GamesThird Person ShooterGears of WarGears of War is coming back with Marcus and Dom in an Emergence Day prequel: ‘It’s going to feel like a new Gears game, because that’s what it is’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

GamesThird Person ShooterGears of WarGears of War is coming back with Marcus and Dom in an Emergence Day prequel: ‘It’s going to feel like a new Gears game, because that’s what it is’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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Today’s Xbox Games Showcase wrapped up with a bang: A new Gears of War is on the way—and it’s a prequel.

“Experience the brutal horror of Emergence Day through the eyes of Marcus Fenix in the origin story of one of gaming’s most acclaimed sagas,” Microsoft said.

“Fourteen 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.”

And as the trailer wraps up and the slow piano kicks in, it reminds us that this new game really is a return to the beginning: It’s a mad, mad world, alright.

“It’s going to feel like a new Gears game, because that’s what it is,” creative director Matt Searcysaid. “It’s us revisiting the tone and the feeling of what makes Gears great, but we’re tapping into new techniques, new processes, and new technology that’s going to make the gameplay feel better than ever. It’s going to be awesome, a game that feels both truly new, and authentically Gears.”

But Gears of War: E-Day also promises to deliver a very different perspective on the series: “We’re telling the origin story of Marcus and Dom and their bond… this is the bond that defines the franchise,” Searcy said. “They’re not the characters we know fromGears 1to3. They don’t have 10 years of fighting the Locust between them. When the game opens, there’s supposed to be peace on Sera, and they’re trying to figure out life without this person they both loved. People are going to see the formation of this brotherhood that is so iconic to Gears.”

“They are a lot more vulnerable, and I think that’s a really modern take on those two characters,” brand director Nicole Fawcette added. “There’s a weight they carry between them, and that creates a really interesting tension as they navigate their own relationship.”

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That newness will also carry over to The Locust: Locust Drones like the one Marcus fights in the trailer had basically become “cannon fodder” over the course of the Gears games, but for E-Day it’s been transformed into something “fearsome, physically intimidating, and utterly brutal,” reflecting the fact that Coalition forces are encountering them for the first time.

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Image1of8(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)

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(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears of War: E-Day screenshot

Original Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinksi likes what he saw, saying onTwitterthat the new trailer gave him “chills.”

(Image credit: Cliff Bleszinski (Twitter))

Chills! -Back to basics -Gives the people what they want (Dom and Marcus) -Plenty of room for set pieces/moments See, they didn’t need me, y’all. (didja notice the little Mad World chords in it too?!) Bravo!!!

He alsopredicted"a heart wrenching scene where we see Dom rushing to save Maria before she gets taken," reminding us all of this absolute (and sadly-deleted) blast from the past:

(Image credit: Cliff Bleszinski (Twitter))

Never forget I made a game in which a guy mercy kills his own fucking wife.

There’s no release target yet—thegearsofwar.comwebsite hasn’t even been updated to acknowledge the existence of the new game at this point—but we’ll keep our eyes open and let you know when we know.

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