When Gears 5 was presented at E3 2019, along with it came a host of new information regarding new modes, story elements, and other aspects. At the end of the game's presentation came the surprise announcement of the arrival of Terminator: Dark Fate DLC to Gears 5, blending the film series that regularly suggests an apocalypse is coming with a game series where an apocalypse has essentially already occurred. While a nice bonus for Terminator fans, it still feels out of place despite similar themes.
The original DLC announcement trailer from E3 2019's Gears 5 showing was fairly exciting at first. It was highly reminiscent of footage from the original Terminator films, where an intimidating Terminator can be seen, holding a Lancer in the air, crushing the skull of something long dead. It was then announced that a T-800 and Sarah Connor would be available with the Ultimate Edition of the game. The announcement sent chills down the spines of Terminator fans everywhere and left many excited to play as either of the characters from the upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate film. Though it also left some with mixed impressions of boldly blending different moneymaking series together in a fairly minor way.
As suggested previously, the DLC included with the Ultimate Edition of Gears 5 allows you to play as Terminator: Dark Fate's Sarah Connor, as well as the movie's T-800 Terminator model in the available multiplayer modes. Sarah Connor is available to play as in the three-player Escape mode as well. Beyond that, they are, thankfully, not included in the campaign to any degree.
Sarah Connor is voiced by actress Linda Hamilton, who portrays the character in 1984's The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and had a voice role in Terminator Salvation. She does a great job doing so and often yells phrases like "Terminated!" Obviously, this references the series.
The T-800 isn't voiced at all. When playing as the T-800, you are a silent killing machine, as was the case in the films. However, this will likely come as a disappointment to some who were looking forward to playing as Arnold Schwarzenegger in Gears 5 and hoping to here him utter phrases like "Hasta la vista, baby." That would have been great and would have provided fans with more reason to play as a Terminator in multiplayer modes. However, playing as a robot determined to kill anything in sight will have to do for now.
The Terminator DLC includes some elements beyond the ability to play as the T-800 or Sarah Connor. There are some customization options that are representative of the Terminator series, including a Banner you can place behind any character that has an image of the skull of a Terminator. While it looks neat, it's not quite as good as the ability to tear Swarm enemies apart as Sarah Connor.
The Terminator: Dark Fate DLC included with the Ultimate Edition of Gears 5 is both a bit of a letdown and a nice add-on. Though the cross-over between Gears and Terminator seems strange at first, it is pretty awesome to wreck enemies as fan-favorite Sarah Connor. It's sad that The Coalition didn't get Arnold Schwarzenegger in on the add-on, but using a lever-action shotgun as an undisguised Terminator is pretty much good enough.
The Terminator: Dark Fate DLC simply feels pointless, but it's a charming addition to a mode that allows players to choose from almost strictly familiar faces. Hopefully, the DLC will become available to players of the standard edition soon for the sake of variety.