Gears Of War 4 July Update Adds More Maps Today; Here Are The Patch Notes

Gears of War 4's next big update has been detailed, and you won't have to wait long at all to check it out. The July update launches for free today.

The major addition in this patch are two new maps. Those who played the original Gears of War will recognize Raven Down, which centers around a crashed helicopter and close-range combat. The other is a modified version of Reclaimed called Reclaimed Windflare. Whether playing on this map in Versus or Horde mode, you'll occasionally encounter Windflares--the extreme storms that were previously only seen in Gears 4's campaign. These impact visibility and cause lightning strikes that can prove deadly.

You can check out both of these maps in the trailer above. Reclaimed appears to be mostly intact, but the Windflares do look like a factor that could dramatically impact how matches play out.

Developer The Coalition has also previewed some of the content coming later in the month. This includes an unspecified new Horde event and a 24/7 playlist for Raven Down that will span multiple game modes. Additionally, a new Gear Pack will introduce Superstar Cole and Civilian Anya, the latter of which will be craftable later this month.

Besides the new maps, today's update makes some other changes, primarily in the form of balance updates and bug fixes. You can see the full list of these below.

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Gears of War 4 July Update Patch Notes

• Players shot at point-blank range in cover will no longer receive reduced damage
• Players can no longer survive under the avalanche on Avalanche
• Players can no longer capture the rings in KOTH on Avalanche from below the balconies
• Fixed an exploit allowing players to keep weapons after a change in Arms Race
• Fixed an issue where players could leave a Ranked Lobby just as they join one without being aware, resulting in a suspension
• Updated Palace Guard dialogue to match their intended voice
• Improved Oscar's dialogue tuning to match improvements for other characters in the Rise of the Horde update
• Horde: Reduced effectiveness of spawn manipulation on Security
• Horde: The Sniper's 'Called Shot' mark ability now works when using a turret
• Horde: A Scout using Cloak will not break Cloak by roadie running in cover
• Horde: Enemies killed by Explosive Headshots will no longer reset the Magic Bullet Multiplier
• Improvements to the Lightning Weapon Skin set animation
• Fixed display issues with YJeter's Lancer Skin
• Added 21 new Country Emblems (available in Gear Packs and Craftable)
• Miscellaneous fixes and improvements