Gears 5 Hivebusters DLC And Title Update 12 Now Live On PC And Xbox Consoles

The latest DLC for Gears 5 is now live on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S that introduces a new campaign with the characters from the game's Escape mode. Along with Hivebusters, which is available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or as a separate $20 purchase, comes Title Update 12 that makes various gameplay changes. The patch notes are outlined below.

Hivebusters follows Scorpio Squad, a team composed of Keegan, Lahni, and Mac first seen in Escape. Recruited by Victor Hoffman, the DLC sends Scorpio Squad to the Galangi islands to battle the Swarm and the newly introduced Wakaatu predators.

The Hivebusters DLC brings some expected features, including three-player local split-screen and online cooperative play, as well as 16 new achievements. Additionally, the expansion also supports the bevy of Xbox Series X|S optimizations Gears 5 received earlier this year, such as Quick Resume, faster load times, variable refresh rates, and 4K HDR graphics on Series X.

Hivebusters' inclusion also brings about Title Update 12, which introduces a number of changes to Gears 5. On the PvE side, the Wakaatu predators have been added as bosses in the Horde and Horde Frenzy modes. Escape, meanwhile, has seen the behavior of the Iron Man mutator tweaked to prevent pod respawns. Some perks have been adjusted as well, including Repair Speed (which is now Critical Damage) and Team Revive (which has a reduced cooldown of 300 seconds instead of 450).

Other changes made with Title Update 12 include making DeeBee, Jinn, and Sam playable in PvE, addressing visual discrepancies with characters' clothing, and ironing out issues with enemies glitching outside of the map. Check out the full patch notes below.

Gears 5 Title Update 12 Patch Notes

PvE Updates

• Horde:
  • Added the Wakaatu to the pool of bosses in Horde and Horde Frenzy.
  • Engineer Perks now apply retroactively to the player’s owned fortifications.
• Escape:
  • Changed the behavior of the Iron Man mutator in Escape to only prevent pod respawns, instead of requiring players to back out to the lobby when the team wipes.
• Robotics Expert:
  • Changed Repair Speed Perk to Critical Damage Perk.
• Combat Medic:
  • Reduced cooldown of Team Revive from 450s to 300s.
    • Increased the amount of stim per headshot for Combat Medic’s Helpful Headshots card from 6HP to 12HP. (Level 6)
• Helpful Headshots now triggers on all weak points in addition to headshots.

Gameplay

• Fixed the issue so Sam, Jinn, and DeeBee are now playable in PvE.
• Fixed an issue where users can ‘freeze’ a KOTH ring.
• Fixed an issue where the player does not see the GP bonus while solo playing in any ranked match.
• Fixed an issue where players do not spawn at the start of a rolling KOTH match.
• Fixed an issue so the Merciless Heroism medal is now tracking correctly.
• Fixed an issue that was causing an increase in stuttering and crashes.
• Fixed an issue where character animations go into a stuck state in multiplayer games.
• Fixed an issue for PC players where zoom sensitivity settings do not change in-game.
• Fixed an issue where Gunner class passive heals the player dealing bleeding damage while holding a heavy weapon.
• Fixed a PvE issue where players can instantly kill any enemy in the game by using an incendiary grenade while holding a Breaker Mace using the Blunt Instrument skill card.
• Fixed a PvE issue where players can create an invincible level 4 barrier by repairing it inside another barrier.
• Fixed an issue in the Horde Daily Challenge where the healing Scion mutator doesn’t apply to Boomshot Scion.
• Fixed an issue in Versus where flame effects fired out of thin air during Kill Cam after an execution.
• Fixed an issue in Escape where the Saferoom door does not unlock.
• Fixed an issue where changing weapons while holding a heavy weapon during ‘The Train’ ability breaks all Heavy Weapons.
• Fixed an issue in Horde where Jack’s Rampage skill card doesn’t apply bleed to melee and some heavy weapon damage.
• Fixed an issue where front end Idle Animations are being loaded in Campaign.
• Fixed an issue in xCloud so recoil is easier to manage.
• Fixed an issue in xCloud to address an input consistency that makes it difficult for a player to center their sticks.
• Fixed an issue in xCloud to enable auto-aim while streaming to make it easier to shoot.
• Fixed an issue with the Scorcher Execution where the victim's head and body explode when the animation is done playing.

Characters

• Fixed an issue where the chest pouches on the UIR Officer Female were rotated inward.
• Fixed an issue on Armored Anya where she has a band-aid mirrored on her left arm which doesn’t match legacy.
• Fixed an issue with the Nutcracker Shepherd where the top hat stays visible when using Infiltrator Class ultimate ability.

Maps and Tiles

• Fixed an issue where Jackbot can move out of bounds on Clocktower.
• Fixed an issue on Forge where the background of COG Spawn hosts aggressive LOD on match start.
• Fixed an issue on River where multiple noticeable LOD pops occur on the bridge street looking across the bridge from cafe side.
• Fixed an issue on River where there are misaligned coverslips on sniper tower ramps.
• Fixed an issue on River where exploding cars show as incendiary grenade kills on kill feed/cam.
• Fixed an issue on Gridlock where purple flowers are culling in the COG Spawn.
• Fixed an issue on The Detour Hive where textures will have a LOD pop and appear pink when playing through the second act of “The Detour” Escape map.
• Fixed an issue in Horde where the Swarmak gets stuck.
• Fixed an issue on Pahanu where the Pouncer can be seen floating above cover.
• Fixed an issue in Horde where Pouncers can spawn on top of each other in the cliff and ruins areas of Pahanu.
• Fixed an issue on Clocktower where objects near Cog Spawn has incorrect textures.
• Fixed an issue in Nexus where the metal frame of the tarps does not block AI visibility, causing enemies to shoot through when they shouldn’t be able to see the player.
• Fixed an issue where fortifications can be placed on the pillar in Gridlock.
• Fixed an issue in Horde where fortifications can be placed inside of walls preventing players from being able to pick them back up.

Campaign

• Fixed an issue where Trackers are not spawning and blocking player progression at the Condor Crash Site.
• Fixed an issue where after the Flock combat in Satellite, AI squadmates path strangely and sometimes fail to path on to the gantry, blocking natural progression.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where the Skeleton Kait face paint is missing during and after cutscenes play in act 3.
• Fixed an issue where a Light flickering issue occurs during the convoy fight in Defense 1.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ (Act 1, Chapter 4) where the SplitScreen game freezes when the helicopter explodes at the beginning of the chapter.
• Fixed an issue in the SplitScreen Campaign where the Cinematic for Act 1, Chapter 4 is seen as only a loading screen which prevents the player from loading into the next level.
• Fixed an NG+ issue in 3 Player Campaign co-op where the Jack O’ Lantern skin breaks during and after cutscenes play.
• Fixed an NG+ issue where the Jackbot skin does not work while the Drone modifier is on.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where Baird does not realize that Barrier is already equipped, and the mission cannot continue until the Jack menu gets reopened and closed again.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where ammo count doubles with Heavy Weapon if you drop the weapon and then pick it back up in select areas.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where Enemy Shock Damage VFX persists on the player’s screen after a checkpoint reload.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where AI Skins are visible in the pre-launch menu but not in-game.
• Fixed an issue when using the HiJack ability as playable Jack, the ability ends as soon as the other co-op player shoots the Hijacked enemy once with any weapon.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where melee attacks deal freezing damage when the player has their enemy modifier set to freezing.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where the explosive headshot mutator does not trigger when getting a headshot with a torque bow.

Other

• Fixed an issue where players were experiencing gameplay hitches.
• Fixed an issue where the game crashes if a user is signed in but idling on the Main Menu of the Winstore version and then attempts to launch the Xbox One Store build with the same account.
• Fixed an issue where purchases made in the Steam store are not reflected in-game.
• Fixed an issue in NG+ where the MP skins weren’t working as intended in select cinematic cut scenes.
• Fixed an issue where the death omen UI does not appear from environmental deaths when not caused by another player.
• Fixed an issue where Dom’s Tattoo Torque Bow is stretching when in use.
• Fixed an issue in the Horde Frenzy playlist where blank mutators appear on the difficulty select screen.
• Fixed an issue with xCloud to remove help options from the front end as they no longer match the in-game settings.
• Fixed a crash bug that occurred when player’s load into a 2nd consecutive Quickplay Arcade match on Training Grounds.
• Fixed an issue where the Ammo counter for Trishot goes into negative numbers (campaign only).
• Fixed an issue where all Swarm characters are assigned the human idle animation in the customization menu.
• Fixed an issue where Xbox Series X upgrade breaks game with external storage.
• Fixed an issue with Quick Resume that occasionally caused the game to not load.
• Fixed an issue where suspending and then resuming sometimes causes users to be stuck on a black screen indefinitely.
• Fixed a variety of localization issues.
• Fixed a UI issue on PC in video settings, when a player sets to “Recommended” it improperly sets things to Insane.
• Fixed a UI issue in co-op where If host invites another player into their lobby and then dissolves the lobby and brings their squad with them, the game will become stuck in a broken state.
• Fixed a UI issue in NG+ the Mutators icon is a white box in loading screens.
• Fixed a UI issue where map preview on River doesn’t appear when loading in a match.
• Fixed a UI issue where Chrome Steel Palace Guard text is overlapping in the store.
• Fixed a UI issue in NG+ where someone can appear to play as a drone in the third spot in the lobby doesn’t update the skin back to the COG if switched off when Del is on the 3rd spot.
• Fixed a UI issue where there is a prompt to press RT for Social displays when viewing Collectibles from the Pause Menu.
• Fixed a UI issue where there is a non-functional button callout when the user is hovering on the Classes screen.
• Fixed a UI issue where there appears to be a missing store category highlight state while using the mouse.
• Fixed a UI issue in Tour of Duty where the Hive Brothers medal art features Gary Carmine instead of Clayton Carmine.
• Fixed a UI issue where the Horde class hitbox doesn’t work when clicking on the horde class level.
• Fixed a UI issue where the icon for getting killed by Scorcher is too small.
• Fixed a UI issue where the bundle layout and descriptions are inconsistent in the presentation.
• Fixed an Accessibility issue where the narrator reads out the details for the final mutator when reaching the difficulty screen on the Escape Hives before any mutators have been selected.
• Fixed a UI issue where mouse users were able to drag the post-match results screen and making the stats disappear.
• Fixed a UI issue where the heads of certain characters are cropped off in the character preview menu.