Gears of War 4 Adds Two New Maps Today and 280 Cards

It's a big day for Gears of War 4. As announced previously, an update for the Xbox One and PC shooter coming today will add two new maps and 280 cards to collect as part of the Series 2 package.

The new maps are Blood Drive and Clocktower, Microsoft announced on the Xbox Wire. You may remember them, as Blood Drive first appear in Gears of War 2 and was reimagined in Gears of War 3. Now, it's been reimagined again for Gears of War 4. As for Clocktower, it was in the first Gears of War and Gears of War 3, according to the Gears of War Wikia.

People who own the Gears of War season pass can play both maps today in the game's Developer Playlist; double XP and a 20 percent credit boost are available right now. Everyone else can play Blood Drive and Clocktower starting January 17 when they enter the public multiplayer map rotation.

Moving on to the new cards, today's update is the biggest ever in terms of the total number of new cards (280). There are 13 new character cards, including Armored Anya and Armored Sam, while there is also a zombie version of Minh. Microsoft teased that it will announce another legacy character card "very soon."

The update also adds more than 260 weapon skins across 13 skin sets, including the "Lightning" skin and the "Chillin" weapon set. You can get all the Series 2 cards through Gear Packs, while they can also be made using the game's Scrap items.

Here is a rundown of the new Series 2 cards:

Finally, Microsoft announced the Series 2 Airdrop. Coming this month for season pass owners, this pack includes 20 Gear Packs that include 60 random Series 2 cards. Eligible players will receive the Airdrop on January 13. Another perk for season pass owners was also announced and takes the form of a free Bounty Gear Pack every Friday; all you have to do is log in to get it.

Today's Gears of War 4 update also introduces some new quitting penalties. You can read more about the specifics here in the official patch notes. The update is slated to go live today at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.