of side missions in this large campaign, Fergusson said these will be crafted rather than repetitive missions, and there are quarterly operations to enjoy as well, not to mention new tiles for the Map Builder being added.

Fergusson also told us that the Gears of War film is progressing and that he's meeting with a studio today, with the film being set in an alternate relality, so "the canon and lore of the games do not impact the movie and the canon and lore of the movie do not impact the games".

He also apparently told the studio to "make a good movie first and a Gears movie second", because he wants "a good story that happens to be a Gears movie". This may even feature some familiar faces.

Has this gotten you more excited for Gears 5?