Yep. I said it. This platform exclusive makes me wish I had an Xbox One to play on instead of the PlayStation 4 I’ve been pining after for all this time. Gears of War has been everything I like in worlds: gory, post-apocalyptic, survival oriented, and filled to the brim with horror aspects. One could say that I am a target audience, but believe me, it looks promising.
This next game looks its next series is going directly back to its roots. Gears of War is one of Xbox’s most beloved third person shooter franchises, representing some of the last hurrahs of local split-screen co-op. Set 25 after Gears of War 3, Gears of War for looks to really switch it up. In the latest trailer, in a sense, we see previous protagonist pass on the torch to the new protagonist, his son JD. It is clear that there is a new threat to humanity looming over the horizon.
Joining him are his pals Kate Diaz and Del Walker. The game’s plot will reportedly take place still on planet Sera over a 24-hour period, and will deal with the aftermath of JD and Del going AWOL from the COG militia. At the end of Gears 3, a weapon was fired that killed the previous global threat, the Locust. However, the weapon also destroyed almost all of Sera’s fossil fuels, resulting in the dramatic reduction of the population to just a few hundred thousand people. This had led to an authoritarian rule led by the COG, and supposedly the COG has been behaving questionably which is why our protagonists go AWOL.
Below is the gameplay trailer at E3 in 2015:
It is during their excursion they meet Kate Diaz. Kate is a member of the Outsiders, a group of people that refuse to live under the COG’s rule in the walled-in cities. Thanks to GameInformer’s exclusive cover story, producer Rod Fergusson explains exactly what they are.
“There’s this notion that the COG is like an overprotective parent trying to preserve life and ensure people’s safety. The Outsiders are a group of people who are purposefully stepping outside the COG and breaking free because they think life isn’t worth living unless it’s lived free…As we were conceptualizing The Outsiders, we initially started with the hippie movement, but then we realized we wanted them to have an edge and we started thinking of them more like this 1970s motorcycle gang.”
How will the COG and the Outsiders react? It could certainly be imagined there might be skirmishes for resources as the world begins to dwindle. Humanity fighting itself while everyone is being threatened by an even bigger threat is something I will definitely pay to see. On a more personal note, I’m glad that the armor worn by our protagonists isn’t the bulky COG armor and even then they don’t all appear to massive muscular beasts. Marcus Fenix and the rest looked incredible, but it’s an absolute breath of fresh air that we’re not following those loyal to the COG.
This has been a great, critically acclaimed series so far but with the latest trailers it makes even more excited for this next Gears series. Who knows? Maybe I’ll buy it for a friend who has an Xbox One on their birthday and insist that we play co-op together. For now, I’m still saving up for a PS4 because I’ll be damned if I don’t get console-exlcusive Bloodborne and play that beautiful monstrosity for myself.
For those that do have an Xbox One, be on the lookout for codes for the multiplayer beta keys. The beta started April 15.
Gears of War 4 will release on Xbox One and PC on October 11.
