Gears of War 5 ending choice guide

Unlike the other games in the Gears universe, Gears 5 provides players with something a little more unique in terms of the endings that are available. The story will be dictated by a Gears of War 5 ending choice made by the player rather than merely showing one outcome for the end of the game. In selecting an ending, this will change the way the story develops, although there’s perhaps not as many ending as games like the horror-story in The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan

There are two Gears of War 5 ending choice selections to choose from, and you will decide which one takes your preference during Act 4 Chapter 1 of the game. Once you reach the end of this Act, there’ll be a massive battle to fend off the Swarm army, and its shortly after this battle that the two ending choices will become available.

Warning! Huge spoilers follow

Gears of War 5 ending choice: save Del or JD

If your decision-making skills are up to the test, reaching the latter part of Act 4, Chapter 1 is where you will make the Gears of War 5 ending choice. You will come up against wave after wave of Swarm enemies, and assuming you survive the ambush you will then need to try and prevent a beacon that’s situated near the church of the unknown from being damaged.

Inevitably, you will be required to utilise the Hammer of Dawn where you’ll have a run-in with the Swarm Queen. Kait, along with her Lancer, will be snatched away by the Queen, leaving Del and JD feeling helpless as ever. You’ll witness the beacon you’ve been attempting to defend being wholly obliterated. JD and Del try an attempt at foiling the Queen’s plan to capture Kait in an attack out of the blue, resulting in the attack being thwarted and strangling both Gears operatives.

At this point, the Gears of War 5 ending choice will be yours to choose from. Thanks to losing her Lancer, all Kait has to hand is her trusty knife which she realises she can use to free JD and Del. The catch, however, is using the blade is going to cut through the Queen’s monstrous grip to free just ONE of the two Gears operatives. As soon as the prompt appears, you will have a minimal time to make your Gears of War 5 ending choice, which is no easy task.

Whichever ending choice you go for The Queen then employs the guilt treatment to Kait, saying that she’ll have to live with the decision she just made. The Gears operative you didn’t choose to save then has his neck snapped by the Queen, which is undoubtedly a shocker when you don’t know its coming!

Gears of war five canon ending

Before we get onto the best Gears of War 5 ending choice, we thought it’d be wise to touch upon the Gears 5 canon ending. You’d think that the Coalition would have communicated which ending could be considered as the canon ending, but they’ve kept that for players to decide. Is the right Gears of War 5 ending choice to save Del or JD?

First off, all of the smaller plots going on for Del concludes towards the latter part of Gears 5. Del detaches himself from Fahz and JD once he finds out what they’ve done in Settlement 2 and it’s not until Act 3 that the dispute gets resolved. Towards the end of the game, Del has seen Kait through her journey of self-discovery. All of the gripes with the team are sorted. You could argue that he’s still there for Fenix as a support beam if you rescue Del, but that’s about it.

Alternatively, saving JD has an impact on both Marcus and JD as a result. In Gears 3 and Gears 4 Marcus and JD have always had a sense of competitiveness over each other, and it’s only during JD’s ending that you’ll see the two look past their differences for future games. It’d be refreshing to see JD and Marcus leave those issues in the past rather than having grumpy competitiveness all the time. The only way that can happen is if JD survives.

To decide which of the two endings are considered to be the canon of them doesn’t even come down to the characters we save, its more to do with Marcus. The first Gears of War 5 ending choice sees Marcus staying as the grumpy old soldier we’re used to. The other gives him space to sort his relationship with his son and develop his persona. Overall, if it were a choice between the two endings based on Marcus, I’d prefer to see him develop as a character even though the grumpy old soldier persona still works for many today.

Which is the right Gears of War 5 ending choice?

There are no right or wrong Gears of War 5 ending choice, each end will see the story unfold differently, and the guy you don’t save will meet the same fate regardless.

Should you decide to save Del by freeing him from the clutches of the Queen, then it will result in JD being killed off by having his neck snapped. Following this, you’ll end up among the wreckage of a structure that has collapsed. Del is understandably heartbroken with the death of his partner on the Gears team, and you can see him with JD’s COG tags in the palm of his hand. Following the scene, Kait will direct Del out of the fallen structure.

If you’ve rescued Del, then the rendezvous with Marcus Fenix will result in Kait and him handing over the COG tags belonging to JD. Kait and Del approach Fenix to ensure he’s ok after realising the death of his son, but Fenix quickly snubs them to continue grieving. The truck pulls up outside, and Fahz hasn’t realised what’s gone on, and of course, comes out with a witty one-liner and shuts up pretty much right away.

Go with the alternate Gears of War 5 ending choice to rescue JD severing the tentacle of the Queen, and the result is that Del meets a horrific end by having his neck broken. Similarly, JD is grieving over the death of his COG teammate trying to come to terms with Del’s terrible demise. This is definitely unusual to see considering the tough front JD always puts on, but let’s give the guy a break, and he’s just lost his partner! The building starts shaking and is on the verge of collapsing, so Kait quickly whisks JD away before she almost losers another COG member.

The story unfolds marginally different with this Gears of War 5 ending choice. The pair meet Fenix in the same way as above although Kait and JD don’t have any COG tags to hand over. Fenix instead peers into the distance at the city skyline before he gently places his hand on JD’s shoulder to comfort him. This closes the father-son relationship that we saw in Gears of War 4, and at this point, we see the conclusion of a job well done.

Out of the two Gears of War 5 ending choice options, saving Del offers an extra cutscene. We see Marcus and Fahz perched in the front of the truck with JD’s Cog tags in hand, before ordering Fahz to keep driving.

Regardless of which choice you make, the remainder of Act 4 won’t differ significantly, with the only exception seeing Fenix peering into the distance. Unlike earlier on, Del tries his best to comfort Fenix, and this time around he does not push him away. The team come together, and Kait is summoned, with the conclusion being pretty much identical.

Here’s a clip showing the endings in action if you’re not quite at Act 4 yet:

Looking for more Gears 5 guides? Check out our Gears 5 components guide, Jack’s ultimate upgrades guide, Gears 5 Lost Outsiders Locations, and our Gears 5 Easter Eggs guide.

If you’re yet to pick up Gears 5, it’s available now to buy on Amazon.