Gears of War: E-Daywill bring players back to the very beginning of the Locust War as young Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. While the campaign is expected to make the Locust more mysterious and horrific than previousGears of Wargames, little is currently known about howE-Daywill play compared to prior games other than that its announcement trailer was rendered in-engine. WithGears of War: E-Dayset 14 years before the firstGears of War,E-Daymay play more similarly to it than more recent entries.
Gears of War’s Gameplay Developments
Gears of War’s core gameplay has remained relatively the same over the series’ nearly 18-year-long existence, featuring third-person cover shooting mechanics, brief vehicle missions, and slight puzzle solving. However, each new entry introduced new elements to the series’ gameplay, such asGears of War 2’s meat shield,Gears of War 3’s Lambentmutated enemies, andGears of War: Judgment’s smaller, linear missions.
Most of these new elements primarily impacted the gameplay of the campaign and PvE game modes such as Horde. While not all of these elements returned in each successive game, each served as an experiment to determine which could help make the nextGears of Wargame successful.
It wasn’t until the development ofGears of Warwas passed from Epic Games to The Coalition in 2015 that gameplay changed significantly compared to prior games. In 2016’sGears of War 4, for example, the robotic Deebees were introduced as the game’s secondary antagonists in the same vein as the Lambent inGears of War 3.
These worked as a slower but tough-to-take-down faction compared to the Lament or Locust. Meanwhile, the Swarm operated as a more rabid version of the Locust horde with overwhelming Juvies and hulking Carriers. Additionally,Gears of War 4introduced the Fabricator, which allowed players to build defenses and produce weaponry in select campaign chapters and Horde 3.0.
Gears 5’s Gameplay Developments
The Coalition built off of gameplay developments made inGears of War 4with 2019’sGears 5. Here, Deebees, the Swarm, and the Fabricator returned in new forms. Deebees played primarily as allies to COG soldiers but could be possessed and manipulated by Swarm Leeches to turn into hostile Bastions, Rejects, and Stumps. Possibly the biggest change toGears of War’s gameplay inGears 5was the introduction of brief open-world segments that offered slight exploration and fast travel with thewind-propelled skiff. However, exploring these open-world areas often resulted in lackluster rewards, such as upgrades for JACK or various collectibles.
Some of these new gameplay elements inGears of War 4andGears 5may return inGears of War 6since The Coalition is presumed to be returning to those games’ story afterGears of War: E-Day.
A Back to Basics Gears of War: E-Day
WithGears of War: E-Dayset to take place at the beginning of the Locust War, The Coalition could have its gameplay resembleGears of War 1or2rather thanGears 5. The return of theLocust asE-Day’s primary antagonistwill certainly help differentiate the game from its Swarm and Deebee predecessors. That said, with an increased emphasis on horror, the Locust could potentially appear in fewer numbers or be more difficult to take down than they normally are to showcase the COG’s inexperience in combating them. This could be further shown by players being forced to use the retro lancer for most ofE-Dayuntil the chainsaw lancer is introduced.
Since Santiago is making a return,E-Daycould feature moresplit paths for Santiago and Fenix to travelthrough similar to the ones featured in the originalGears of Wartrilogy. This could help promoteGears of War: E-Day’s replay value and co-op.
It could additionally introduce new, previously unknown members of Omega Squad, Fenix’s previous squad before the famous Delta Squad, to be paired with Santiago or Fenix when they split up. These other squad members can even be killed off in slightly comedic ways to mirror the classic Carmine deaths inGears of War 1and2, but only time will tell how this prequel entry takes shape.
Gears of War: E-Day
WHERE TO PLAY
The Story of E-DayFourteen years before Gears of War, war heroes Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago return home to face a new nightmare: the Locust Horde. These subterranean monsters, grotesque and relentless, erupt from below, laying siege on humanity itself. New FoundationsBuilt from the ground up with Unreal Engine 5, Gears of War: E-Day delivers unprecedented graphical fidelity.
