This weekend's Gears of War: Reloaded beta has been extended and expanded with more maps and modes, including Execution: "We heard you"

Gears of War: Reloaded's upcoming beta weekend will now be longer and include more maps and modes, seemingly in response to negative feedback from the last beta.

ICYMI: last weekend's Gears of War: Reloaded beta took some heat for technical issues, server instability, and in general, not being all that different from the 2015 remaster, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. (Yes, there was already a Gears of War remaster; Reloaded is supposed to be a remaster of that with added availability on PlayStation.)

On Xbox Series X and PS5, you can expect the coveted 4K/120 FPS, at least in multiplayer modes, and crossplay and cross-progression are enabled across all platforms. That said, it seems Xbox was careful not too touch the actual bones of the game, which is great, but it seems like players were expecting at least some refinements to pain points like hit detection, sponging, and general lack of polish.

GamesRadar's Josh West said playing the Gears of War: Reloaded beta was like "being wrapped in a warm blanket lined with sandpaper," noting the game's faithfulness to the 2006 original while also highlighting various things that make the remaster feel very 2006, for better or worse.

Anyway, this beta extension isn't likely to quell any of the above concerns, but it will let you play Gears of War: Reloaded for a little longer and experience more of what the full release will include on August 26.

"We heard you. More maps. More modes. More time," The Coalition said in a tweet. "This weekend’s Multiplayer Beta has been extended and Execution will now be playable along with KOTH."

This weekend's Gears of War: Reloaded beta will now run from Friday, June 20 at 12pm PDT to Sunday, June 22 at 9pm PDT, which is nine hours longer than the last beta. Maps available in Competitive KOTH and Execution will now include Canals in addition to Gridlock, Raven Down, Courtyard, and War Machine. For Social TDM, you'll have Gridlock, Gold Rush, Raven Down, Courtyard, and War Machine.

Again, The Coalition has yet to address the feedback around the core game itself, and with a little more than two months from launch it's unlikely there's a whole lot that can be done without a delay, but I suppose this is a harmless enough peace treaty.

Meanwhile, here's everything we know about Gears of War: E-Day.