Gears of War: E-Day will not be a spin-off, but a real, big new Gears of War! And we elicit the first information about the co-op shooter from the developers
Gears of War is still relevant, says Nicole Facette, Brand Director of the newly announcedGears of War: E-Day. Or more specifically: The themes behind Gears remain relevant. Loyalty, brotherhood, unity, loss, grief
This is true on the one hand, of course, because such primal human themes, like hair loss, will remain relevant until the end of time, but on the other hand, it also makes me realize what kind of interview I’m sitting in right now, here in Los Angeles, during the big Microsoft showcase presentation where the new Gears was freshly unveiled
It’s one of those interviews where you have to scrape out every last bit of information with your fingernail, because the developers have received very specific PR training and only want to talk about their game in very broad terms.
I can understand that,Gears 6 is in the middle of development– one wrong sentence in the wrong context quickly leads to avalanches of misunderstandings. Not that anyone will accidentally claim that Gears will be a quadruple A game
But well, I’m sitting in the room with three other journalists and Gears developers and still trying to get as much out of them as possible
What’s E-Day all about?
Let’s fast-forward through the facts
Gears of War: E-Day isnot a spin-offlikeTacticsor back thenGears of War: Judgment, but a real new main series installment, like Gears 6.
But – as the name suggests – E-Day takes placelong before the very first part of the series, 14 years before to be precise. Similar to Halo, the first Gears starts at the end of a gigantic war, in this case against the murderous Locust, who suddenly burst out of the earth all over the world on a fateful day
And E-Day revolves around this fateful day. The developers tell me that during the pandemic (and afterGears 5) they have long reflected on what is at the core of the Gears series. And this nucleus always leads back tomain character Marcus Fenix, who kicks ass with his buddy Dom the Locusts, celebrates lots of bro moments, but also bro problems… I mean: overcomes problems.
If you don’t know Gears, you might not suspect it purely from the outside, but: This series is responsible fortwo heartbreaking moments in gaming historyand it’s a series that has a lot of gravitas. E-Day wants to bring back that gravitas too. Attention, spoiler:
The most important facts about E-Day
In E-Day, we experience a young Marcus and Dom during the early days of the Locust War. Both have just returned from another war against humans and have already lost comrades, when suddenly all hell breaks looseThe heart of the storyis the bromance between the two
In terms of gameplay, E-Day wants to go back to its roots: The devs promisea linear, cinematic single-player or co-op experience You move through the big city and fight Locust. The campaign will span several in-game days, so it’s all about the start of the Locust war.
E-Day also celebratesthe return of all the weapons that fans love, albeit in a modified form here and there. The famous chainsaw rifle, for example, does not yet have a chainsaw on the barrel because humanity has not yet developed any weapons specialized in locust combat during E-Day
And I was able to tease one last piece of information out of the devs. Gears of War: E-Day is being developedin Unreal Engine 5 The reveal trailer has already been created using assets from it, and the studio is aiming for this graphics quality for the entire game
When E-Day will be released is not yet clear, a release in 2025 is not certain. Nothing has been said about multiplayer modes, Horde and the like either. But we will of course keep you up to date as soon as any new information drifts to the surface
