In this guide for the new PC and Xbox One game Gears of War 4, we explain how to unlock the mysterious campaign achievement called 'The Sound of Silence.'

Like all Xbox One games, Gears of War 4 has its fair share of achievements for players to unlock. The vast majority of the achievements in Gears of War 4, while time-consuming, are pretty straight-forward, but there is one that players may have no clue how to unlock without looking for an explanation online. The achievement in question is called "The Sound of Silence," which will net anyone that unlocks it a cool 25 gamerscore.

The description for The Sound of Silence achievement states: "Carry your inheritance until your uncle makes you a better offer." For anyone that has yet to blaze through Gears of War 4's split-screen co-op campaign, that achievement description is probably very confusing. In fact, it's impossible to know what it really means until making it to the final act of the game, and so to properly explain it we need to delve into spoiler territory. Anyone that doesn't want to know key events that take place at the end of Gears of War 4 should turn back now. Fans that don't care and would like to snag this achievement on their first playthrough can read on.

The "inheritance" the achievement is referring to is the Custom Lancer that players acquire in Act II Chapter 2: Geared Up. It is a gift given to JD Fenix from Marcus, but co-op buddies playing as Kait Diaz or Del Walker will also get one for their troubles. Basically, the goal of this achievement is to lug this Custom Lancer around practically to the very end of the game.

More specifically, players need to carry the Custom Lancer with them until Act V Chapter 2: Killing Time. It's at this point that Damon Baird (the "uncle" the achievement refers to) gifts players with a mech suit that is used up until the Gears of War 4's shocking ending. As long as players don't switch out the Custom Lancer from the point they receive it until they receive the mech suits, the achievement should unlock.

Having said that, there are some that have reported issues with this achievement. It seems that, for some people at least, The Sound of Silence achievement has failed to unlock, even though they fulfilled its requirements. At the time of this writing, the only solution to this problem is going back through the campaign and trying to unlock it again.

It's also unclear if players can swap out the Custom Lancer, regain it, and still get the achievement. After acquiring the Custom Lancer, the majority of lancers found in the game are of the same variety, and some gamers have claimed in various forum posts that they dropped the Custom Lancer they received initially, picked it back up later, and then reached the end of the game with it. These reports haven't been verified, though, so anyone that is serious about going after the achievement should play it safe and keep the Custom Lancer in their possession at all times.

Even with The Sound of Silence achievement unlocked, players still have a long road ahead of them if they hope to get 100% in Gears of War 4. They'll need to play countless hours of its competitive multiplayer mode, as well as conquer Horde 3.0, but with one of the more confusing campaign achievements out of the way, the journey to 100% should at least be a little bit easier.

Gears of War 4 is available now for PC and Xbox One.