Gears 5’s campaign was built from the ground up with cooperative play in mind, and its inclusion of a third playable role, the robot companion Jack, sets it apart from earlier entries in the series. Whether you’re playing locally with friends on a couch or jumping online with a mixed group, understanding how co-op is structured and what Jack actually brings to a run will make the campaign noticeably smoother. This guide covers the co-op setup, Jack’s abilities, and how to pick the right difficulty for your group.
How Campaign Co-op Works in Gears 5
Gears 5’s campaign supports up to three players, playable locally in split-screen, entirely online, or through a mix of both known as combo co-op, where local split-screen players team up with an additional player online. Split-screen is displayed in a horizontal top-and-bottom layout when two players share a screen. Two players take control of the human Gears, while a third can step into the role of Jack, the flying robot companion, who is only available as a playable character after the campaign’s first chapter and functions as a helper-style role supporting the other two players rather than a traditional combat character.
This structure means a full three-player squad isn’t simply “three soldiers with guns.” Jack fills a fundamentally different role, gathering resources, opening secret areas, and using utility abilities rather than going toe-to-toe with Swarm forces directly, which makes campaign co-op accessible to players who want to contribute without needing top-tier shooting mechanics.
Meet Jack: The Robot Companion
Jack has been a background fixture of the Gears of War series for years, but Gears 5 is the first game to make him a fully playable character. As an AI partner or the third co-op player, Jack can zap enemies, use stealth cloaking, and deploy a range of gadgets and abilities to support the team. Rather than dealing heavy direct damage, Jack’s value comes from utility: helping teammates find loot, opening chests and secret areas that would otherwise be missed, and using tools like shock mines to slow down enemy advances.
Jack’s Core Abilities and Upgrades
Jack has eleven different core abilities in total, and players can upgrade them using components collected throughout the campaign, changing how each ability functions or improving its effectiveness. One of the most useful is Hijack, which lets Jack take temporary control of an enemy and turn it against its own allies, a powerful crowd-control tool in tougher fights. Other core functions include cloaking for stealth approaches, zapping or stunning enemies, and healing or supporting teammates in a fight. Because abilities are upgraded gradually as you find components scattered through the campaign, playing as Jack tends to start out fairly limited and grows significantly more capable and fun to play as a run progresses.
Playing as Jack vs Playing as a Gear
Playing as one of the human Gears is the traditional Gears of War experience: taking cover, managing ammo, and engaging enemies directly with weapons like the Lancer and Gnasher. Playing as Jack is a different pace entirely, oriented around support and utility rather than direct combat. This makes Jack a great option for less experienced players, younger players, or anyone who wants to enjoy the story and co-op experience without needing to master cover-based gunplay. Groups with mixed skill levels often find that rotating who plays Jack, or leaving it with the least combat-focused player, keeps everyone engaged without anyone feeling overwhelmed.
Campaign Difficulty Options Explained
Gears 5 offers several campaign difficulty tiers: Beginner, Intermediate, Experienced, and Insane, with Inconceivable sitting above all of them as the hardest option. Inconceivable was originally unlocked only after completing a full campaign playthrough on Insane, though it later became selectable from the difficulty menu for all players. Beginner and Intermediate are well suited to players focused on story and co-op fun rather than challenge, while Experienced offers a more traditional Gears difficulty curve. Insane and Inconceivable are aimed at players who want enemies that hit harder, take more coordinated tactics to bring down, and punish careless positioning, and they’re best attempted with a full three-player squad rather than solo or with bots filling gaps.
For mixed-experience groups, it’s worth starting on Experienced or Intermediate and adjusting mid-campaign if the group finds it too easy or too punishing, since Gears 5 allows difficulty changes without restarting the whole campaign.
Co-op Tips for Smooth Playthroughs
Communication about reviving downed teammates quickly is critical in Gears 5, since higher difficulties punish slow revives severely. Assigning rough roles, such as one player focusing on suppression while another pushes flanks, helps avoid the chaos of everyone pushing the same lane at once. If Jack is in the group, make a habit of checking in on what he’s found or opened, since secret areas and loot often contain useful upgrade components and collectibles that are easy to miss if the human players rush ahead. Finally, agree on difficulty as a group before starting, since ramping difficulty mid-campaign because one player wants more challenge can frustrate teammates who are there primarily for the story.
Split-Screen and Online Combo Co-op Setup
To play split-screen, a second controller simply needs to be connected and a second player added from the game’s co-op menu, with the screen splitting horizontally to accommodate both players. Combo co-op extends this further, allowing a split-screen pair to join an online session with a third player, effectively combining local and online co-op in a single campaign run. This flexibility makes Gears 5 one of the more accommodating modern shooters for groups who don’t all have separate consoles or accounts. For a full breakdown of the story, acts, and everything else the campaign covers, check out our complete Gears 5 guide.