A first update for Gears of War: Reloaded will be released immediately upon launch. However, the patch notes indicate that the issues we identified in our review have not been addressed.
The developers of Gears of War: Reloaded have fired up the chainsaw and are cutting through the thicket of bugs that accompany the release of the shooter remaster with a day-one patch.
But even with the patch, the game is not without problems on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Players on Steam report, for example, serious crashes that prevent the game from starting. Some technical issues that led to a score of 61 points in GlobalESportNews’ review of Gears of War: Reloaded have also not yet been fixed.
As always, you can find all the patch notes on page 2. If you want to see the Reloaded remaster in action, we recommend taking a look at the video:
Focus on performance and crashes
The Day One patch, which was not yet integrated in our pre-release test version, is intended to deliver crucial stability improvements and bug fixes to ensure a smoother gaming experience.
According to developer The Coalition, PC players should experience fewer crashes and stuttering, thanks in particular to the fixing of bugs that caused low frame rates when a PlayStation DualSense controller was connected to the PC.
Nevertheless, there are still some unresolved issues. For example, the broken shadow maps that we found distracting in our test have not been fixed. Character shadows continue to lose detail the closer you get to them, which is an unexpected and distracting visual quirk.
Contradictory ratings from users and the press
The technical difficulties are also reflected in the public perception of the game. The first reviews on Steam paint a mixed picture, with only 50 percent of around 600 reviews being positive.
This stands in stark contrast to the Metacritic average of the trade press, which is 80 points based on 35 reviews. Players also report crashes and freezes even after the day-one patch when they try to link their Microsoft account or change the graphics settings.
The lack of technical progress is also criticized. For user KennyTheDuck, for example, the game is “another lazy re-release of the Gears Ultimate Edition that we already had on PC 10 years ago” and “a cash grab.”
We will continue to monitor the situation closely. If the technical issues are resolved with future updates, we reserve the right to adjust our review and rating.
— Gears of War (@GearsofWar) August 25, 2025
Performance and Stability
- Multiple crash fixes and incremental performance improvements on PC and console platforms.
- Fixed a persistent low frame rate issue when connecting a DualSense controller to a PC.
Gameplay and User Interface
- Numerous gameplay, user interface, and localization bugs have been fixed—from controller input errors to incorrect in-game text—for a smoother experience.
- On consoles, the game now correctly handles cases where the global power saving feature is disabled in the game, but certain modes (Campaign, Versus) have attempted to use power saving features.
- Consoles: Fire textures and animations now display correctly in Campaign.
Handheld Support and General Improvements
- Minor adjustments to features such as improved support for handheld devices when switching to mouse and keyboard mode and refined behavior of settings improve overall usability.
- Handheld: Issues with mouse input on certain handheld PCs have been fixed—mouse sensitivity on handheld devices now responds consistently.