Earlier this month, Xbox sent me a code for Gears of War: Reloaded on the PlayStation 5. That’s a weird sentence to write. But it’s true. And despite knowing this port was coming and previously writing about it as well as the end of the console wars on Kotaku, I still have to admit: It was really bizarre to nail an active reload on a PlayStation gamepad.
Out today on Game Pass, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation, and PC, Gears of War: Reloaded is a remastered version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, which is itself a remastered spin on the original Xbox 360 Gears of War game, complete with improved textures and extra content that was exclusive to the barely-talked-about PC port of the first game. Wowza, what a lineage! Anyway, this latest remastering of the original Gears game that started it all sports some new improvements, including 4K/120FPS support for multiplayer, improved shadows, and full crossplay and cross-progression across all platforms. And it looks great, even if I encountered a few quirks in my playthrough. But no matter how much better it might look, Gears of War on a PlayStation console is still strange to this grizzled Gears vet.
Loading up Gears of War: Reloaded on my PS5 was strange enough to begin with, but then I hopped into the game and linked my Xbox account and saw that my Xbox profile picture appeared in the menu instead of my PlayStation profile pic. Odd! Then I started playing, and Gears of War prompted me to hit triangle to look at something instead of the Y button. Peculiar! And once I got into a firefight, I was told to smash the R1 button to begin a reload and then hit it again at the right time to reload my Lancer assault rifle faster. I did as told, but I think I made a weird face while doing it. Even Sony acknowledged how odd this all is via a tweet of Marcus reloading with the comment: “Press R1 to Active Reload.”
Press R1 to Active Reload 💥
Gears of War: Reloaded is out today on PS5 pic.twitter.com/IIFIIsxkvB
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 26, 2025
When I unlocked my first trophy in Gears of War on PlayStation 5, something really bizarre happened: My phone buzzed to let me know that I had also just earned an Xbox achievement. I’ve not played any other Xbox games on PlayStation yet, so I’m not sure if this is just normal or whatever, but it caught me off guard. Earning Xbox achievements on a PlayStation? We truly live in the weirdest timeline.
As someone who has exclusively played through the entire Gears of War franchise and racked up many hours chainsawing people in multiplayer on Xbox consoles, it never stopped being eerie and uncanny to be playing the original game again, but this time on Sony’s home console. I thought that before the credits rolled on Gears of War: Reloaded, I’d have forgotten I was even playing on a PS5. Nope. It was weird from start to finish. But not in a bad way! I’m not mad Gears is on PS5 in 2025. I just think it’s going to take a few more weeks or months, or longer, for me to get used to it.
