The Coalition announces two new in-game bonuses for long time Gears fans who decide to pick up a new copy of Gears of War 4 when it releases next week.

After a small hiatus, the Gears of War franchise is finally making its long awaited return. Starting on Friday, the doors open officially for Gears of War 4 Ultimate Edition owners while everyone else will get access a few days later. Even though the series is now in the hands of The Coalition instead of long time developer Epic Games, the new studio is making sure long time fans are taken care of by offering a nice little bonus for those who grab a copy of the game.

In a post on the official forums, The Coalition revealed its plans to honor returning Gears veterans. For players who have simply booted up any of the previous games and are either a current Xbox Live Gold subscriber, or a Silver member who has logged into their account in the past 12 months, a nice bonus will be waiting when booting up Gears of War 4 for the first time. The first perk is a new and exclusive legacy emblem called first wave and it will be located inside the customization menu. The icon shows a a gear soldier, who is suspiciously shaped like Marcus Fenix, holding an old COG banner under a new dawn.

The second bonus series regulars will receive is a bonus operations pack, which is part of the new gear packs mechanic. This virtual card pack bestows exclusive bonuses to the player and is guaranteed to contain one customization item and four additional cards of any type. A code for the pack download will be sent out through Xbox Live messaging starting next week and will expire on December 31, 2016.

Gears of War 4 is arguably Microsoft’s biggest fall release this year, as the mega corporation has devoted a ton of money and resources into the product. Fans have already seen multiple Xbox One S Gears of War 4 bundles revealed, including a brand new deep blue model based on series newcomer JD Fenix. Other accessories like the Gears of War 4 Elite controller are also shipping later this week, and the developer has even tried to make the season pass even more enticing by adding 11 additional card packs to an already stuffed downloadable content package.

Are you excited for this new entry in the long running series? What do you think of these bonus items? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.

Gears of War 4 officially launches on October 11, 2016 for Windows 10 PC and Xbox One.

Source: Gears of War Forums