The game's story campaign focuses on J.D. Fenix, son of Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud from the earlier games, together with his friends Delmont Walker and Kait Diaz. Early on they join an Outsiders group led by Reyna to get away from COG rule. They assist with raids and acquiring technology, until they are eventually attacked by unknown creatures dubbed The Swarm. This leads J.D. to reluctantly ask for the help of his father to identify and defeat the creatures. Next to Marcus, this brings back other known characters as well, such as Cole, Baird and Sam.
Next to cooperative campaign for multiple players, the Horde multiplayer mode is featured for the third time, fighting 50 waves of enemies with up to five players working together. Some of this wave-based gameplay is also incorporated in segments of the regular campaign. New elements for the 3.0 version are skill and ability progression. Instead of the static locations near a command post in the previous game, players can now use a Fabricator to construct defenses, fortifications and weapons any where on the map. Characters can receive bonuses to statistics and abilities using Gear Cards. Unlocks and rewards are not based on level progression. Instead all action is rewarded with credits used to acquire Gear Packs with different types of content such as weapons and skins. Cards can be discarded for a different currency, Scrap, which in turn can be used to create almost any card in the game. Packs and other currency elements can also be bought straight away with real money.