One of Xbox’s most prolific franchises – Gears of War – has remained on the backburner for roughly half a decade. After the release of Gears 5 in 2019, the series entertained other spin-offs like Gears Tactics & Gears Pop!, but has not shipped a mainline installment since then. Reports indicated that The Coalition stayed occupied with other projects amid the pandemic including a new IP.

However, staff restructuring at Xbox did result in the team shelving two efforts at the Xbox team. Not only that, but the addition of Unreal Engine 5 also delayed chances of a new release when adopting the new game-making suite. And when word broke out the next Gears of War could be present at the Xbox presentation in June, many anticipated Gears 6.

Instead, The Coalition announced Gears of War: E-Day – a prequel that predates every game in the series amid the fall of humanity on Sera. Speaking to GamesRadar+, The Coalition creative director Matt Searcy elaborates on the decision for the change of pace for storytelling and reveals that linear campaign structure is returning for the next entry.

“We’ve worked on Gears now in our studio for like, 10 years. We’ve got a really good handle on things that work really well in gears, as well as like things you want to keep pushing and trying. We know for sure that Gears, you know, has those linear, epic moments in them.” Searcy also says the new game will take place over a count of days unraveling the catastrophic events that was Emergence Day.

“We’ve done a bunch of them, we know how to do that. And we will absolutely be doing more of that. It’s gonna feel new and also authentically Gears at the same time because we’re able to take all the things that we know were awesome and bring, you know, new techniques and expertise as well as a new engine all of it.”

Are you anymore excited for Gears of War: E-Day?

Gears of War: E-Day is listed for Xbox Series X|S & PC.

Source: GamesRadar+