Like a big burly bloke hiding behind a barricade, Gears 5 is almost ready to emerge in a blaze of gun-toting glory.
The fifth instalment in the acclaimed Xbox series is going to look and feel very different this time around, however. Here's everything we know about it so far:
The Trailer Is Very, Very Intense
They’re dropping ‘Of War’ from the title
Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said it was to make the title “cleaner”, and that the series is generally referred to as ‘Gears’ by fans anyway. We think it’s a bit silly, but hey ho.
It's still set for release on Xbox One and Windows 10 in 2019
Sorry, but it doesn’t get any more specific than that at the moment. Microsoft reiterated the point last month, and we’ll likely get an official release date closer to E3 in June. Microsoft Studios also plan to release Crackdown 3, Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Minecraft: Dungeons in 2019 as the Xbox One enters into its final furlong. Gears Pop! – the Gears of War spin-off featuring Pop! figurines – is on the way for Xbox Play Anywhere.
You’ll play as Kait Diaz
The story will focus on Kait Diaz, an Outsider of Locust descent, who embarks on a journey to uncover her origins. Gears of War 4’s JD Fenix, Delmont Walker and Marcus Fenix will return.
Gears 5 studio head Rod Ferguson described it as the “natural choice”, saying: “When you play through Gears 4, think of it as Mad Max: Fury Road. It was really Furiosa's story, and Max was the side kick. That's how it felt in Gears 4, the whole game is about saving Kait's mum, and really JD is there to help her."
"When we looked at the story for Gears 5, we were sort of delving into Kait’s past and her history, her family ties to the locusts, we felt like that’s a better story to not just witness but tell from her perspective. Organically we realised Gears 5 is Kait’s story again, so let’s play it from her perspective."
Gears 5 Will Be ‘Something Players Have Never Seen Before’
So says Rod Ferguson. Of course, that’s very much the kind of thing a guy heading up the development of Gears 5 would say, but his talk at the XO18 panel excited fans nonetheless.
The Coalition developer revealed that the studio felt the pressure of making Gears of War 4, considering the series had enjoyed great success under its previous developers, Epic Games, and that Gears 5 presented more freedom from expectation.
“One of the things [with Gears of War 4 was], we were a new studio bringing Gears of War back, and we really felt that we had to prove ourselves, that we could make an authentic Gears of War experience,” Ferguson told the panel. “So we didn’t want to go crazy, because then they’d be like ‘these guys don’t know what they’re doing. What’s going on, what happened to our franchise? This isn’t the Gears of War I wanted.
“What we wanted to do for 4 was just re-establish the franchise and establish The Coalition as a legitimate studio. And we’ve been embraced by fans, and they loved Gears 4, and we feel like we’ve accomplished that goal. So now, Gears 5 is about bringing The Coalition’s personality to the game. Now we’re gonna see a bunch of innovation, a bunch of change, a bunch of things things that are really exciting that are really different, but still feel very Gears of War.”
The mechanics are getting a rejig
Gears 5 will reportedly move away from the cramped, stealth-based gameplay that has typified previous titles. Speaking at the XO18 panel, Ferguson explained the “dramatic contrast” between the games.
“Part of Gears 5 is dramatic contrast – going from very small cramped spaces to very large open spaces,” he said. “Going from this desert to a frozen tundra. We wanted you to have throughout your experience constant contrast, and dramatic change.”
The campaign maps could be 20 times larger
That is, according to an ‘insider’ on Reddit, who also said that the game will, “have Customizable weapons, much longer campaign, more dynamic and various environments, brand new Horde, and different PvP experience.” Which should all be taken with a pinch of salt, but there’s nothing too outrageous in there.
